Posts Tagged ‘Salespeople’

One sort of sales management training that can get put aside even more than any other is undoubtedly sales coaching, even though it could possibly be the most critical of all.

The reason is that sales managers have a considerable amount of other responsibilities. They purely don’t possess a considerable amount of time to mess around with a number of nonessential pursuits. Nonetheless, almost all sales managers don’t succeed in coaching their sales people because they fail to remember exactly what the real objectives of mentoring their salespeople are. After you realize what desired goals you are hoping to accomplish with excellent sales coaching, it’ll be considerably easier to carve out enough time to get it done. Simply because after you get in the habit of sales coaching the benefits for you along with your organization are substantial.

Thus if you’re going to take time to educate yourself on the sales management training concepts used in great sales coaching, you need to understand what your specific goals of coaching your salespeople are:

1. Cultivate increased proficiency

One thing to bear in mind is that if you’re coaching your sales reps genuinely want to assist them to develop and get better at specific skills which are deparately needed for the effective completing the job or even the transaction itself. The thing here is to not always have them require your assistance all of the time. You ideally want the sales person to learn, then internalize, then do what was coached on their own, without any further intervention from yourself.

You’ll want to support your sales agents attain that top skill level through your coaching – in addition to developing increased competence simultaneously. One of the benefits is when you accomplish it correctly, they will no longer actually need you much. The better you can mentor them to obtain elevated degrees of sales proficiency, the higher the levels of sales effectiveness you are going to reach with them.

2. Identify and correct sales performance difficulties

In the event that your sales reps are not hitting their sales plan or objective or whatever your “minimum” requirement of performance is, you will need to determine the reason why this is happening. Good sales coaching assists in doing this. If a sales manager does a fair amount of supervision by observation, the great sales coach really should have a solid knowledge of the problems which exist in the marketplace and so far as the issues in the individual sales territories.

Having said that, there’s an additional component to the actual prognosis of sales effectiveness challenges – and this emanates from the sales rep themselves. Quite often, this part of the process is sorely overlooked…but shouldn’t . An effective sales coach, when exposing a sales performance challenge, first needs to talk to the sales rep themselves and ask them for his or her input about the given situation. By doing this, you’re much more likely to make a proper analysis of the situation.

3. Develop proper guidance and counseling

A sales leader is much more than simply a supervisor, leader and coach for his sales agents. Nevertheless as a sales coach and a trainer, it is best to be a mentor and a counselor of sorts to them.

At a minimum, one of your main goals as a supervisor and leader, you’ll want to enable each and every sales person in achieving their potential. And that potential might be outside of the scope of your purpose with them within the business. Sometimes, sales reps want more than simply the large incentive check from their occupations, they want to work at a place where they really feel part of something more significant as well as appreciate how they fit within that company structure.

If you’re able to coach them and aid them in reaching their very own personal objectives, you will help yourself reach your individual sales management objectives too.

To learn more about sales management training, click here to get more great information on sales management.

To hire a top-notch salesman, there are a variety of steps you need to comply with when you are conducting live job interviews with salespeople. Each of them will assist you drastically in finding the central characteristics of every sales candidate so that you can make the best educated hiring choice possible.

1. Make Great Notes in the Margin of the Resume

Make note of claims from the interviewee you might have any kind of questions about. As opposed to demanding the particular question right then and there, jot the assertion down, allow them to finish and then at some point soon later (this may even be in the following interview), inquire your question concerning that declaration.

This is extremely valuable in jogging your memory on essential assertions and detailed data which a person may use to later challenge and try out the mettle of the sales interviewee. The data you’ll write down now may seem basic and not at all relevant to the candidate selection process, however later on it’ll make a real difference in making remarkable hiring decisions.

2. Keep Your Mouth Shut

It’s fun to discuss the business, the job, your “management style” and all that good stuff. The issue with doing this is it won’t facilitate you to hire the right sales applicant.

The idea is this; the majority of time you spend in an interview needs to be spent with you finding out about them, not really you telling them about you. When you keep it that way you’ll discover a lot more regarding your candidates as opposed to you babbling the whole time.

3. Never ever Show Your Hand

Only right at the end of the final job interview should you commence letting them know the character qualities you would like in “the perfect sales candidate”. Don’t ever speak about this up-front.

What you’re looking for is for them to explain to you what they’re about. And you match their particular talents and expertise to the required abilities and experience necessary to be successful at the job.

4. Take advantage of Awkward Silences

In each and every job interview, you will find inevitable uneasy silences. Resist the temptation to fill them with words, in its place use them in your favor.

When there is an irritatingly prolonged silence, the applicant will certainly feel it more the longer it goes and will want to load it up with anything, because it’s so uncomfortable to them. Stay silent, see what they have to say instead.

Its in instances such as these that sales applicants expose their authentic self simply because they have used up all their pre-scripted responses. What they say after that will be not scripted and will provide you with invaluable insights into who they really are.

5. Don’t Steer the Witness

Whenever you ask a question and the applicant unexpectedly seems to lose their train of thought or struggles with the response to a question you’ve asked, let them have sufficient time to reply.

No matter what you do though, don’t answer on their behalf. The natural human inclination is to “fill in the gaps” and be agreeable and useful.

The response will ultimately come and you’ll want to write this down in the margin to examine it later in the interview. In the event you feel that the problem they’re having is due to the way you asked the question then simply re-state the query in less complicated terms.

Use these five tested techniques to interview your next salesperson and you will be amazed at the quality of applicants you’ll then be able to hire.

To learn more about sales management training, click here to get more great information on sales management.

Let’s talk about motivations. As I mentioned in an earlier post, everyone has different motivations. Some are motivated by money, some are motivated by success, some are motivated by personal satisfaction, etc. You can’t trust Mary to have the same motivations you did when you were in her shoes, as a salesperson.

But if there’s one thing in common among all salespersons, it’s being motivated by more than one thing, and one motivator that tops most lists is the incentive compensation plan.

As a sales manager, how well do you know your incentive compensation plan? Do you have total mastery of it? I hope you do. Otherwise you’re missing out on one of the most effective motivators of salespeople to help them reach peak performance.

I’ll give an example. A salesperson needs to do two things right in order to be successful.

1. Perform daily selling activities
2. Master every aspect of his or her product and use that knowledge to their advantage

Same is true for the sales manager. You are here to manage your salespeople, and to do that you must also be in control of what motivates them: the incentive compensation plan. You need to be a master of these two aspects to bring out the full potential of your salespeople, just as a salesperson has to master both points if he or she wants to be able to make a good sale on a consistent basis.

The incentive compensation plan can mean different things. For Mary, it signifies the freedom to do what she wants. For John, it means being able to pay the bills and make ends meet. For Tom, it allows him to support his family. So it only makes sense that the incentive compensation plan is a huge motivator of salespeople. As a top-performing sales manager, are you going to let this go?

Let me clarify this much: you are not a top-performing sales manager until you have total mastery of your incentive compensation plan and are using it to motivate your team to sales success.

Do YOU have total mastery of your incentive compensation plan? How do you use it to your advantage? Let me know by leaving a comment after this post.

Some years ago, in 1999, I was reading a novel called Fight Club when I came across this interesting line. I remember it went like this: “When people think you’re dying, they really, really listen to you, instead of just waiting for their turn to speak.”

It struck me as an interesting concept, especially when applied to sales. Is this the reason why some salespeople are having such a hard time? Because all they do is talk and talk and talk and, without knowing it, refuse to listen to what their clients have to say? Should sales reps be asking intelligent questions rather than knowing all the answers?

In this lesson, we’ll discuss the secret art of asking questions as a way to build customer trust. But the real good news is no one needs to be dying for you to be able to do it.

1. The Internet is a friend

As a modern day sales person, here’s one thing you should know: the Internet has changed the landscape with which sales representatives do business.

Back then sales reps spent a considerable amount of time asking questions about basic client information during a sales call. It makes sense. You can’t expect to establish a solid relationship without understanding the customer’s business context and a few basic details about them, and this is where the Internet comes in. Nowadays salespeople could use the Internet to find or gather basic information about their customers. At the same time customers expect salespeople to add more value to their services, too, and you simply can’t do that if you’re off gathering “basic background information” all the time.

Sales calls are always under a time limit. Don’t squander your “time budget” with the customer when the Internet is there to help you with data gathering.

2. Put weight into your questions

According to the books, there are different types of questions available at the sales rep disposal, each type being designed to elicit a different response and have a different effect on the customer. It all sounds too scientific, and it is.

Knowing the various theories and reasoning behind different types of questions is useful. But take note this is only one part of the story. When it comes down to the actual job, no amount of textbook knowledge could replace the value of asking good questions, questions with substance. This is what separates top performers from average salespeople. Top salesmen and women “know what they are talking about”.

The trick is to emphasize what they call “business substance” in your questions. If a question doesn’t contribute to your goals as a salesperson, don’t speak it. Ask questions that push your business relations forward. Otherwise you’re simply doing a good job of asking questions about the wrong things.

3. The one-size-fits-all misconception

Here’s another thing that defines a seasoned sales rep from an amateur one – the senior sales rep doesn’t see people as generic customers.

There’s no such thing as a “generic customer.” Everyone is different. People are born unique. Simply put, you won’t get anywhere if you’re planning to ask the same questions over and over again without paying attention first to your clients’ needs.

The probing model and the different types of questions is nothing more than a guide for college students. In the real world, they serve very little purpose except to remind you how vastly different the playing field becomes once you’re wearing the tie and shoes of a professional salesperson.

The secret is to identify the needs of your client, and then ask questions that target those needs and push your business relations to new grounds. I know this is a lesson about asking questions, but a good salesperson listens first and asks questions later. 

It’s a tough time for companies trying to find something to hold on to in today’s market, and the same is true for sale representatives. The challenge is to stay strong and adamant during these hard times, and mastering the art of asking significant questions goes a long way into helping the company and its group of salespeople overcome that challenge.

Some folks are born to do it. Some people have to work before they become proficient at asking good questions. It doesn’t matter. What matters is you have the heart to learn how to do it, and do it like a pro to cope with today’s sales environment.

Post a comment and tell me your insights about how important to learn the art of asking good questions.

So you really want to learn how to motivate your sales reps?
Here’s the “secret sauce” that 99% of average sales managers NEVER use and if they do, they screw it up
So here the right way to so it – use the “Masterful Praising”. Here’s how you do it. Right after they do something “praise-worthy” take this three step approach: 

1. Look them in the eye or if on the phone stop and emphasize your words clearly and distinctly, telling them exactly what they did correctly in specific terms.
2. Pause for effect. Praise intermittently, not always on every little thing. Keep it a bit of a mystery as to when you will praise.In doing this the salesperson will never know exactly when the praise will come, so they always will be wondering when the next praise will come. This is then the motivator. Salespeople will work twice as hard once they get a few praisings under their belt.
3. Be specific. Be specific in your praise – don’t just say “nice job” or “good work”. In fact if you do it that way, then don’t even bother!Instead, say “Hey Tim that was great work being so persistent to finally secure the appointment for us to propose to the Simpson account. I know it took a lot of effort on your part. I appreciate it”.People will continuously repeat activities that they reinforced by.Reinforce the ones you want repeated, they will be clamoring for you to deliver them praise.It’s the human nature. Use the laws of human nature to get your salespeople to be doing more of the things you want them to do.

There is an important corollary to this which is especially effective for use in getting new or struggling salespeople to do the right things, even if they don’t get them exactly right.

If a salesperson shows progress on a task but cannot fully complete it due to lack of knowledge or skill, the average sales manager withholds praise and approval until they get it exactly correct.

The truly great sales manager praises every correct step along the way and praises even more when it is done to completion. If you truly want to get your salespeople to perform without you, then here is the key!

The most important idea here is that especially when someone is just starting; catch them in the act of doing something correct. At first approximately correct, and gradually move them to exactly correct.