Someone once told me that being a salesperson is a hard job. "You are only as good as your last deal" is the cry from some Directors and Managers within sales organisations.
The simple fact of the matter is that for many this saying is a true one. The patience of businesses seems to have disappeared. More and more senior managers find themselves under sustained pressure from their boards to deliver significant increases in profits. They then apply this pressure to their sales staff and so the cycle begins. Before some people know it they have been allocated to a performance review or improvement plan which if I am being honest, is the route to the exit from the company.
But it is not always the case that the fault lies with the company. Sales people are, or should be money driven, hungry machines but many let themselves down with their activity and their focus. They plan for the immediate short term and don't really analyse why their performances are not of a high standard. I also know of salespeople who just don't really know enough about their role or the objectives and expectations that come with it.
So how can salespeople help themselves?
The best piece of advice I have ever been given is to treat your sales role as if it was a role within your own company. Behind every good person is a good approach strategy to their roles.
The first thing you need to do is analyse your objectives. What are your Key Performance Indicators? Go ahead, write them down in a list. This list is the expected requirements of your roles. Ask yourself whether you achieved these indicators last week? If not, be true to yourself and ask why not? These KPI's are the difference in you having your job and not. They are the basic requirements of your role and should be taken extremely seriously. This is the first point of call for you the salesperson...know your role!
The next thing you need to do is identify whether you know the mechanics of your product or solution. Human psychology is a powerful thing. People have a sixth sense that identifies when something is not quite right. They know if a person is winging it, or doesn't really understand their offering and therefore their confidence in that person is reduced, and their interest does not blossom. The difference in someone knowing their offering and not is the passion that is displayed when explaining about it. Such a person may give a fragmented and cautious explanation of their solutions / products and will generally miss the key benefits that their prospective client is looking for to make that decision. If you do not have a clear understanding and confidence in your offering then how do you expect your client to gain this?
Your planning is very important. The best salespeople are the ones who know their pathway for the month. Jobs to do lists / Task management systems are part of most company database offerings. Use them and make sure that you complete the tasks that are there. If you are cold calling for the first four hours on Tuesday morning then stick to it and complete it. Your diary should always be open, should always be at hand so that you know what you have to do in each business day. A salesperson should never have nothing to do. You should be soaking up each minute of each day with activity...time is money for you my friend. Each second that goes by without activity is a potential deal missed. I guarantee if you are not being active then your competitor, to be even more precise, their salespeople, will not miss that opportunity. Your jobs to do list for the following business day should already be complete by the end of the previous working day. Time management is extremely important to a good salesperson. They are not clock watchers, they work against the time it takes to complete the deal. Their activity is high and they know everything about their opportunities. This leads me to my next point.
How many times have we all been asked to forecast? Senior managers have to do it for their boards, and nothing breeds resentment with sales managers than being made to look a fool when forecasts are consistently wrong. Good salespeople are generally close to their forecasts. The simple reason why is down to them being close to their opportunities. I am sure that for salespeople and managers reading this, that you have all had that basic sales training course at one point during your sales careers. How many of you remember the importance of being able to complete a professional conversation, relevant and open questioning etc...? How many of you can say that you use it correctly during your business conversations? Good salespeople know their opportunities. By good questioning they have been able to establish who the decision makers are within their clients business, what the client is trying to achieve, how the client is going to determine whether the solution or product has been a success, a ball park figure on budget that they have to spend, and when the client is looking to give that decision to purchase? It's like shelling peas for them. They have all the key indicators that they need to satisfy the clients reservations. They build their business cases around their clients objectives and maintain frequent lines of communication to ensure that the brief has remained the same. They are then able to present a business case that is very much in line with what their client is trying to achieve. Logic suggests that because they completely understand their client, their objectives, and who they have to convince within that business, they stand a very good chance to convert this opportunity. This in turn allows them to forecast with confidence and not have the added pressure of wondering what they are going to say in the Monday morning sales meeting or put into their Friday afternoon forecasting report.
Be close to your number! A good salesperson is close to their number, they own it. You all have targets but how are you going to get there? You have to obtain your target from somewhere and your most important tool is your pipeline. I have been advised many times that you should have five times the value of your target within your pipeline. This varies from industry to industry and other managers will have differing views on that number. However, the underlying reason is the same, you need to have opportunities in place to achieve that target. This also guides your development work and long term planning. If you have nothing or not enough in your pipeline then failure is going to be your friend! It is also important that you are true to yourself as well. Many salespeople lie to themselves about just how good an opportunity is. Be honest with yourself and go have a look at your pipeline. If you have opportunities there that you know are never going to convert in your lifetime but you have put them there to keep your boss at bay then go delete them now, you will get found out anyway so you might as well start as you mean to go on. You will, for the first time for a while, have an honest pipeline and your first task will be to develop new business.
The number plays a huge part in all our lives. For you it is highly important. Achieve the number you have been allocated and you will gain the number you deserve. This could be number one sales person within the company. The rewards for achieving this are substantial...if you are consistent. Recognition from your boss, the board and your peers, a high commission, a superb reputation, potential promotion and career development are all within your grasp. Owning your number means that if someone within your company asks where you are in relation to that opportunity, you should be able to give a brief explanation of what has happened, what you have done, and what the next step is going to be, as well as when it is likely to convert? However, if you are transparent then generally you will not be asked these things because your reporting and your jobs to do are visible for everyone to see...if your line manager or board are asking these types of questions then you need to identify whether you are giving the correct detail to them, or just how clear and concise your reporting is.
So your list is:
1) Know and understand your role
2) Know your solutions or products
3) Plan your strategy for success and be busy
4) Be visible and honest in your approach
5) Build a pipeline that will deliver your number month on month
6) Own your number and opportunities
A salesperson's worst enemy is themselves. Confidence is the key to your success, confidence that you have your own structure in place, confidence that you are managing your time effectively, confidence that your reporting is accurate and that your pipeline is busy. Many sales people lie to themselves and say everything is fine when it is not. Monday comes around very quickly and a month can be gone before you even know it. Value every minute you have, be busy and find those opportunities and a profitable and successful business year will be yours.
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