It's something that happens to most managers at some time. A problem that's likely to keep us awake nights, tossing and turning and seeing the business going down the drain.
- We're offering staff incentives.
- We're holding regular sales meetings.
- We try hard to maintain good relations with the staff.
But one (or more) of our sales team isn't selling. And the frustrating part of it is that we can't see any real reason for non-performance.
A bit of lateral thinking can help here. For instance, what looks to you like an incentive can actually be a barrier to sales! Sounds crazy, doesn't it - There is a million and one how to sell books out there they all outline reasons why people are not selling. Some have 5 reasons some have 50 but there are four that continue to surface:
Lack of organisation
There are many people suffering from conditions in the world that are a result of some kind of deficiency. People with anaemia have a lack of iron in their blood, people with a lack of anti-bodies in their body are more susceptible to disease and sales people lack the natural ability be organised. It is like our DNA lacks that one gene strand!
Organisation is a key building block to success as a sales person. Most sales people resist all attempts to give them a structure and organise their life for them. But the most successful understand the need for structure and work hard on changing their natural un-organised behaviour. Here are three things to help you organise your sales team:
- Never start the day without a 'To-Do List' for you and your team - it gives them direction, a purpose to get up in the morning and assists in reducing procrastination. Plus if it's written down they are accountable to get it done.
- Start using the '3D' system - Do it, Dump it or Delegate it, never touch the same piece of paper twice. This will reduce the time spent putting things aside and revisiting them three or four times before realising that you have wasted half a day!
- Use the 'ECR' method - Error - Correct - Review. Get your sales people into the habit of ruling off their diary at the end of the day and re-run it in their head. If it went perfectly, what would they change? How could they have been more effective?
Performance leads to punishment
This happens more often than you'd think. Take the case of an auctioneer we know, who told his sales team that every time one of them clinched an auction property, that salesperson could do the auction. He thought it was a great idea; what an incentive to work hard to get the listing! How many properties do you think were listed? That's right, none.
It turned out that every one of those salespeople lacked confidence when it came to public speaking. Because of that fear, performance would have led to punishment.
Are you punishing your sales team for performance by loading them down with paperwork? Sales people are not administrators. They usually don't have a high attention to detail. A sales person is interested in two things:
- Making sales!
- Making commissions!
If they wanted to do paper work they would have applied for an administration role. Don't weigh your sales people down with loads of paper work. Get the main details from them and have an administrator or someone who likes, and is good at, high detail work complete the rest. Think about it this way - the longer a sales person is sitting down doing paper work the longer they are not making those sales calls. What's more important?
Lack of motivation or using the wrong motivators
The latest research coming from an American people development research company, Target Training International, says that to be a successful sales person you need to have a high "Utilitarian" drive. That is a drive for a return on your investment of time and resources. So, your driven to get something back for all those calls you made and the negotiating you did to get that sale - a commission. The research also shows that all people usually have a secondary and sometimes a third motivator. Things like helping others, increasing knowledge, leading others, etc. can help motivate people when money seems not to. What are your sales people's other motivators besides money? How can you offer them more fulfilling rewards? You might offer some monetary reward and a training course that interests them, or an opportunity to head up a new sales team.
Sometimes the most effective motivator is something other then money!
Failing to qualify prospects
Winston Marsh and Doug Malouf authored an audio program called "How to Sell Big Even in the Tough Times". In this program Winston refers to an unqualified prospect as a "Suspect". Now that is a great definition of what they are - they are suspect!
If your sales people are failing to qualify their suspects properly before going to see them, they are wasting valuable selling time. The new statistics coming from the top organisations in America are saying that the average sales call costs a company $250-$500 depending on what they are selling..... Every call! Now if your people are making 10 calls a week that means that they are costing you $2500 and up to $5000 (possibly more) every week. If they are visiting unqualified suspects they should not have left the office at all. They would have still had the same result - it just would have cost you less.
I read an article recently that talked about qualifying prospects properly, and used a fantastic acronym to describe how the process should go (COWMAN):
- Competition - Who else have they looked at, seen or spoken to?
- Organisation & other person - This is about building rapport - getting to know the prospect and their organisation.
- When - Timing and urgency. When are they looking to buy?
- Money - Do they have the budget to pay for your services?
- Authority - Who is the ultimate decision maker?
- Need - Is there a need for your product/service?
By using this model or one like it and open questions, (who, what, when, where, why, how, and tell me more about) you and your sales team will find that you are all wasting less time going to sales meetings with people who won't or can't buy your product! Another bonus to this process is that through asking the right questions before a sales call, it is easy to customise a sales presentation to suit each individual prospect and increase your closing efficiency.
Sales is not an easy profession, nor is sales management. However, when we make a sales person's life easy through systems, organisation and structure and show them the pay off, use the right motivation, and train them how to qualify prospects you will build a more effective sales team. This will impact their income and quality of life, and yours as well! Now get out there and SELL, SELL, SELL!