He's barely out of the building when he calls his sales manager to debrief on the meeting. “I told him about our latest products and all the great colors that it comes in. It was a great meeting…I talked the whole time…We are going to get this deal!”

Anyone who has been in sales for even a minute can see the glaring flaw in this meeting. The sales person talked the entire time and presented features and benefits without knowing what his prospect needed. David completely missed the needs analysis part of the meeting which is the most critical part of any sales process.

As you know, the life of a recruiter parallels that of a sales person. Recruiters need to develop a needs analysis strategy when recruiting sales candidates just like sales people do when pursuing prospects. Lecturing candidates on how wonderful the company is does not bring about any more excitement than it did for Mr. Stevens. Sales managers often refer to that approach as throwing darts while blindfolded. A candidate recruiting strategy using David's approach is destined for the same fate.

No such thing as a great sales person. To develop your needs analysis strategy, you need to start with a foundational question. What is your goal for the sales recruiting process? “It's obvious…hire great sales people!” Wrong! Folks, there is no such thing as a great sales person. You read correctly. Don't believe me? How many of these so-called great sales people have been hired by your company and have failed? How can you explain this rockstar failing in your company? If you believe that great sales people exist, then the explanation for their failure is one of two things. Your company is the absolute worst for which to sell. Or, the sales person completely forgot how to sell when they arrived on your doorstep. There is no door number three.

A sales person's success isn't just based on their sales skills. Success is based on the synergistic match of needs, wants, and desires between the role and the sales person. This means that the goal of the process is to serve as a matchmaker between these two entities. In essence, you are formulating a sales marriage between the candidate and the firm.  

Who do you want to hire? The first step is to develop a profile of your ideal sales candidate and prioritize the attributes between required and desired ones. Just like the sales person needs a profile of the ideal client, the recruiter needs a profile of the ideal candidate to develop their needs analysis strategy. This detailed, written description presents a comprehensive picture of the successful candidate for the role. This document serves as the basis for the entire sales talent screening program. Interviews, mock role plays, and assessments should compare the candidate to this profile. The needs analysis strategy should be geared toward identifying synergies, or lack thereof, between the candidate and the opportunity.

Knowing what to ask and when. In sales, the needs analysis serves a number of purposes including exposing prospects that are more like suspects. The same goes for the recruiter. Part of the needs analysis strategy is to quickly identify fatal flaws in the candidate that would remove him or her from employment consideration. They say if you are going to lose, lose early.

Ah, but what are those areas for the recruiter to explore? It comes back to the profile of the ideal candidate. Those areas that are deemed “required” attributes of the successful candidate provide the exploration list. For example, if one of the requirements in the profile is that the candidate must have extensive experience selling services in the C-suite, a question asking about the candidate's prowess in doing so brings this to light.

Getting ready to propose. When a sales person conducts an effective needs analysis, they gather information that helps them develop the scope for a proposal including pricing. However, asking intimate questions about the prospect's current situation cannot be effectively done unless the sales person has earned the right to do so. It may occur in a first meeting, but it may be a little later in the process. However, the strong seller knows that they can't develop a winning proposal without knowing as much as possible about the current situation.

The same holds true when you get to the offer stage of the sales talent screening program. When you reach the time to extend an offer, much like the well-skilled sales person, the expectation is that it will be accepted. Who has time to waste on prospects who aren't going to buy? It's a rather ugly day for the sales rep who gets blind-sided by a competitor who wins the account.

The recruiting experience is much the same. Making a huge investment in a candidate only to lose them to another opportunity is costly and wasteful. A recruiter should never be surprised by a candidate rejecting an offer because it was $20,000 lower than what they were looking for. This requirement should have been uncovered and worked through well-before the offer stage…during the needs analysis.

As part of the needs analysis strategy, the recruiter also needs to know what it will take for a candidate to leave their current employer, if they are looking at other opportunities, and where this opportunity ranks in contrast with the others…just to name a few. Keep in mind that the number one killer of sales pipelines is status quo…the decision to do nothing. The common cause of this affliction is a poor needs analysis strategy. The same holds true when recruiting. If the candidate elects to keep their current position, your needs analysis strategy may be the root cause of status quo keeping the candidate from accepting the position.

The big picture is that every question asked in the needs analysis strategy must have a purpose which is to identify the matches to the ideal candidate profile. The stronger the match, the stronger your sales marriage. If you would like my tip sheet on developing an effective sales recruiting needs analysis strategy, send me an email.

It's as if they are taking all of the thought out of selling so it's like the robotic arms on assembly lines. Every time a sales process begins, every step is followed identically by the sales representative. Eureka! A sale with zero defects comes out the other side just like the prior ones.

This isn't bashing a documented process. As a matter of fact, I'm a huge proponent of having a defined sales process (I refer to it as a buying process, but that is the subject of a future article.), but I am also a firm believer in the importance of the personal side of selling. You've probably heard before that companies don't buy anything…people do. People don't like dealing with robots that don't think, don't care, and are inflexible. If you aren't careful, when you define your sales process, you could be creating an ineffective sales team that has adopted robotic selling.

Recently, I was asked to consult with a boutique travel agency. This agency dealt exclusively with five-figure voyages. Yet, they still faced stiff competition. I met with the CEO to try to ascertain what was missing as he was frustrated with the performance of his sales team.

He was puzzled to say the least. He showed me his detailed sales process, but the success was not there. He showed me the documented goals for the first call with a prospective traveler. Every sales rep on the team knew their objectives like the back of their hand. There were flow-charts and diagrams and training for the reps. Each one was tested on their proficiency of the process. Success is imminent, isn't it?

I asked the CEO to role play with me, with him as the prospective traveler calling in about a trip and how that call would begin.

“Hi, I'm interested in talking with someone about a cruise that I'm thinking of taking…” 

The CEO responded, “OK. Where were you planning to go? Did you have a preferred cruise line? Did you have a budget in mind for your trip?”

I interrupted and the CEO looked perplexed. He said confidently, “See, we have a clearly defined approach for handling a needs analysis discussion on the first call. We get the information we need to help our prospective clients with their venture. I still don't understand why our team is not more effective.”

I asked if we could try the role play again, but flip the roles, to which the CEO acquiesced.

The CEO started… “Hi, I'm interested in talking with someone about a cruise that I'm thinking of taking…”

My response… “How fantastic! Cruises are so much fun. The food, the music, the service…it's great! Have you taken one before?”

Just like in the cartoons, a light-bulb appeared over the CEO's head. He got it. His process wasn't flawed and the information requested by his team during the needs analysis was perfectly appropriate. What was missing was the personal side, the personal touch. Eventually, I would have asked the needs analysis questions that the CEO had documented, but I guarantee that I would have received more information as I had developed a bond.

Study after study has shown that people buy based on emotion and justify their decision with logic. Robotic selling removes all of the emotion from the process making sales people ineffective. Think about the caller in this scenario…how excited they must be to be planning a significant vacation. They are looking to work with someone who shares that joy, that passion. They want to work with someone who they feel understands them and what they are going through. In the role play, the CEO quelled all of my excitement for the trip…like the fireman's hose putting out the fire. He was such a dud that I may have decided to paint my house instead of taking the trip…a total downer.

This change of approach with their clients had a number of benefits. Their prospective clients bonded more quickly with the agent and shared more information. The agents also cited that prospects said that they sounded different (positively) than other agencies. Differentiation is always a big winner in sales. Their success rate tripled! Interestingly, the agents said that now they were getting calls after the trip from their clients to share the experiences. And, referrals soared!

So, now you think this was just a cute sales tactic. Wrong! An entire cultural shift was needed to make the process personal. At the outset, the prospective traveler wanted someone to share passion. As they moved through the process, there were other personal needs. For example, they wanted to know that someone cared that their trip went exactly as it was planned. And, when things go wrong, which something usually will when traveling, that there is someone who will do everything in their power to get it right.

Define your sales process so you know what to do at every step, but don't adopt robotic selling and lose your personal touch. It's the personal touch that differentiates and makes people want to buy from you.

Need help developing a personal touch strategy for your prospect? Send me an email to request my buying players worksheet to help you better understand your buying community.

Years ago, I was interviewing for a Vice President of Sales position with a mid-sized services firm. Everything was going well with my interview with the CEO of the company and then the question came. It is the favorite question of CEOs everywhere. Yet, it is also the most ridiculous question to ask a Vice President of Sales candidate in an interview.

“So, how much revenue can you drive for us this year?”

I thought it was a joke, but he wasn’t joking. Maybe it was a trick question, it wasn’t. So, I said, “Before I answer, may I ask you a few questions?” He acquiesced…

How many sales people can I hire?
What is the marketing budget?
What is the travel budget?
What is the budget for cost of sales?

To all of these fundamental business questions, the answer was, “I haven’t decided yet.” Very quickly what I initially thought was a joke became an interview nightmare. Red flags were waving in front of my face telling me to run from this opportunity as fast as I could.

After hearing his responses to my questions, I responded, “Revenue is a function of the investment made in both sales and marketing. How can someone give you a number that you can believe in without having answers to those questions?”

He leaned back in his chair and said, “Well, the other candidate gave me a number.” I told him that I could certainly provide him with a revenue number, but not to come looking for it. I attempted to explain further, but the CEO’s thought process was one-dimensional. He was interviewing a Vice President of Sales candidate as if the role was sales representative. (Mind you, I don’t recommend that question for that role either.) Following my instincts, I told him that it was best that he proceed with hiring the other candidate and I wrapped up the interview. He was dumbfounded to say the least.

If you are hiring a Vice President of Sales, there are five critical areas to explore of your candidate, but a revenue growth commitment is not one of them.

Salesforce Recruitment. If you have decided to hire a Vice President of Sales, you are expecting them to build a sales team. Hiring sales people is both risky and costly. The ideal candidate for this role should have a methodology that mitigates the risk and quickly gets the new hire up to speed. Bad hires kill the bottom-line, but so do unproductive sales people. Every day that a new sales person is on the bench, not yet ready to generate sales, they sit on your books as a liability. Thus, a key skill that the ideal candidate will possess is development of a process to screen and “on-board” new sales team members.

Sales Process Development. One of the goals of having a sales organization is to establish consistent performance. This can only happen if a defined process has been established for the sales people to follow. Many companies hang their hat on the performance of a single rainmaker. One person generating 75% of the revenue means that you have one highly profitable team member and a bunch of unprofitable sales people on the team. What happens if the rain maker leaves for greener pastures? Having a well-defined sales process in place reduces the amount of time for new hires to get up to speed as well as provides continued direction and focus for the tenured sales people. This translates into another key benefit which is scalability. Your company’s ability to experience significant growth resides on this leader’s acumen at building a process that leads the entire team to perform.

Compensation Plan Formulation. In many companies, one of the responsibilities of the Vice President of Sales is the formulation of a sales compensation plan. Sales compensation plans should be designed to reinforce the sales process that has been developed. One thing about sales people is that they do not need a job description to tell them their job. The compensation plan tells them where to focus their time. The wrong plan can tank the company…the right plan can lead to explosive results. Thus, this becomes a critical skill that your ideal candidate must possess. To learn more about developing the right compensation plan, read my article titled, “The Equilateral Triangle Model for Developing Sales Compensation Plans.”

Metric Management. In many sales environments, today’s sale is not necessarily an indication of a sales person doing the right things now. Thus, you are paying commissions for what they did right a month, three months, or maybe a year ago. This makes it critical that other metrics are measured beyond revenue achievement. There is an old expression…what gets measured, gets done. In essence, the process that they create has multiple measurement points that allows for the creation for a dashboard. The metrics on this dashboard show the performance of the sales team and allow for intervention when performance is not meeting expectations. Thus the key is to understand how the candidate uses metrics to develop, manage, and grow their sales team.

Performance Management. The world would be a wonderful place if every sales person hired performs like a rock star, but that doesn’t happen. You will have both over-achievers and subpar performers…and each requires a different management approach. Top performers need nurturing, appreciation, and growth opportunities while subpar performers need support, guidance, and intervention. Handle the top performers wrong and they leave. Handle the subpar performers incorrectly and they can suck the profits from the company. Thus, in the interview process, it is important to understand the candidate’s management approach for different situations.

Not sure what questions to ask of your Vice President of Sales candidate? Send me an email and I’ll send you my favorite 24 questions when interviewing these candidates.

The Vice President of Sales is a key member at the Executive table. As a business owner, when screening these candidates, focus on the skills that lead to the creation of your sales architecture® which means you are selecting a candidate that creates a sales organization based that delivers consistency, stability, and profitability.

Going back to the earlier story, that company did hire the other candidate…and fired him six months later after he did not deliver on the expectation he set in the interview for growing the business.

“I’m confused. I’ve had great meetings with the right people in the organization. They said that our product looks terrific…but that was 8 months ago. I’ve continued to call…followed-up by email…still no decision. I know that the competitor hasn’t gotten the business. If they love the product, why aren’t they buying?”

Every sales person can relate to this story. Chances are your pipeline is loaded with these kinds of situations. A tremendous amount of sales time has been spent; the company has invested thousands of dollars in pursuit of this “done deal” prospect, and still, there is no revenue in sight.

Meeting after meeting with your sales manager includes the continued mantra of “where’s the deal?” Then comes the inquisition…”Did you tell them this? Did you tell them that? Did you show them the latest…?” The answer to all of those is, “Yes!” Still, there is no sale.

Now the excuses start…”I’ve called and emailed them, but they haven’t responded. You have to understand…this is a senior-level decision-maker. They are busy, that’s why they haven’t gotten back to me. They have a full plate!”

First, there is some bad news to share about full plate syndrome. This issue has reached epidemic proportions in the sales profession. Decision-maker after decision-maker has come down with this dreaded affliction. Sales pipelines everywhere have come to a screeching halt as decision-makers fall to this syndrome at record levels. It’s very difficult to identify those who have contracted this syndrome. They meet with sales people and are very friendly. They even give the appearance that the sale is imminent.

Don’t fret! The government has been researching this issue and a solution has been found. As a matter of fact, the White House addressed the full plate syndrome issue late last night at a press conference.

“We are acutely aware of the issues associated with full plate syndrome and recognize the tremendous impact on the sales profession. This matter has been investigated fully and it is with great excitement that we announce a remedy for this syndrome. This remedy will once and for all eradicate full plate syndrome from sales. Effective immediately, all decision-making business professionals are being issued a second plate. Thus, the issue of the decision-maker not returning calls to sales people due to their having a full plate has been eliminated. We expect this remedy to open-up sales pipelines everywhere.”

One of the easiest things for sales people to do when they don’t get a return call from their prospect is to explain it away as full plate syndrome. Perhaps, your prospect has a full plate, but the items on their plate can always change if you present the right solution.

Consider this…Just before you go to bed, you check your Blackberry one last time, and it’s a good thing you did. There is an email from the CEO of your company. She wants to meet with you tomorrow at 9:30am to discuss tripling your salary. You read it five times to make sure you read it correctly. In an instant, you reply, “I’ll be there!” In doing so, you didn’t even check your schedule you knew already was booked solid.

After all, who wouldn’t you be at a meeting with their CEO to discuss tripling their income? Whatever is in the 9:30am timeslot is being moved because you are going to that meeting and getting that three-fold income jolt. Nothing is going to get in the way of that meeting.

That said, why would you accept this meeting knowing that you already had a full day planned? The answer is obvious! Making more money is high on your priority list. When the call comes for that opportunity, all else goes by the wayside. The CEO has a solution that is aligned with your top priorities.

The same concept holds true in working with your prospects. If the solution you are presenting to a prospect is aligned with the primary area where they are challenged, full plate syndrome does not afflict your sale. The sale moves readily through the process. If not, the deal languishes in the pipeline. Similar to the old Roach Motel, the deal goes into the pipeline, but it never comes out. No return calls.

If you are in a simple-sales environment (one decision-maker), the process to align the solution with the focal area of the buyer is not overly difficult to do. However, in a complex sales environment (multi-person decision), it can be daunting. Different buying players (those who influence a sales decision) have different priorities. While cost reduction for the CFO may be a front of mind priority, the plant manager may be focused on quality improvement, and the CIO may be focused on ease of integration. The key is to align the solution for each of the buying players congruent with their priorities. While the product is the same, the positioning with each of the buying players is different.

The question to ask yourself is why should your solution be a priority for each of the heavily influential buying players? Better stated, “Why should they do this now?” Before you can answer that question, some homework is needed to find out where each of these buying players are focused. For example, if the CFO is a heavily influential decision-maker, research CFOs to find out their front of mind issues. With that knowledge, you can ask yourself, “How does my solution solve this primary issue for the CFO?”

The same process is conducted for each of the identified strong buying players. Here is the kicker…If you can’t identify how your product solves the front-of-mind problems for the heavily influential buying players, you will find the sale languishes in the pipeline, forever. Forever is an overstatement. It will stay in the pipeline until your competitor presents a solution that is aligned with their priorities and they will get the business.

Not sure how to align what you sell with your buyer’s priorities, send me an email requesting my buying players worksheet which will help you gather your thoughts.

As a sales manager, for years, you´ve had Human Resources preaching to you about the importance of work-life balance for your sales team. They reminded you that studies showed that productivity increased when employees had balance between their work life and their personal one. They told you that the team needed time to recharge their batteries so they could sell more for the company.

Some still talk about work-life balance, but the truth of the matter is that this is a yesterday issue. Work-life implies that “work” is a stressful world and “life” is a place of solace. Those days are gone with the way our economy has evolved. Your sales team is getting it from both sides now. They have unprecedented, high levels of stress at work and at home. The former life of solace is now filled with concerns of mounting debt, drastic drops in home values, a real fear of job loss, and disgust over their investment portfolio.

When your sales team arrives to start the day at 8am, the reality is that their day is already over. They began their day by watching the morning news. “Unemployment is at a record high! Housing values continues to fall! Consumer confidence is non-existent!” What a great way to start a productive sales day!

Imagine a boxer who gets beaten up before he enters the ring…What chance does he have of being successful in the match? ZERO! Today, your sales team is faced with the same challenges as that boxer. The media is defeating them before their day even begins. They arrive at work to begin their day, but the truth of the matter is that they are already finished. They´ve already lost.

Despite all of these woes, the company is relying on the sales team to pull the company out of the painful downward spiral driven by the economic mess. Logic would tell you that with the present state of affairs, the sales team is more focused than ever on generating sales. Every minute of the business day, they are either on the phone with a prospect or meeting with one. All they can think of is… Make a sale!

Unfortunately, logic does not come into play here. All of the external noise is leading your sales team in the complete opposite direction. They are checking the market hourly, their 401k every 15 minutes, and checking the job boards. It´s as if there is total sales paralysis. Sales productivity is probably at an all time low, at a time when the company needs them most. As the sales manager, this all falls in your lap. You are the face of the sales organization. The company needs you to change your hat from manager to leader to help focus the troops on the task at hand.

Since this is a relatively new issue, most sales managers have not been trained how to help their team regain their focus to drive productivity (a.k.a. sales). As a sales manager, what can you do to regain the reigns of the team and lead them to sales success?

1. Communicate, even…over communicate. Open and honest discussion about the present state of affairs helps to relieve the angst that the team is experiencing. As a manager, you may be in a leadership chain, but the team looks to their direct leader for guidance and support.

2. Hold the team accountable. While empathetic and understanding, the sales leader needs to remind the team of the task at hand. Direction provided to the team should be clear and team members should be held accountable for performance.
3. Coach them. Little things can help your team regain their sales edge. Suggest that they not start their day by watching the morning news. Have them read the news online so they have total control over which news to become informed. They control the information saturation point, not the television media. (This is a prudent thing for you to do as well.)

4. Lead by example. While challenging, put on your game face and show confidence. Keep the conversation on the task at hand, not external influences. Smile! If you walk around showing stress, your sales team will mirror your behavior. They will think something is wrong and sales paralysis enters.

5. Be visible! When the number of closed door meetings increases, sales people speculate that something is wrong. While a productive meeting may be taking place inside, on the other side of the door, your entire sales team is talking about what you may be discussing in your meeting. In the absence of direct knowledge, your sales team will guess the meeting is about gloom and doom. Limit your closed door meetings. Be visible with your sales team. Join them on sales calls. Meet with clients.

Other industry experts have also weighed in on this issue. If they were talking to a sales manager about how to focus their sales team and drive productivity, they suggest…

“Sales managers must remember the behavior of sales people is driven by the desire to avoid pain or gain pleasure. The more powerful of these two drivers is the desire to gain pleasure. Smart sales managers recognize that achievement and recognition of that achievement are the two most powerful motivators in sales. So instead of cracking the whip, they are whipping up contests, games, spiffs, and awards that keep their sales professionals focused, happy, and engaged.”
- Jeb Blount, CEO of SalesGravy.com and author of “Power Principles”

“Stop being complacent to selling professionals. Selling professionals control their destiny more than any other organizational function. Nothing happens unless something is sold. Selling professionals must speak with customers, requesting referrals and closing business. Watching the news is simply a form of procrastination. They must discover the unspent allocated money from the current budget year and request the business. Products and services are still needed. Tell selling professionals to do what the competition is not – sell something!”
-Drew Stevens, PhD, Business Growth Consultant and Author of “Split Second Selling” and “Ultimate Business Bible”

“Managers need to shift away from fear based management and develop more of a collaborative coaching culture. You cannot inspire others when you are afraid and you can’t be inspired when you’re full of fear and worry. Conduct more frequent one-to-one meetings, build greater accountability by relinquishing your role as Chief Problem Solver and have less tolerance for mediocrity. Ultimately, management needs to adapt, innovate and evolve or suffer from corporate inefficiency, rigidity and declining profits.”

-Keith Rosen, Executive Sales Coach and author of the award winning, “Coaching Salespeople into Sales Champions”

“In tough times, sellers must be at the top of their game. As a sales manager, your job is to infuse your team with fresh thinking – to make sure they have the knowledge and skills to deal with today´s challenges. Start a “book of the month” club. Register for webinars or teleseminars put on by sales experts. Encourage sign up for sales e-newsletters. Lead weekly “how we won” sessions. For maximum impact, start now!”
-Jill Konrath, Sales Strategist & author, Selling to Big Companies

“Sales managers must help salespeople to maintain clarity, calm their nerves, help them function, keep them positive, get them motivated, challenge them to perform, urge them to fill their pipelines and hold them accountable to all of that. And talking the talk isn’t quite enough. When conducting pre-call strategizing, coaching must include how the account or call plan will be executed – with role play – so that sales managers are certain their salespeople truly have the ability to get it done. Your pipelines may have been thrown into a holding pattern. Orders haven´t canceled or been lost to competitors; they are simply delayed. The sooner that everyone gets over their initial reaction to the recession and gets back to just doing business, the sooner that money will loosen up and start changing hands again.”
-Dave Kurlan, Sales Development Expert, and author of “Baseline Selling”

“To get the malaise out of your sales team give them permission to press the “off button” and shut out the negative media. Protect seller’s natural optimism – have contests for the best joke of the day – buy coffee for the winner. Equip them with the winning words – role-play the very words decision-makers long/need/want to hear: which are how your product increases revenues; decreases expenses; mitigates risk.”
-Leslie Buterin, founder ColdCallingNetNews.com

“We read & hear the doom and gloom every day about this economy. Well, I believe we need to start managing our attitudes and mindsets, as well as our sales efforts. It is time to look at all the challenges, issues and problems as OPPORTUNITIES wearing disguises. Strip off the disguises, identify the opportunity and deliver a solution. Be positive, persistent, proactive and patient in this time of change.”
-J. Glenn Ebersole, “Your Strategic Thinking Business Coach”

“Here’s my best piece of advice to those leading sales teams today: Do all you can to continually boost your staff’s confidence — confidence in themselves, confidence in their product, and confidence in the problems your product solves for your customers. Suggestions on how to do that: Remind them of successful case studies often. Feed them creative ways to confidently answer your top objections. Work with them one-on-one to develop their own individual style, so they sound and act naturally confident. Today’s customers have NO margin for error in choosing their suppliers; do all you can to help your staff be the ones that others can trust to make them look good!”

-Bill Guertin, CEO, The 800-Pound Gorilla and author of Reality Sells: How To Keep Customers Coming Back Again and Again by Marketing Your Genuine Story

“Many sales teams are not only going through a big wake up call on the economic front, but are going through an earth moving generational shift…from Baby Boomers and Generation X running the show to men and women under the age of 30 making critical business decisions for our organizations. At the end of the day, they want to know “How are my ideas being incorporated and actually applied to our sales processes to make us better at what we do?”
-Bea Fields, Leadership and Generation Y Consultant and co-author of the book “Millennial Leaders: Success Stories From Today´s Most Brilliant Generation Y Leaders”

“To create momentum, keep your sales team focused on what they need to do today, or this week, by implementing a 20 point system. On this system, they earn points for doing the right types of sales activities: conversations, appointments booked, face-to-face meetings, referrals, closed files and closed business. The focus on the right kind of activities with targeted prospects will result in creating the desired energy.”
-Danita Bye, President of Sales Growth Specialists

“Sales managers should hold a meeting with their sales teams with a focus on creating two lists: one containing the things the salespeople CAN´T control, and one containing the things they CAN control. Managers should then encourage their salespeople to focus 100% of their attention on the things they CAN control. Nothing blows away feelings of helplessness like having an action plan and TAKING DAILY ACTION against that plan.”
- Alan Rigg, Sales Performance Expert, and author of“How to Beat the 80/20 Rule in Sales Team Performance”

“Downturn leadership requires laser-like focus. Focus to reinforce customer service, existing customer relationships, and presence in the marketplaces. This results in improved perception of market position and stronger, more profitable customer relationships (again, what every sales leader wants more of). Focus on the “vital few” – the 20 percent of customers, product lines, industries that has the greatest impact. Do not only rely on your instincts to identify your vital few—use data to determine the truth about your sales and customers.”
-Lee J. Colan, Ph.D., author of “Sticking to It: The Art of Adherence”

“During this time of stress, management needs to attend to the emotional needs of their sales professionals. Part of that attention is to help them understand what they can change and what is beyond their abilities to change. For example they can change their attitude in how they approach each day, keeping a positive focus and working to produce results. What they can’t change is how the market will fluctuate on an hour by hour basis.”
-Gregory Stebbins, Ed.D., internationally recognized Sales Psychologist

“Sales managers need to roll up their sleeves and join the team. The worse thing to do in this situation is to add pressure from above with no active participation in the solution. The sales teams I’ve coached tell me that because I’m in the trenches with them, they are more motivated—even in tough times. Your sales team needs to know you are in it with them. Together you will conquer!”
-Shannon Kavanaugh, president of Go-To-Market Strategies

“There has never been a more critical time for sales leaders to work overtime to ensure that their teams remain focused and fully motivated: Attitude is, after all, that small thing that makes such a big difference. Strong leadership from the front, and by example, is the only way to reverse the downward spiral that comes with self-limiting beliefs and fears.”
-Jonathan Farrington, Chairman of The Sales Corporation

“In order to re-energize your team you need to help them become more successful. The fastest way you can do that is by establishing a killer sales strategy that focuses on a moderate amount of ideal clients. An effective strategy positions you as the industry expert, educates the client/prospect on how to run their business better, sets the buying criteria and establishes doing business with you as a forgone conclusion. Your sales people will be fired up because they are closing lots of business, making good money and loving life!”
-Andy Miller, sales strategist

“Although the current economic situation presents problems for you and your sales team, it also presents unprecedented opportunities. There are still prospects buying and customers purchasing additional products and services, and your competitors are facing the same daunting and depressing news. Salespeople who overcome their lethargy and seek new business can turn this economic downturn into a record-breaking year. Empathize with their issues, but emphasize the tremendous opportunities your team has while their competition is sitting on the sidelines.”
-Paul McCord, management consultant and author of the Sales and Sales Management Blog

“The key to making the sale in this economy is to help your team stay focused on solving real customer problems and enabling them to add immediate value to their business. We have been in this economic situation before and we will be here again – the strong will survive and 20% of sales people will exceed their quota in spite of the economy. Our job as sales managers is to not let the economy become the excuse for non performance and lack of productivity.”
-Julie Thomas, President and CEO of Value Selling Associates and author of “ValueSelling: Driving up Sales One Conversation at a Time”

“The sales manager needs to communicate the company’s vision, mission, values, goals, and expectations to the sales team weekly and then reward their accountability. The senior management team must define and communicate the criteria for a profitable customer and all sales efforts need to be focused on securing and managing those accounts. The sales professionals, who learn how to thrive in this economy, will develop skills and talents that will guide them to long-term success.”
-Janet Boulter, Profitability Consultant, Center Consulting Group

“Salespeople will be excited to come to work when they adopt a referral-selling strategy. They’ll meet with decision makers, shorten their sales process, and convert prospects to clients more than 50% of the time—while acing out the competition and landing new, profitable clients. They’ll meet only with the people they want to meet and who want to meet them. What an irresistible proposition! Money in their pockets. What a great motivator!”
-Joanne Black, founder of No More Cold Calling and author of “No More Cold Calling™: the Breakthrough System That Will Leave Your Competition in the Dust”

“The issue has become one of finding and sustaining mental energy. Not just the energy you and your team need to achieve sales. Even more important is your ability to sustain the enthusiasm, calm and inspiration needed to get your team through these torrid times. Instead of work life balance, it’s about getting the right flow of personal energy input and business energy output. Having an enjoyable personal interest that enables you to switch off is a good start.”
-Peter Nicholls, Director, Work Leisure International

“My recommendation is simple. Identify specifically two things that your sales professionals have done well to adjust to the new marketplace. Once you determine them, discuss 2-3 areas that you both agree are in need of development. Reach out to all your sales professionals and repeat this process. Compile the responses and put together a measurable action plan for your team. And don’t forget to follow through.”
-Charles Brennan Jr., President of Brennan Sales Institute and author of “Sales Questions That Close the Sale”

“Employ equal doses of inspiration, motivation, and oversight to simultaneously raise morale and maintain production levels. Use anecdotes from well-known figures in history who’ve met and overcome challenges. Set specific short-term goals, and monitor progress against them. Project an air of optimism, and lead by example. Direct the team to focus with laser-like discipline on only those opportunities that have real legs. Provide oversight to ensure they are maintaining that focus.”
-Craig James, sales consultant and trainer, president of Sales Solutions