Sales Management

Is it Time to get rid of a Few Salespeople?

02.24.2016 by Jonathan Farrington //

“So Jonathan, are there too many salespeople in the world?”

That’s not really a question one expects to be confronted with at a private dinner party.

Unfortunately, like those poor medical practitioners who are regaled with requests for advice on everything from ingrowing toenails to haemorrhoids, I have kind of accepted that if any of my fellow guests have a beef about sales-related issues, then I am going to be in the firing line.

I usually begin by trying to explain that everybody, everywhere, sells every day: Then I have to elaborate, and eventually, I find myself defending this fine profession, which actually, after a couple of glasses of a decent Burgundy, I can do all evening – even with my eyes closed.

But let’s take a more pragmatic approach to the question: Are there too many salespeople in the world?

What we do know is that there are too many under-performing salespeople on the planet – about 52% of the current sales population according to all the most recent reports.

Why?

That is a far more complex question to answer; that is to say, there are several answers.

To begin with, most companies, in most industries, find it easier to keep hiring new salespeople, rather than investing in those that they have already: Rather than stopping and taking stock of their current assets, and thinking about what it would take to get that team operating at optimum performance levels, they play the numbers game, which of course is a complete nonsense, and totally unjustifiable financially.

Let me give you an example. What % of sales leaders do you think could accurately answer the following questions about their own team?

If you benchmarked your team on an individual basis against the best in your industry/sector how would they fare?

What would it take for them to become the very best?

Are you able to measure the impact of any investment you have made in training and developing the team in recent years? – I.e. what return have you seen on that investment?

What further development is required in order for them to achieve optimum performance levels?

If any members of the team are currently underachieving do you know why and do you understand what will be required to get them back on track?

Who in your team is capable of much higher levels of achievement, if they were to receive appropriate coaching?

And then follow that up with:

When thinking about your own sales force:

Do you understand their motivators – what is driving them?
Do you have visibility of their numbers – year to date, forecast vs. required performance?
Activity levels – are they working hard and smart enough?
Engagement – are they talking to the right level in their prospects/accounts?
Messaging – are they capable of delivering an appropriate message at the right level?
Qualification – are they only spending time on deals where they can compete and ultimately that they can win?
Closing – are they constructing successful campaigns and closing business?

I’ll repeat the question – what % of sales leaders could accurately answer those questions?

Let me give you a clue, it is more than 1% but less than 5%.

That is pretty frightening isn’t it?

Secondly, H.R. are getting in the way: They don’t mean to, but particularly in the corporate space, they have far too much authority and far too little experience to make the decisions about sales team development that they are making.

Finally, unlike most other professions, there are no qualifications required to become a professional salesman or woman: I find that very disappointing, and I am also deeply concerned that even the super-rich corporations, who used to put their latest intakes on a solid two year program before letting them loose on an unsuspecting audience of buyers, now believe that around two weeks of product training is quite sufficient.

However, those companies who have implemented their own “academies” – including most of my clients – are reaping rich rewards: Turnover has been reduced to virtually nil; teams are happy, and feel valued; staff typically work longer hours, but are also working smarter, and they are totally committed. None of that should come as a surprise to any of us. When a company demonstrates its commitment to its employees by investing back into them, those employees are anxious to repay that faith – it is a “no-brainer” and definitely “win-win”

How about you, are you really valued by your company? Or are you one of the at least 80% of sales professionals who remain under-qualified to do your job properly?

“Above all, I want to work with a manager from whom I can learn.”

01.12.2016 by Jonathan Farrington //

Let’s face it, nothing is more important to people than their OWN success.

The development of our people is not something to ignore or leave to training departments. The responsibility is ours. We must make sure our people have the right knowledge, skills and attitudes to do their jobs and to do them well.

Development is not only about correcting weaknesses; it is about upgrading and taking people forward, not least to keep up with change.

We should tell our people that we:

Recognize that their development is important
Will help them gain experience and extend their skills
And…create a visible system so to do

As the old saying goes you can either “have five years’ experience or one year’s experience multiplied by five”. People want the former. We are the means for them to achieve it.

Use the development cycle:

Analyze the job (what is needed to do it)
Analyse the person (their competencies)
Look ahead, anticipate what new skills, etc. the job might necessitate in the future
Define the gap – what must be done to create a good fit between the person and the job.
Specify development activity, methods, budget and priorities.
Implement action and monitor results

This is a rolling cycle. Keep clear records, make sure everyone is reviewed in this way and create a culture in which people value development and what it brings. Part of our job is helping people to learn.

Development is sufficiently important to people (as well as being important in its own right) for us to address the process and give out the right messages about it. We may, sensibly, not want to send everyone off on a course so we must consider other actions, asking:

Should development be on the agenda for meetings?
Can anything be done on-the-job? (In any case, a key part of the manager’s personal responsibility for development.)
Can any on-going actions be instigated now? (A simple monthly lunchtime session, perhaps.)

Make no mistake, the culture of an organization in terms of its attitude to training and development is important to people. Their view of it is, in part, dependent on us.

We have to send the right signals.

The Importance of Building a Shared Mental Model

11.10.2015 by Jonathan Farrington //

One of the most important responsibilities of a sales leader is to translate the organization’s vision, mission and values into a meaningful context that sales teams can relate to and feel excited by. If this is achieved then the leader will have created a sales team with a shared mental model. This transforms an ordinary sales team into a high performing one.

For clarity, here is a brief description of the following terms:

An organization’s vision is a guiding image of success formed in terms of a huge goal. It is a description in words that conjures up a picture of that organization’s destination. A compelling vision will stretch expectations, aspirations, and performance. Without that powerful, attractive, valuable vision, why bother?

A mission statement communicates the essence of an organization to its stakeholders and customers, and failure to clearly state and communicate an organization’s mission can have harmful consequences around its purpose. As Lewis Caroll, through the words of the Cheshire cat in Alice in Wonderland says, “If you don’t know where you’re going, it doesn’t matter which way you go.”

Guiding principles are the consequence of a mission statement that are intended to inform or shape all subsequent decision-making, which also provides normative criteria allowing policy-makers to accept, reject or modify policy interventions and activities. They are a guiding set of ideas that are articulated, understood and supported by the organisation’s workforce.

Values are beliefs which the organization’s workforce hold in common and endeavor to put into practice. The values guide their performance and the decisions that are taken. Ideally, an individual’s personal values will align with the spoken and unspoken values of the organization. By developing a written statement of the values of the organization, individuals have a chance to contribute to the articulation of these values, as well as to evaluate how well their personal values and motivation match those of the organization.

The Human Capital Development Model, created by Krauthammer International, is a logical process that can take top management concepts, and translate them into a context that has real meaning for staff at all levels.

The key to bringing this model to life is to answer the following questions:

Do my team understand the organization’s vision and how their role moves the organization closer to achieving it?
How can my sales team translate the organization’s mission into one that is relevant to them?
How does the organization’s guiding principles impact on the day-to-day responsibilities of sales people?
Which of the organization’s values does my sales team relate to?
How can we interpret these values so they become compelling for each sales person?

An effective sales team understands the big picture and the context of their team’s work to the greatest degree possible. That includes understanding the relevance of their job and how it impacts the effectiveness of others and the overall team effort.

Too often, sales people are asked to work on an activity without being told how their role contributes to organization’s vision, much less how their efforts are impacting the ability of others to do their work. Understanding the organization’s vision promotes collaboration, increases commitment and improves quality.

An effective team works collaboratively and with a keen awareness of interdependency.

Collaboration and a solid sense of interdependency in a team will defuse blaming behaviour and stimulate opportunities for learning and improvement. Without this sense of interdependency in responsibility and reward, blaming behaviours can occur which will quickly erode team effectiveness and morale.