Build a high performance sales team in 90 days!

Introduction

Over 45 years of running sales teams or working as a consultant in a wide range of companies of different sizes has shown me that there are common mistakes that companies and managers make which negatively impact their sales potential.

One of the biggest failings I have seen lies in the corporate culture and the attitudes towards sales within the senior. Senior managers and business owners need to understand that without an effective and highly motivates sales team, there is no business! So it makes sense to create a corporate culture which is supportive of the sales function. Addressing this factor alone can make a huge difference in sales performance.

Another aspect of corporate culture which impacts negatively on sales potential lies within group organisations. We are in another era of consolidation and private equity groups are buying up often distressed businesses and putting them together to create a group with the aim of creating a “one stop shop” and benefitting from vertical integration and cross company trading. So often this strategy fails because a co-operative group culture does not exist. Just putting companies together and expecting them to work together will not happen without establishing the right financial motivations and a clear corporate vision that everyone can buy into.

Once a clear corporate culture is established, there are a number of other reasons why sales teams fail to achieve their full potential.

In this book I have addressed 9 key reasons why companies consistently fail to get the best out of their sales teams. Many sales managers believe that the answer is to bring in sales trainers or to send their sales teams on expensive sales training courses. Of course, developing sales technique is important but addressing a number of basics in the existing operation will have an immediate impact.

I am confident that if senior management and sales leaders address the 9 key reasons outlined in this book, they will reap the benefits of a high performance sales team in under 90 days. After that, any further investment in sales training will have a multiplier effect. If the right foundations are put in place, the results will follow.

Most companies fail to hit their sales targets

It is a fact that many salespeople are scared of new business! Sales teams who are supposed to be opening up new accounts spend very little time actually selling new business. Instead, they retreat to the place of least resistance and focus on existing customers and rely upon incoming sales leads. Amazingly, when they do receive a sales lead, they will often not treat it as a golden nugget but will waste the opportunity it presents by handling it poorly.

So, you might ask yourself, why are the sales managers not addressing this problem?

Unfortunately, the reality is that sales managers get involved in so many activities which are NOT directly focused on the front-line sales operations that they do not always pick these problems up.

From my experience of running sales teams and distributor networks over many years, I have observed that salespeople are very good at self-delusion and false optimism. Every month the ‘big order’ will be coming but something has prevented it from being signed that month... but it will happen next month!

The reality is that new business or business development is not easy. Unlike the existing customer, the door is not opened easily. It needs determination and commitment to the task. Salespeople are generally positive people who do not like to be told ‘no’. To be fair... who does?

Not every salesperson has the resilience and positive mindset to be a new account opener. Sales managers must understand this from the outset. They must recognise that we are not all the same. Some people are just naturally resilient and can shake off the disappointment and move on to the next opportunity with confidence and optimism. Others retreat from failure.

Sales managers need to spend a great deal more time at the coalface, supporting their people. They need to put the right people into the right roles and adapt their recruitment methods to select the correct people for the various sales roles.

Great new business salespeople are not easy to find. Maybe only one in 10 has the personality that loves the role of ‘hunter’ and who gets energised from winning a new account. These people are different to everyone else. Sales managers who try to use their top people as role models frequently fail because they are NOT like everyone else!

From my role as a business coach and mentor specialising in sales and business development, it is very rare to find a company that is effectively geared up to be successful, that manages their sales teams properly and are achieving their sales targets every month.

If this is YOU, then you have come to the right place to turn things around TODAY.

I work at all levels in the organisation but am particularly interested in working at C-Suite / Director level where it is possible to help stimulate change from the top that will have the greatest impact on the organisation

I began my career in academia but quickly realised that this was too narrowly focused. I wanted to change the world!

My formative years were spent as a marketing manager with the MARS DRINKS where I was responsible for building the Klix and Flavia coffee and team systems into a £200 million business from scratch. I worked with amazing people and looked after UK, Europe, North America, Scandinavia and Middle East markets during my time with MARS.

t was at Mars where I was asked to manage a number of sales teams which was a seminal moment in my career. I learnt how to work in a very hands-on way with my salespeople and to help them use their own sales statistics to self-develop.

In addition to receiving fantastic training in speciality sales, need creation, negotiation and management techniques I learned that the only way to run a sales team was at the coal face.

Whilst at MARS I became a specialist in lead generation using direct marketing methods and, after 8 years with MARS I left to found my own Direct Marketing agency. ran this agency for 15 years and built it up to a £10 million turnover and the most profitable agency in the market. The business was sold to the HAVAS global advertising group and I became Vice-Chairman of the UK company, Brann Worldwide.

During my time with the agency, I was responsible for all new business, generating £1 million every year for 15 years. I won major Blue Chip clients like CocaCola, Schweppes, Toshiba, Commercial Union and Sainsbury’s. We had the best client and staff retention in the marketplace.

Over the last 20 years, I have been involved in two business start-ups involving me in working at Board level with companies like Nestle and Pepsi Cola. I have also worked as a consultant helping companies that wanted to grow, become more profitable and exit.

For the last three years, I have worked as a business coach and mentor using my 45 years of experience to help managers at all levels to achieve their goals. Sales productivity and business development remain my area of speciality.

Who am I?

I am a qualified executive coach and mentor bringing 45 years of corporate experience to my clients.

9 reasons why your company may be failing to meet its full sales potential.

REASON 1 YOUR COMPANY CULTURE DOES NOT SUPPORT SALES

From my role as a business coach and mentor NOT every company has a sales director on its Board!

The reality is that, without sales, there is no company!

• There would be no need for Manufacturing demand to fulfil orders

• There would be no need for the Operations department to deliver orders

• There would be no need for Purchasing department to buy raw materials.

• There would be no need for an HR Department

It is likely that all the above functions will be represented on the Board but often the Sales function is not.

How often do you hear that salespeople are demotivated because Operations have failed to deliver and their hardwon customers are very unhappy? How many times do you hear moans about how much bonus is being paid to top salespeople? How often do people complain that the salespeople have exciting sales conferences and are off on regular ‘jollies’?

All this is indicative of a poor organisational sales culture which has its priorities the wrong way around. Let me say it again... Without sales, there is no company!

The first stage in meeting and beating your sales targets and growth objectives is to address the sales culture. There are many facets to this task and some may be beyond your ability to change. However, a number of the cultural issues impacting sales CAN be addressed and will have an immediate impact. Making sure that theSales Director has a seat on the Board is a good start. Getting the Board to understand life from a sales perspective is another. Maybe getting Directors out to spend a day in the field or in the Sales office can be highly productive. These are realistic changes that can be made very quickly.

REASON 2

SALES MANAGERS ARE NOT MANAGING SALES

When I was a sales manager, I spent a day every month with every one of my salespeople. I urge every sales manager to take the same approach. If it’s a field sales business then be in the field. If it’s an online business then sit at the coalface in the call centre listening and learning.

Sales managers must empower their salespeople through training and developing them. They must stop being the go-to person for approvals on discounting. Instead, the sales managers need to learn to COACH their salespeople to make informed decisions themselves. In this way, the sales team does not become over-dependent upon their manager and the manager has greater bandwidth to focus on their proper job of managing sales!

Too often sales managers get tied up in jobs which take them away from their primary role of directly managing the sales function. They need to focus 100% on their primary sales role.

There are often too many sales reports which take the salespeople away from their main function and get buried in paperwork that they don’t think is helpful. Instead, sales managers should simplify reporting and use the reports to help and develop their sales teams.

In one company I worked with, there were as many as 10 different sales reports. I scrapped them all and created ONE document. This document gave me all the information I needed to manage the sales targets and develop the sales skills of the team and focus all the training and development.

Sales managers must empower their salespeople through training and developing them.

REASON 3

SALES MEETINGS ARE OFTEN A WASTE OF TIME

Many salespeople dread the monthly sales meeting. In addition to taking them away from their main job, they are frequently unstructured, cover the same old ground and have no time management.

Most importantly the people who are meeting their targets get praised and those who have not feel demotivated. They don’t learn how to put things right in a team meeting.

The sales team frequently have no input to the structure and content of the meeting and the burden falls entirely on the sales manager.

There is a far better way!

Sales meetings should be fun, exciting and inspirational. They should require full participation from each sales team member. They should be opportunities to learn from each other and to learn and develop new skills.

Outside speakers should be involved The sales manager should involve the whole team in preparing content and structure.

These are not difficult to change and WILL have a massive impact on motivation and performance.

REASON 4

CRM SYSTEMS ARE NOT THE ANSWER

You cannot run sales from behind a desk.

CRM is NOT a magic bullet. CRM is a useful tool but it will never replace old fashioned sales management where the sales managers lead from the front, supporting their people, developing them and keeping their finger on the pulse of the sales function.

The CRM system can only reflect what the sales team are actually doing. By itself, it cannot change the way they do it!

If the problem with the sales team is that they do not have the right level of training and development, or that they are not being managed proactively, or are inadequately equipped, the CRM will simply report the OUTCOME of all these failings.

The CRM system will NOT challenge a salesperson as to why the same prospects have not converted as they were forecast in the last report. That is the sales manager’s job!

A CRM system can be a wonderful asset to report on a sales team that is well managed. By itself, it will not change the team.

There is no alternative but to change sales management behaviour and focus of attention. Then the good things will be reflected in the CRM.

REASON 5

THE SALES TEAM IS TOTALLY DEPENDENT UPON THE SALES MANAGER

In addition to being bogged down with jobs that take the sales manager away from their proper job, managers spend too much time dealing with issues from the sales team that they should be capable of managing themselves.

One of my clients runs a global operation for high value, precision-engineered products with high margins. He was spending far too much time dealing with requests to authorise discounts. I coached him to coach his sales team to think about why there was a need for discounting and if there were alternative options to simple price-based approaches.

Within months the sales team felt more empowered, the discount level was reduced and the sales Director had more time. It also meant that when the Director was on leave, the sales function was able to function normally.

An added bonus was the fact that the sales team were developing management skills for the future.

REASON 6

THE RIGHT PEOPLE ARE IN THE WRONG JOBS

Sales is not a one size fits all. Opening up new accounts is a very different job to managing and developing existing customers. It may make sense to split these functions and put people with the right personalities and skills into the various roles.

Natural door openers are a rare breed, and they need to be nurtured, rewarded and put on a pedestal. They should be paid far more than salespeople with less demanding roles. Let these roles be highly aspirational and it may be possible to develop new door openers from the customer servicing team.

The sales manager must see themself as a talent manager, constantly on the lookout for new talent whilst at the same time being ruthless with their team. The sales manager should not accept excuses for poor behaviour but must put in place immediate and effective remediation for underperformance and not show away from removing consistent bad performers who drag down the whole team.

REASON 7

THE SALES TEAM CAN BE BUSY FOOLS

So often, salespeople are not given sufficient guidance on whom to target. This is the job of the sales manager, supported by the marketing function.

Between them, they must draw up very clear target sectors and then provide the sales team with very clear target lists to work from. Without this, they will spend their time trying to force-fit their product or service to the wrong targets and the resulting customers may not ever deliver the profitability that the company needs.

It will have invested a heavy sales cost to a customer who will not break even.

REASON 8

THE SALES TEAM ARE POORLY EQUIPPED FOR SUCCESS

Salespeople should NOT be parrots spouting a companyfocused sales story. Providing them with a sales presenter or a laptop presentation will not help themwin business. In fact, this can have the opposite effect.

Salespeople MUST have an effective sales story which comprises a simple but impactful POWER STATEMENT and have a list of all the problem areas their prospects will currently face that your product or service will fix.

Salespeople are often far too quick to make the sales meeting all about them and their product or service without identifying the pain that the prospect is facing first.

It is the job of the sales manager to ensure that the team are extremely familiar with the sales story and able to use it effectively in each contact point in the sales cycle. In addition, the sales manager must ensure that the team are provided with all the support information they may require.

This gets back to good old fashioned sales management. Working with each team member, training and developing and analysing performance.

REASON

SALES PEOPLE ARE NOT ENTREPRENEURIAL AND ARE OVER-RELIANT ON THEIR MANAGER

Companies typically create a business plan which determines the growth in sales for each year. This is disseminated to the sales teams who are given their target.

Assuming the Sales Director has provided reality to these plans and accepts the sales challenge then the targets are simply given to the sales teams. So far so good, each senior member of the Planning Team has taken responsibility and ownership for the targets.

It is the individual salesperson who ends up with the actual work to be delivered so why not make them part of the ownership process?

Sales managers should encourage each salesperson to create their own personal sales plan and to take full ownership of it.

Monthly meetings between the sales manager and salesperson should then focus on the plan that the salesperson has personally committed to. This removes the excuses that are all too common in sales teams. It helps develop future sales managers and shifts accountability where it really needs to be.

Monthly meetings between the sales manager and salesperson should then focus on the plan that the salesperson has personally committed to. This removes the excuses that are all too common in sales teams.

It helps develop future sales managers and shifts accountability where it really needs to be.

The salesperson should see themselves as the general manager of their sales territory and take full responsibility for how it is developed. This is a far healthier approach than simply doling our sales target without any accountability.

This requires an attitude shift.

Why not make thesalesperson part of theownership process?