Think About It… the e-book version

by Todd Youngblood

There’s not a sales rep alive who doesn’t rebel when asked to perform what is perceived to be an administrative task. For most reps, recording opportunity information in a “CRM” system and submitting forecasts both fall into that category.

Right up front, let me make my position clear on two points.

• I agree emphatically with the “money in my pocket” sentiment
• I disagree emphatically that recording opportunity information and submitting accurate, realistic, monthly forecasts is “administrivia”

I realize that after reading the above, many (maybe most) sales reps and managers have concluded that I must be schizophrenic, because they perceive the two points to be contradictory. Quite the contrary. I do, however, assume that both management and reps are fulfilling a few fundamental responsibilities.

The first assumption is that the compensation plan is well written – a management responsibility. In other words:

• It accurately reflects the company’s sales objectives
• It produces large commission checks for reps that “make it happen”
• It produces small commission checks for reps who are merely “there when it happens”

As a rep, you have the right to assume that maximizing your income by following the comp plan means you are doing exactly what management wants you to be doing. As a sales exec, if your reps don’t have the right priorities, look in the mirror to find the problem …and then put your brain to the hard work of fixing the comp plan.

The second assumption is that good time management practices are in place – a sales rep responsibility. And I’m not referring to the simple-minded, easy aspects of time management. Anyone with half a brain can take a list of things that will “put money in my pocket” and work through the “downstream” actions of drawing up a ToDo? list, sorting the items into A, B and C priority, laying out an itinerary for the upcoming week and then working the plan.

I’m referring to the challenging part of time management, the “upstream” part. How do you know what will put money in your pocket? How can you predict what your future commission checks will be? Well, you have to predict what you intend to sell – what you intend to make happen. Knowing that, you can calculate your commission. In other words, you have to hold yourself accountable to make specific deals close over the next 30, 60, 90 days and by year end. You have to have a business forecast. If you don’t, you have no basis whatever for the money-in-pocket assertion. (…or should I say no basis for avoiding doing that forecast you don’t feel like doing?)

Not only that, to have any kind of an accurate business forecast, you need to have a very good handle on the opportunities you are working to make happen. You need to know what each opportunity is, its probable dollar value, its odds to close and when it will close. Further, you need to know why the customer would even want to consider buying. You need a compelling value statement. There’s no way to keep even a small fraction of all that information in your head. (So that’s why CRM systems enable documentation, organization and retrieval of that type of info…)

And where does a rep find out what opportunities deserve attention? In the compensation plan, of course. Which brings us full circle. Son of a gun! Sales reps and managers are dependent upon each other! So:

• The compensation plan provides “perfect” direction on the types of opportunities to pursue
• Reps identify potential opportunities that meet those criteria
• Reps look at dollar value, odds to close based on how compelling a value statement can be crafted and close date
• Reps create a business forecast based on those factors
• Reps build a ToDo? list based on what will put “money in my pocket” and follow through

Anybody want to gripe about entering opportunity information or submitting forecasts? Not if you only do things that will put money in your pocket.

by Todd Youngblood

You’ve heard the joke. What do you call the person who graduated dead last from medical school???

(Answer: “Doctor”)

Follow me here, and accept the premise that medical doctors have to sell their services to the customer – aka patient. It’ll take a while, but you’ll get the selling point.

Doctor scenario #1

You go to the doctor’s office because your arm really hurts. The doctor is not only pleasant and professional, but is very caring as is the support staff. The doctor asks why you came and what you need, takes a look, orders an x-ray, notes that your arm is broken, sets it, puts on a cast, writes a prescription for something to help with the pain and inflammation and gives you clearly written instructions on what to do and when to do it so that you can successfully complete your broken arm therapy. Oh, and he gives you a bill.

You’re quite delighted with the doctor’s services for the next three days, because you got quick, efficient, genuinely “value added” medical service. At that point you drop dead.

Doctor scenario #2

You go to the doctor’s office because your arm really hurts. The doctor is a bit curt, but things progress pretty much exactly as above. Just before you get the bill, the doctor asks if the way you tug at your ear is just a nervous habit. You didn’t realize you were tugging at your ear, so out comes the otoscope, followed by a blood test, followed by an expedited lab analysis, followed by an injection.

Turns out you had a very rare, very deadly, but very easily treatable ear infection. That bit of – extremely expensive – extra diagnosis and the shot you got fixed it right up. (The infection, by the way, is what caused the extra fluid in your ear that made you unconsciously tug at it. It’s also what threw off your balance and caused you to fall down the stairs and break your arm.)

Given that the doctor saved your life, you tell everybody. You don’t even think about the huge bill you got. (By the way, only 10% of it was for the broken arm and even that was 20% higher than the other doctor’s fee. The other 90% was for fixing the ear infection. Oh, and it took the doctor a lot more time and effort to set the arm.)

Doctor/Sales Rep #1 did a perfectly admirable job of “Solution Selling.” You, the patient/customer, already pretty much knew your arm was broken. You pretty much knew that you needed an x-ray, cast, etc. The doctor/sales rep provided a solution to the problem that you, the customer, described. Professional, value added diagnostic and therapeutic products and services were provided, and for a fair price at that! You the customer were quite pleased and more than happy to give glowing references. (For three days anyway…)

The malpractice lawsuit brought by your heirs was thrown out of court. The doctor did his job, did it well and for a below market fee. In fact, the setting of your arm and cast were the best ever seen by the coroner. Doctors that good are far too valuable for society to be punished for missing an extremely rare disorder that the patient didn’t even mention, no less complain about.

I know that the sales lessons are already clear, but I’ll spell it out anyway.

• Value added services are relatively easy to provide. Like it or not, believe it or not, all of your competitors can do just about as well as you can. The last-in-class doctor could easily have provided the same level of arm and ear treatment. In other words, big deal, ho-hum, don’t bore me with your stories about your value added services.
• Successful “solution selling” is NOT, NOT, NOT about your solution. It’s about the diagnosis of the problem. Bringing in a lot of revenue via “solution selling” is NOT, NOT, NOT about the value added services you can provide. It’s about asking, digging and tracing back through the long and very complex chain of events to find out the root cause(s) of the customer’s problem. (There’s a lot of cash in ear infection diagnosis!)
• NEVER, NEVER, NEVER just accept your customer’s perspective on the problem to be solved. Have you ever gotten an inkling that maybe your customer is not as smart or as knowledgeable or as motivated as you are to improve the customer’s business? Do you have customers working overtime to get bids for and pressuring you to cut price on “arm” work, when what they really need is “ear” work?

Just because you sell some stuff (like broken arm repair), and generate terrific references (for your company’s arm services) and don’t get fired (i.e., sued for malpractice), don’t go around thinking that you actually understand the complex, difficult nuances of genuine solutions selling. Don’t even think about making that claim until you’re certain that you understand the entire tangled web of cause and effect process actions and reactions that comprise your customer’s business.

What do you call the person who’s dead last in sales performance? “Sales Rep”

by Todd Youngblood

Is it possible to continuously improve your sales process? Of course it is. That’s why you spend so much time and effort focused on process, right?

It truly is quite obvious that any business process can be continuously improved. In fact, the very essence of selling is to demonstrate how a prospect’s “X” process would be improved by intelligently applying your product and/or service. Why then do we as the “experts” at selling things, almost universally pay little more than lip service to continuously improving our own sales process?

Is it because we’re too busy to get around to it? Is it because we’ve been fairly successful so far and don’t need to get better? Is it because the sales personality is genetically incapable of the methodical discipline required? Is it simply because we just flat don’t know how to do it?
Whatever your reason, consider this… The average business process in the average U.S. industry experiences a 2.5% to 3.5% annual productivity increase – essentially by osmosis.

For the past 15 years, both Manufacturing and Information Technology firms have consistently produced 25-30% annual productivity enhancements. With a concerted effort, any sales exec can drive 8-12% gains in sales per rep from process improvements alone. For a $100 Million organization, that’s an extra $10 Million in revenue (almost) for free!

Here are the 7 essentials, that when conscientiously applied, will drive sales process improvement:

• Essential #1: Constantly collect Sales Best Practices.
• Essential #2: Organize those practices into a Best Process.
• Essential #3: Constantly update Documentation of the above.
• Essential #4: Constantly Train all reps on the above.
• Essential #5: Measure the effectiveness of key Best Practices.
• Essential #6: Relentlessly Implement new Best Practices.
• Essential #7: Appoint a “Sales Process Czar” to make it happen.

You’ve heard the expression that “Quality Is Free.” Well, if you work at it, additional revenue and profit from continuous sales process improvement is also “free.”

Review and implement these “7 Essentials.” Then get started!