Apr 15 2007
You Always Get More Of The Behaviour And Results You Reward
For companies to remain competitive today, their sales organisation must be able to respond positively to changing economic tides. As businesses strive to establish customer orientation, sales partnerships and a strategic approach to selling, they are demanding more and more from their salespeople but ensuring that these new methods are widely practised and smoothly implemented falls to sales management.
Sales productivity is a strategic issue. That’s why problems in this area stem from salespeople being unclear about their company’s priorities i.e. what their message should be and what they should be selling.
The trend in industry of removing layers of management between the sale force and the general manager presents a challenge to those sales managers who remain. To begin with, the sales manager becomes an essential link between company strategy and what takes place in the customer’s office. He or she must not only grasp the corporate vision but be able to communicate it to the sales force in terms of the real effects on sales practices.
Sales managers with an intimate feel for the selling process succeed because their staff regard them as part of the sales team but coaching the team is as important as playing in it. In other words, sales managers must be prepared to provide training, feedback and support to every individual within the team.
Once committed to the training process, they must routinely reinforce new ways of behaving in real sales situations. They must provide a clear sense of direction on a daily basis, not just at the monthly sales meeting / quarterly review / annual appraisal.
The very best sales managers engage in frequent coaching and feedback, even when their sales people work in remote locations. While encouraging salespeople to air their problems openly and discuss their concerns, sales managers must be able to offer clear and specific feedback for improving sales performance.
The sales manager is charged with translating the company’s reward system into specific improvements in sales performance. Both salespeople and corporate managers count on the sales manager to recognise and reward outstanding achievement, formally and informally.
The process of promoting new attitudes about the customer and the role of the salesperson can be frustrating and slow. Reverting back to recent research there is compelling evidence to suggest that companies will see results sooner if they recognise and reward salespeople - “you always get more of the behaviour and results that you reward”.
The trend in sales compensation appears to be away from commission to guaranteed salary, from compensation based on orders to compensation based on delivery and sign-off. Interestingly some organisations we know, base their ‘salesperson of the year’ award on the basis of customer satisfaction or customer retention rather than sheer volume of orders or activity. (This week’s lead post is based on an extract from ”The 5 Most Dangerous Issues Facing Sales Directors/Vice -Presidents Of Sales Today” by Nikki Owen)
More Sales Management Articles
By the time you read this, Top 10 Sales Articles will have officially launched and the first ten nominated articles announced on BlogTalkRadio– I do hope you were able to join us? I think it is a matter of preference, some people enjoy listening as it is certainly more personal, plus of course you gain the benefit of hearing words of wisdom from my expert guests!.
The publicity machine continues at great pace and my thanks to everyone who ensured that we got off to the best possible start – here is just one interview I completed with Clayton Shold of Salesopedia
I dropped in my fellow adjudication panellist Steve Martinez’s site this week - Selling Magic and downloaded his free booklet outlining his very innovative sales process, “Push Button Selling” I was very impressed with the “total” approach – there is also a video and you can find them here.
I will, in all probability, increase the number of weekly posts to two from May 1st – wow, I hear you say, double-helpings, yippee!! Now calm down and continue reading:
Finally, two new articles for you: “What Is The Most Important Stage Of The Sales Cycle?” is featured on my personal site; jonathanfarrington.com and here is a brief extract:
“The Exploratory Meeting is a key element in the sales process. Typically the meeting will have been arranged after qualification via the telephone and a decision made by both parties that it would be mutually beneficial to meet.
It is the exploratory meeting that will allow the professional salesperson to set the ground rules and get a feel for the client and their needs. As this is normally the first meeting it is also where the potential client will get his first impression of you, therefore the way you look, act and conduct the meeting will have a direct bearing on whether or not you are able to proceed to the next stage. Finally, the objective of the meeting is to gain commitment to the next stage and NOT to try and get the order..” Continue reading
Whilst on Group site: thejfagroup.com I have posted: “To Have Growth In Profits, You Must have Growth In People”
“During the seventies, eighties and nineties, it was common for large corporations such as Hewlett Packard, IBM, and Compaq etc to put their new sales recruits through a twelve to eighteen-month training programme. Today, salespeople consider themselves extremely fortunate if they receive an initial two weeks of induction training or product familiarisation workshops.
So what has changed? Have companies discovered that training is not necessary? On the contrary, training appears to be even more important today than it was thirty years ago and it is becoming more critical all the time” Continue reading
If you are not “read out” do meander over to Top 10 Sales Articles and see who this week’s nominees are and have a crack at guessing who will win.
“Top 10 Sales Articles” is sponsored by: The Sales Activator® where Results speak louder than words.
That’s it for another week, until next time, good selling - JF
