Before I get into today’s topic, thank you all for my exceptionally bulging mailbox today. It seems the world, his brother, and everyone who knows his brother, has an opinion about the future of professional selling – and so they should. It is of course the oldest profession – you may need to think about that for a moment – and quite rightly, we should do everything we can to preserve its status.

The debate will continue over the next few weeks, and “me learned colleagues” are sharpening their pencils ready to join in. 

But …. I am going to throw just a little more fuel on that fire tomorrow, based on my own experiences over the past sixty days. Want a taster?

“50% of all sales jobs that exist today – in their current format - will disappear within three years – 80% within five years”

Pretty controversial stuff eh? Join me tomorrow for the full predictions. Now back to today’s business.

Most of us are involved in some form of business acquisition for our respective companies. We all know that winning business often requires a significant investment in time, resources and energy and that the thrill of the chase is an exciting one. Isn’t it a shame that sometimes the customer, who you worked so hard to win, cancels the order during the initial stages because someone somewhere has let them down?

The sequence of events is often typical – an ‘important’ meeting of department heads is set up to find out who the culprit was and why, but it’s too late – all you can do is learn from the mistakes – or at least that’s the logical outcome.

In this post, I want to cover just two issues which your company faces in retaining customers:

• The true value of exceptional customer service

• Moments of truth

Looking around, it’s easy to see how many companies have developed customer service strategies using the telephone. Take for example some of the fast food establishments who actively promote ‘0800’ care lines, or the soft drinks cans with care line numbers on the packaging and the cleaning product companies with care lines. Care lines are increasing at a rapid pace in some industries.

So what is the value of good customer service? It increases spend, loyalty, reduces cost, promotes your company through positive word of mouth, differentiates you from your competition and can help you charge premium prices for your products and services.

We all want to deliver good customer service and want our customers to go out and recommend us to their friends, family and colleagues – yet finding the most efficient and cost effective way of doing this can be difficult. The telephone can play an important part in developing a comprehensive customer service strategy and should be looked at not just for the obvious applications of inbound care lines, but for proactive applications that could pre-empt issues before they arise.

Service isn’t just about answering calls quickly (within 3 rings is what I usually hear). It’s also important that the person you speak to has all the information and that you do not have to repeat yourself. Unfortunately, I have lost count of the number of times I have to do the latter with companies these days – even by some of the so-called top service companies.

Looking at badly handled calls, many of us are aware that 86% of customers would prefer not doing business with a company again if a single call is badly handled, but still many companies put inexperienced, poorly trained staff at the front end of their business. Worst of all, when you have a problem, you can’t get it resolved easily!

Unfortunately, customer care is still regarded by many as a costly activity or a burden on resources. Some organizations have already recognized the importance of customer care and a few are very advanced in its practice.

Every contact an existing, or potential, customer has with your company is a moment of truth. It could be how quickly their call was answered, how long it took your company to send out a brochure, what happens when the delivery driver turns up with the product, how accurate the invoice is, etc.

Recognizing all the moments of truth in your company will allow you to address weaker areas easily – for example, Jan Carlzon of SAS identified almost 1000 moments for customers using his airline. He then set his senior managers the task of improving each of these by just 1%, resulting in a substantial increase in service!

Have you already begun thinking about your company’s moments of truth?

Whilst you are contemplating, why not digest this message from Dan Waldschmidt…..

The Problem.

So. What’s the deal with that sales software you are using?

That little solution your boss calls “CRM”…

Or Customer Relationship Management. Which is strangely ironic because the word “solution” usually comes next.

Somehow trying to passively coerce me into believing that a piece of software has magically arrived with the answer to my need to close more deals. Make it easier. Make it faster. Maybe even pick my groceries from the store in the process.

Heck. Why not? If you read all the features listed on the website you might actually assume this much.

And yet, you can’t find a sales person who actually likes their CRM.

Am I wrong? What other industry is like this — where the craftsman is completely unhappy with all the tools at his disposal?

Like a landscaper who can’t find a rake-maker who makes a useful tool. Or a chef who has to bake all her meals in a toaster oven.

Makes you wonder.

Who is inventing these things?

Maybe I can help you.

Join me for this highly interactive 45 minute Masterclass, and I’ll try to give you some of the answers.

Tuesday January 11th 2011 1PM EASTERN (That’s 6pm GMT)

REGISTRATION on Top Sales World is FREE. Please go HERE

Slightly later than advertised, over the next few weeks I am going to share my own predictions for the future of professional selling, and also those of a selection of good chums who are not only experts in their chosen fields, but who also have gained a reputation of being genuine thought leaders in the “sales space”

Will we all agree? Is the Pope a Muslim? You will soon discover that there is as much variation and diversity in our thinking as there are lead generation or CRM solutions. As many as that JF, I hear you gasp in awe – well at least in moderate surprise.

We begin by thinking about 2011, and we also begin by thinking about “inside sales”

Who better to kick us off, than the incredibly smart Josiane Feigon?

11 in 11
Smart Inside Sales Trends in 2011

Sales Snipers, Lead Development, and More

Time to exhale! After surviving 2009 and dusting ourselves off in 2010, we begin a new year that promises more vigor and spunk.

Corporations are already beginning to suffer from “frugality fatigue.” This year, many will finally dip into their savings pile and spend, making 2011 the year of the socially smart buyer. The SMB market is well positioned to deploy new trends . . . as long as they can see the ROI light at the end of the tunnel and enough friends within their circle of trust recommend or like you.

Inside sales organizations continue to grow at least 30% faster than their field counterparts, with more hybrid and remote reps. But the real “Sales Snipers” are the lead development teams, projected to grow up to 300%. It’s no longer about having the best salesforce — in
2011, the best lead development engines will win.

So take your protein pills, put your helmet on, and get ready to soar as the Sales Sniper Pilots take full ground control of their sales productivity, intelligence, and social tools and make a perfect landing on their target buyers.

1.  Virtual Salespeople: As inside organizations continue to grow, the need for cheaper and hungrier talent will explode. The buzzword is no longer off-shore outsourcing but out-of-state virtual employees — which means managers must pick up speed on managing remotely and in a virtual world.

2.  Your Social Graph Is the New Job Security: Salespeople will become their company’s chief customer officers, so their social footprint must expand. Social media will become standard operating procedure and an essential part of the entire sales cycle. Time to start designing KPI’s that reward reps who have a high social graph and tools IQ.

3.  Social Surfing Beats Setting Appointments: More and more appointments will be cancelled due to unpredictable schedules and long time requests. So change tactics: The best way to secure a meeting is for prospects to receive a thumbs- up review from someone within their social web. It’s time for inside sales to surf this new social wave and engage with their friends, fans and followers.

4.  Customers Are Mad as Hell: Listen up! Busy prospects are skittish, independent, impatient, and tired of being held in a sales head-lock. They will come to you when they’re ready and not before. Forget cold-calling — they will simply think it’s a rude interruption.

5.  The Hip and Hungry Boomer Reps: By all means refresh your inside sales talent in all categories — from leadgen, to inside sales, to hybrid — but don’t just look for college hires. Boomers are hip, hungry, and they’re not retiring anytime soon. Plus, the 50+ crowd doesn’t party all night! They will gladly accept a position from 7-3 pm without any travel.

6.  Hey Coach, Watch This: Managers must learn to coach and inspire, not embarrass and demotivate. Just because they “smiled and dialed” years ago doesn’t mean it’s still done the same way. Get your leadership skills in gear before your team members decides to take their resumes to the competition.

7.  Write On: Customer 2.0 wants to know who you are before they connect with you, which means that writing good content will be key to your survival. Comments on blog posts, engaging questions on LinkedIn discussion groups, inviting tweet streams, and killer subject lines will get their attention fast.

8.  No-Po Rehab Clinic Opens: It’s about time you stop hanging out with the wrong people- the No-Po’s who have No Power, No Potential and will never provide you with a Purchase Order. Just recognizing you are in the No-Po zone is the first step but going cold turkey is another. We can help with your No-Po addiction, sign up for a No- Po clinic.

9.  Nurture and Engage: Customer 2.0 likes to self-educate, and they prefer to vary their learning methods. Inventory your valuable content, strategically align it throughout the sales cycle, and make it contagious so it turns into an inbound well qualified lead.

10. Call Activity Gets a Makeover: Forget tracking 75 outbound calls per day and give your next call campaign a major make-over. The days of counting are gone. Its time to press refresh when it comes to metrics — and stop relying only on the phone!

11. Data grows Up: Data is everywhere, so there’s no excuse for not knowing. Get smart about what to do with all that data, and put the sales intelligence and analytics at your fingertips to use!

Make Smart Selling Choices in 2011

READ Josiane Feigon’s Smart Selling on the Phone and Online.  — the #1 best-selling inside sales sourcebook, written just for inside sales teams and managers who must navigate the Sales 2.0 landscape. This cubicle must-have is based on the proven and time-tested
 
TeleSmart10 System, the Sales 2.0 training methodology that global Fortune 500 companies rely on for developing their sales talent.

FOLLOW Cubicle Chronicles Blog: www.tele-smart.com/blog
LinkedIn: Smart Selling on the Phone and Online Group
Facebook: Smart Selling on the Phone and Online Facebook Fan Page
Twitter: @josianefeigon
Youtube.com/user/josianefeigon

For More Information, contact Josiane. Phone: 415-543-6537
Email:  getsmart@tele-smart.com

The JF Guest Author Post

If your company is about to begin a sales development initiative, do you know the factors that will determine its eventual success or failure? There are many and ultimately, like most systems and processes, they are only as good as the weakest link.

Sales Force Evaluation – if you don’t begin with this comprehensive look at the people, systems, processes and strategies of your sales organization, it would be like building a home without first knowing the size and location of the land, its proximities to utilities, designing the home, having a blueprint, knowing the local zoning laws, and having a budget! Think about the nightmare you would be in store for…You have questions, questions, questions and the sales force evaluation provides answers, answers, answers.

Sales Infrastructure – you must have a formal, structured, optimized sales process in place PRIOR to training your salespeople. Strategies, tactics and competencies are only as good as the process being followed. You must also have a staged, criteria based sales pipeline with metrics, customized for each salesperson, so that everyone knows exactly how many opportunities, and of what potential size, must be in each stage at any given point in time. From the pipeline requirements, metrics that drive results must be developed for each salesperson.

Sales Recruiting – assuming that not all of your salespeople are A’s and B’s, you must replace the C’s that can’t be saved, and possibly the B’s who can’t become A’s so that you have the right people in the right roles before training begins.

Sales Management  – must be developed, trained and coached so they can coach their salespeople to the training that will be provided and hold them accountable to both the application of that training and coaching, as well as the metrics that were developed.

Sales Training – assuming that the four points above have effectively been executed, now you can begin training your salespeople. Still more factors must be considered….

Methodology – it must be easy to remember, intuitive and easy to apply. It must also deal with both Customer 2.0 and Sales 2.0 issues.

Course Curriculum – this is much less important than any of the other factors yet executives often want to make this the key factor. It’s not.

The Company – of course you want the company to be reputable and have an excellent track record, and they must have the resources to handle the size of your organization.

The Trainer – he or she must be able to perform the following additional factors:
1. Help people to leave their comfort zones
2. Provide assignments and hold people accountable
3. Communicate with the sales management team about progress
4. Get your people engaged
5. Get your people excited
6. Get your people committed to change
7. Make a case for the process
8. Clearly explain the strategies and tactics in the process
9. Make it enjoyable and entertaining
10. Feed by spoon rather than fire hose
11. Role Play
12. Challenge people

Out of all of the factors above, if I had to pick the single one that makes or breaks the effectiveness of the trainer, it would come down to their ability to role-play as a means of demonstrating how a sales conversation should take place. The role-play must be repeatable, real-world, question-based and relevant. No tricks, hokey techiques that only work in seminars, or one-liners that can’t be used with a real prospect. It must sound completely conversational and the trainer must be able to go back and break-down, question for question, what took place in the role-play.

While ALL of the factors in today’s article are crucial for a successful sales training/sales development initiative, if you get them all right and the trainer can’t effectively role-play the salesperson’s part of any scenario, with any salesperson, at any time, in any phase of the sales process, with any type of prospect, you have dramatically increased the chances that you wasted money on sales training.

Dave Kurlan is a top-rated speaker, the best-selling author of Baseline Selling, and a leading expert on Sales Force Development. He is the founder and CEO of Objective Management Group, Inc., the leading developer of sales assessment tools. He is also the CEO of Kurlan & Associates, Inc., a leading sales force development firm. Web: http://www.objectivemanagement.com/ More

The JF Guest Author Spot

Does this sound familiar?

After dozens of phones calls and emails as well as several face-to-face meetings, you finally reach an agreement with a prospect who is intent on buying your service, product or solution.

“Whew! Another sale done,” you think to yourself.

But, wait. Before you start counting your commission it is critical that you keep the sale. Just because a prospect has agreed to move forward it does not mean that the sale will move forward, especially if you sell a complex system or solution. Dozens of things can happen to derail your efforts.

Your key contact may change companies or positions. The person you are dealing with gets cold feet, loses interest, or decides to change vendors. The company may be acquired or sold. A competitor may approach your prospect with a better offer. There is no such thing as a guaranteed sale even if you are holding a signed contract.

That means you need to ensure that you keep the sale. Here are several strategies you can incorporate into your business that will help you achieve this.

1. First, send some form of acknowledgement or thank you. I know this sounds like an elementary concept but most sales people don’t think of doing this. They take the sale and move on to the next prospect. However, if you send a thank-you card immediately after you confirm the sale, you differentiate yourself you’re your competition. You can also use postcards.

The key is to show your new customer that you value his or her business and thanking them is just one small gesture that demonstrates this.

2. The next thing to do is regularly update your new customer. Keep them informed about things like delivery or shipment status and installation dates and schedules. If you sell a highly customized product, make sure you advise them on the progress of the development of their product. Frequency of updates will depend on several factors.

􀂃 What does your key decision-maker expect or want? If they are detail-oriented person they will require more frequent updates than someone who is less detail-oriented. The easiest way to determine this is ask this question, “How often do you want me to send you updates?” A simple question but one that will give you tremendous insight into your customer’s expectations.

􀂃 Another factor is the length of time that occurs between the time of your agreement and when your services will be rendered or your product will be delivered. The more time that elapses between these two, the more important it is for you to update your customer. For example, in my particular business, it is not uncommon for a company to book me for a keynote speech or training workshop up to a year in advance of their actual event. During this time, I try to send them some form of update so they know I have not forgotten about their event.

3. Send them additional information of value. This includes articles, magazine and newspaper clippings, or other information that is relevant to their business. You could send them an article that mentions a strategic move one of their competitors is about to make or an article on a topic that relates to your key contact’s interests. You may come across a newspaper article about their company—clip this article and send it your client. It does not matter if they have already read the article because your gesture shows that you are paying attention to their business. And most sales people do not do this. One word of caution. Do NOT send information about your product!
This is not about you! It is about giving your new customer a reason to keep the sale with you.

4. Depending on the size of the sale, you could send a book that will help them with their business. There are a multitude of books on the market today, addressing virtually every business situation. If your client enjoys reading then it makes good business sense to send them a book that will help improve their results. I have sent books to my clients that focus on communication, leadership, sales, and customer service. Attach a brief note explaining why you sent this book.

Reinforce their buying decision. The easiest way to do this is to send them testimonials from satisfied customers. An even more effective approach is to ask one of your existing clients to call your new customer. People want reassurance that they have made a sound buying decision so just imagine the impact if they heard a voice mail message from one of your clients saying how satisfied they were with your product, service or solution.

These may sound like simple concepts. However, I can guarantee that very few sales people actually use them. Integrating these strategies into your routine will not only help you differentiate yourself from your competition, you will increase your odds of keeping every sale you make.

Kelley Robertson, author of “The Secrets of Power Selling” helps sales professionals and businesses pinpoint what they need to do differently to improve their sales. Receive a FREE copy of “100 Ways to Increase Your Sales” by subscribing to his free newsletter available at his website.

Kelley conducts workshops and speaks regularly at sales meetings and conferences. For information on his programs contact him at 905-633-7750 or Kelley@RobertsonTrainingGroup.com. As president of The Robertson Training Group, Kelley has helped thousands of sales professionals improve their sales with his engaging approach. Web: http://www.kelleyrobertson.com/

It has long been my view that most sales and executive leadership programs are too general to provide opportunities for intensive, personalized work on self-development. Coaching, by contrast, enables individuals to gain insight into their own motives, interests, and concerns. These link explicitly to the challenges they face in their leadership or management roles.

The Growth of Personal Coaching

I believe that coaching’s rapid growth will continue. Forward-thinking organizations are looking for alternative ways to lead and manage staff. The business world has experienced more upheaval in the past 10 years than in the previous 50: It’s no accident that this period of unprecedented change has witnessed a boom in executive coaching.

The signs are that the boom will continue. A recent survey that polled HR professionals from Europe, America, Australia and Asia found that 88 percent of the respondents were planning to make more use of professional coaching. A little more than half of the respondents had introduced the practice in the past 18 months.

Coaching vs. Traditional Development Programs

People may learn a great deal in personal-development courses, but when they return to the workplace, they often have difficulty integrating what they have learned into their day-to-day duties. Quite often, what they may have learned simply slips from their minds.

I also believe that between 50 percent and 70 percent of an organization’s climate, and hence its effectiveness, can be traced to management style. Effective leaders create a favorable working environment that boosts performance. This is where coaching comes into its own. Leadership is a set of skills, competences and attitudes that individuals can develop through practice and by reflecting on their own actions and the impact this can have on others.

Coaching can also help executives acquire a greater awareness of their own leadership style. This is crucial if they are to develop the variety of styles needed to manage and lead in different situations. All too often, leaders rely on a command-and-control style, which has a negative impact on all but a crisis. Coaching people on leadership styles produces positive results in most situations by creating a supportive environment in which employees feel empowered to give their best and find the solutions to problems.

Coaching: Not Just a Remedial Solution

Not unnaturally, some diehards still hold with an old-fashioned view that coaching can be used only for remedial purposes, but those organizations that have embraced the concept fully have discarded that way of thinking. Their approach concentrates on leadership and personal development as part of building a high-performance organization — they are committed to moving away from managing by a culture of process to managing as leaders.

Typically, I find that my clients are not interested in adopting the style of coaching used by many companies to focus on simple issues — particularly how to get along with fellow team members. They choose us because they believe we offer a more challenging style that digs more deeply into behavior and personality. This leaves executives with something more permanent that they can take away from the coaching sessions and use during the rest of their careers, rather than just as a one-time solution.

It is not always easy to convince executives that they should submit to a scrutiny of their personalities and behavior, but in reality, those executives who balk at taking “the journey of self development” could soon find themselves isolated and lesser leaders than many of their contemporaries.

Do look out for a brand new initiative – “Tougher at the Top” – which precedes the publication of my first book, and will involve input from some of the foremost sales leadership experts on the planet. You will also discover an exciting coaching program, which you will want to consider. If you would like to receive pre-launch details, you can email me – jf@jfcorporation.com

Tomorrow: A really excellent guest post ….. so do join me if you can

Yesterday, I discussed “branding” or what my publisher describes as “building a platform”

About five years ago – long before social media had reared its handsome head – I embarked on my own personal platform building campaign, and a significant initiative within that exercise was submitting articles for publication.

Why is all of that relevant to today’s post? Well, quite simply this was amongst my first articles, and if you will allow a small trumpet blow, it has been read by almost 50.000 people on Ezine Articles! In fact, if you ever doubt the value of writing articles, simply Google “Business Development Strategy” 

Whilst I very much hope that the super-efficient amongst you have already had your strategy for 2011 signed off, it may just be that some of you are still in “construction mode” so this may help….. and do please remember, strategies are just as important for individuals as they are for companies!

The “Business Development Strategy” is used to underpin your main business plan and, essentially, it sets out a standard approach for developing new opportunities – either from within existing accounts, or by proactively targeting brand new potential accounts and then working to close them.

The key word is ‘strategy’, because you are creating a workable and achievable set of objectives in order to exceed your annual target.

Your Starting Point

The key words are Who? What? Where? When? Which? Why? How?

For example:
Who – are you going to target?
What – do you want to sell them?
Where – are they located?
When – will you approach them?
Which – are the appropriate target personnel?
Why – would they want to meet with you?
How – will you reach them?

If you have conducted regular account reviews with your key accounts during the previous twelve months, you should be aware of any new opportunities that will surface during the next twelve months. You will also, when assessing what percentage of your annual target usually comes from existing accounts, need to review data over the last two or three years (it is likely that you can apply Pareto – i.e. 80% of your business will probably come from existing accounts and in fact 80% of your total revenue will come from just 20% of your customers/clients)

You will be left with a balance – i.e. “20% of my business next year will come from new opportunities” – therefore you can then begin to allocate your selling time accordingly.

Ideal Customer Profiling

Pro-active business development demands that we create an ideal target at the front end – i.e. an Ideal Customer Profile. The essential characteristics you will need to consider are:

• Industrial Sector
• Geographical Location (Demographics)
• Size of organisations (Turnover, number of employees, etc)
• Financial Trends
• Psychographics – i.e. philosophical compatibility

Many strategic sales professionals merely profile their best existing clients and try to replicate them. There’s nothing wrong with doing this, but we should always remember that we are seeking an IDEAL and we can always improve on what we already have.

‘New’ Opportunities From Within ‘Old’ Accounts

Because it now costs approximately fifteen times as much to first locate and then sell to a new customer as it does an existing one (although these costs are rarely reflected in the cost of sales), it is essential that we fully develop our existing accounts working upwards, downwards and sideways, thus making the most of the (hopefully) excellent reputation we have developed already.

Most corporate accounts have several divisions, departments, sites, even country offices and you must satisfy yourself that you have exhausted every possible avenue. Don’t be afraid to ask the question “Who else should I be talking to in your organisation“?

Developing New Opportunities

There are a number of ways in which we can target new opportunities – e.g.
• Direct mail
• Telephone canvassing
• Researching archived files for customers who used to buy from your company
• Exhibitions
• Seminars
• User groups
• E-Mail campaigns
• Referrals
• Qualified leads
• Advertising
• Social media

Not all of these will be appropriate to your particular industry, but you should not be afraid to experiment – i.e. challenge the paradigm – and do not accept that just because a particular idea has not worked in the past that it will not do so in the future (Remember when you were learning to walk – it didn’t work first time then!)

The important thing is to make an early decision in terms of what you are going to try and then build this (those) ideas into your master plan.

A Typical Business Development Plan

You should plan out the whole year and review / revise quarterly.

List your existing accounts and plan what activities/actions need to be completed in order to fully exhaust all opportunities. You may for instance plan to cover more bases within the decision making unit, or contact associated companies or offices. The Strategic Account Profile can be used as a prompt.

Begin to target new accounts using business directories etc. and set targets per week / month / quarter – i.e. I normally allow for eight hours per week as a minimum (Don’t forget to continually refer back to your Ideal Profile)

Then build in what assistance you need from your marketing function – i.e. qualified leads, seminars, exhibition attendance, etc.

Finally, share your plan with your manager and then commit to it.

You should also measure it against S.M.A.R.T.E.R. – i.e. is it:
Specific
Measurable
Achievable
Relevant
Timed
Exciting
Recorded

Linking With Your Commercial Plan

I have suggested that your Business Development Strategy would link with your Master Business Plan, but logically you should also integrate it into your Commercial Kit (this is a document that outlines your monthly, quarterly and annual targets) – specifically the areas that deal with new business generation, account management and development, four tier account lists etc.

These three documents, when combined, should drive and guide you through the next twelve months and beyond.

Summary
As I have said often enough “People do not fail because they planned to fail, but rather because they failed to plan.”

The man/woman who knows where he/she wants to go is more likely to get there – they just have to decide how to get there.

All plans are essentially maps and guides – the strategic element is the ‘How‘

Do be prepared to change course – flexibility is key – and don’t be afraid to experiment, look outside the square.

News: This just in from irrepressible good chum Nigel Edelshain …..

I just finished a new “mini e-book” (13 pages). This one is called Make Your Effort Count. 7 Tips to Make Your Sales Efforts Pay Off in a 2.0 World It was co-authored with John Cousineau CEO of Innovative Information Inc

You can grab a copy from http://budurl.com/kxc8 (free, no registration.)
Happy New Year,

Nigel Edelshain

And from another good chum, Lindy Richardson, two astonishing images, celebrating her induction into the Top Sales Hall of Fame

Yes, they are genuine, and yes, that really is Times Square and Las Vegas – that is what I call PR!!!

To suggest that there have been a plethora of blog posts and articles recently with the word “Branding” in the subject line would be somewhat of an exaggeration, but certainly I have noticed an increase, which has prompted me to respond today.

The typical gist is that to expand one’s area of expertise, is to confuse one’s target audience, and can only lead to a dilution of effectiveness.

To an extent, I am in agreement. The term “Jack of all trades, master of none” has a plausible ring about it, particularly when I remember all of the so called “handymen” who have wreaked havoc with my house maintenance over the years.

However, at what point do we become constrained by our own success? When do we stop experimenting with new ideas and concepts? Who surgically removes our pioneering spirit? What arrests our need for adventure? Who finally consigns us to a life of “ordinariness?”

Did anyone ask Jill Konrath why, as a highly successful author, speaker, and formally sales coach, she felt the need to launch a program – “Get Back to Work Faster” – last year to try to help the hundreds of thousands of salespeople, who believed they might be on the scrap-heap? Or why she formed the “Sales Shebang” group for like minded female businesswomen, to share ideas and experiences? Of course they didn’t.

Did anyone question why Jeb Blount, already a best-selling author and motivational speaker, needed to launch Sales Gravy? I very much doubt it.

What about Linda Richardson, who grew the Richardson empire, and then wrote ten books, as well as involving herself in lecturing, serving on the Mayor’s Council for the Arts for the City of Philadelphia, is a Director of the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, and a Director of the American Poetry Review?

Or Paul McCord, Dave Kurlan, Tony Alessandra, Dan Waldschmidt, Wendy Weiss, Joanne Black, Tibor Shanto, Greg Stebbins….the list is endless. You see, these people are typical of so many of my friends, and acquaintances – they are multi-talented, and most of all, they refuse to be pigeon-holed. Has it affected their “brand?” Not one bit.

My own experience is very similar – it is what I refer to as my “apprenticeship”

Five years frontline selling, followed by four years sales management. Then came ten years in VP/Sales Director roles, as an entry into the C-Lounge. After that, a further six years in CEO/Chairman roles.

Then a huge leap of faith, leaving the comfort of corporate life, forming my own consultancy, and spending ten years developing and coaching more that 50.000 sales leaders and sales professionals on five continents.

And of course, latterly, after selling my company, I have spent six years “building a brand” and crusading in order to continually raise the profile of professional selling.

So that is forty years, this year, of exposure to all things sales, which I believe entitles me to an educated opinion – it is one of the few benefits of ageing!

Not unnaturally, with the arrival of “social media” it would appear that so called experts are born overnight. Establishing a large LinkedIn group, or enticing a massive following on Twitter does create popularity, and to a degree, influence. But can any of that replace experience and credibility?

My greatest concern is that too often these days, we are not being offered advice by this new wave of fledgling experts, but rather we are made to feel foolish or inadequate if we do not accept everything they say. They do not offer help, but preach, and I am totally uncomfortable with all of that.

Experience and credibility, plus an open, enquiring mind, married to an adventuresome spirit are the characteristics of the people I listen to and admire most.

As I confirmed yesterday, I have always worked with the following formula: Attitude + Skills + Process + Knowledge = Success

Therefore, when measuring my teams, I always ensure that I benchmark against that criteria: A simplified example might look something like this (although I have to admit that my own companies’ measurement system is much more rigorous)

Personal
o Self-organization & planning
o Motivation and attitude
o Ability to work under pressure
o Team playing and interpersonal skills
o Personal presentation
o Communication (oral/written/listening)
o Flexibility
o Initiative
o Performance vs. objectives

Sales
o Account management
o Business development
o Opportunity assessment -qualification
o Negotiation skills
o Presentation skills
o Strategic work
o Pro-activity
o Forecasting
o Achievement of targets

And for those with supervisory responsibilities you could add:
o Delegating authority
o Decision making
o Motivating – i.e. Creating enthusiasm and confidence
o Appraising and assessing
o Selecting and recruiting
o Coaching and developing
o Creativity
o Planning and allocating resource
o Representing

Next you need to implement a grading or scoring system – I use the following:
E – Poor: Definitely below acceptable standards; performance of job requirements is consistently deficient.
D – Fair: Improvement is needed to meet acceptable standards; performance of job requirements is inconsistent.
C – Average: Meets acceptable standards; performance of job requirements is consistent.
B – Good: Above acceptable standards; performance usually exceeds job requirements.
A – Excellent: Outstanding; unquestionably above acceptable standards; performance consistently exceeds job requirements.

In addition I translate these marks into scores, because that provides me with an overall numerical total which is so much easier to use when making comparisons:

I.e. using the above measurement scale: A=5, B=4 etc

In fact, I allow myself further “latitude” by using + or -, which in effect provides me with not five levels of rating but fifteen!

So now I have: E- = 0, E = 1, E+ = 2, all the way up to A+ which is now the equivalent of 14

This makes it so much easier to avoid the two common mistakes in rating i.e: Firstly, a tendency to rate nearly everyone as “average” on every characteristic instead of being more critical in judgement. The evaluator should use the ends of the scale as well as the middle.

Secondly, the “halo effect,” i.e. a tendency to rate the same individual “excellent” on every characteristic or “poor” on every characteristic based on the overall picture one has of the person being evaluated. However, each person has strong and weak points and these should be indicated on the rating scales.

What Else Should An Effective Appraisal Include? Mine Include All Of These:

Performance versus Commercial Targets
Specific Objectives vs. Results Summary
Quarterly Performance Rating
Commercial Targets For The Next Twelve Months
Specific Objectives For The Next Twelve Months

Performance versus Commercial Targets:
In this section, I review performance against all commercial targets for example:
o Revenue achieved.
o Overall gross margin.
o CCT (Customer contact time) as a % of TWT (Total working time).
o New accounts opened.
o Revenue increases from existing accounts.

Specific Objectives vs. Results Summary:
Specific objectives are all those targets that are “non – commercial” for example:
o Increase product knowledge in x areas.
o Profile any key accounts.
o Improve presentation skills.
o Attend a “Key Account Management” course.
o Become more involved with the induction of new recruits

Quarterly Performance Rating:
I have always believed in frequent reviews and as a consequence, I hold QBR (Quarterly Business Review) meetings at the end of each quarter. The scoring system is identical to the annual appraisal and in fact the QBRs provide most of the information and data for the annual session.

Commercial Targets and Specific Objectives for the Next Twelve Months:
A good appraisal should always conclude with agreement from both parties on the targets and objectives for the next twelve months.

These do not have to be set in stone and can be reviewed at the next QBR; however it is essential that every individual buys in to what is expected of them.

Target setting is a vitally important part of a manager’s function because if targets are set too high that will only act as a demotivator: Equally, if they are set too low, typically that is all that will be achieved.

In the same way the high jumper just clears the bar and does not leap a metre over the top, salespeople sell to expectation and have no inclination to burst through targets – unless of course, there is a significant incentive on offer! Although that begs the question of why they were not challenged with a higher target in the first place?

Finally, it is important that the manager uses the occasion to send the apraisee away feeling good about themselves, fully motivated and believing that all of the targets that have been agreed are indeed achievable – a motivational summary works wonders, even if there were areas of concern during the meeting, always focus on the highlights.

Here is a FREE Ebook for you – “In Praise of Appraisals” which should help you better understand the appraisal process.

Please let me know if you enjoy it? Thanks!

My original plan was to discuss “influence” today, but I am still researching, and I am also mindful that you will all be returning to work, and many of you will be embarking on the annual round of performance appraisals – either as an appraiser or as an appraisee – so here are some thoughts ….

A company’s performance appraisal process is critically important. It answers the two questions that every member of an organization wants to know:

• What do you expect of me?

• How am I doing at meeting your expectations?

Regular assessments and appraisals are essential, if individuals are to continually expand their “skills set”, and should deliver three key benefits for an organization:

• A clear career path for progression (which typically seems to motivate salespeople who operate in a business-to-business environment)

• Evidence of the return on investment made in developing people, so organizations are encouraged to sustain ongoing development

• A clear benchmark for salespeople and sales managers, so that they know what is expected of them

Every manager has to appraise subordinates and the mechanics of it vary from ticking little boxes, through marking on five-point scales, to writing an open ended report. However, in all cases the primary purpose of an appraisal is to help the subordinate.

Why Appraise?  Reasons for an Appraisal

• To provide feedback of individual performance
• To plan for future promotions and successions
• To assess training and development needs
• To provide information for salary planning and special awards
• To contribute to corporate career planning

The five key elements of the performance appraisal are:

• Measurement – Assessing performance against agreed targets and objectives.

• Feedback – Providing information to the individual on their performance and progress.

• Positive reinforcement – Emphasizing what has been done well and making only constructive criticism about what might be improved.

• Exchange of views – A frank exchange of views about what has happened, how appraisees can improve their performance, the support they need from their managers to achieve this and their aspirations for their future career.

• Agreement – Jointly coming to an understanding by all parties about what needs to be done to improve performance generally and overcome any issues raised in the course of the discussion.

So when considering the design of an appropriate sales team appraisal document, what are the areas you should consider including?

This will be very much a personal decision based on relevancy. For example, if you manage an internal, predominantly reactive sales force, reviewing presentation skills or meeting ratios will be totally irrelevant.

If you have read any of my work before, you will, in all probability, know that I work with a very simple formula when it comes to sales team development and measurement – i.e.

Attitude + Skills + Process + Knowledge = Success

I arrived at this conclusion many years ago and my initial reasoning was this:

Attitude is fundamental to any achievement because individuals with the right attitude are far more likely to embrace the essential skills, recognize the control that process brings and have the desire to continually expand their knowledge.

Skills are the ‘tools of the trade’ and have to be developed on an ongoing basis. They also need to be specific, because too much time can be wasted over-burdening employees with inappropriate and irrelevant skills without any identifiable plan for their future requirements.

Process brings organization, efficiency and control – both for the individual and for management. Effective process provides objective analysis and indicators, which can be benchmarked and accurately measured.

Then there is of course a need to build in knowledge and that must include knowledge of products, industry, market sectors, competitors, business, own company and last but not least, self!

Therefore, when measuring my teams, I always ensure that I benchmark against that criteria.

What must an effective sales team appraisal contain? More tomorrow ….

Oh, and if you can spare 45 mins tomorrow, I am presenting a Masterclass “Why Appraise Sales Team Performance?”

It’s free and you can register here

“Year’s end is neither an end nor a beginning but a going on, with all the wisdom that experience can instill in us.” – Hal Borland

And that is what it will all be about for me in 2011, building on many of the wonderful things we achieved in 2010.

One of my earliest mentors always urged me to record my objectives, and then share them with as many people as possible. This, he said, would leave me no place to hide, and would spur me on to ensure I achieved as many of them as possible, as well as providing a “transparent audit” come the end of the year.

So with his wise words very much in my thoughts today, here I am sharing my primary and secondary objectives for 2011.

Primary Objectives:

To continue to do everything I possibly can to elevate the status of professional selling.

To further develop platforms which provide like-minded sales thought leaders with maximum exposure and incremental opportunities to share their wisdom with an audience of frontline sales leaders and sales professionals with voracious appetites.

Via Top Sales World, create the best possible “one-stop” location, where those same sales professionals can locate every conceivable resource they could possibly need, in order to stay at the top of their game – and perform at optimal levels.

Finally, I am keen to promote the very best sales tools, solutions, and sales aids, again via Top Sales World, and we will be looking to develop strong relationships with many of the vendors who appeared as nominees on Top Sales Awards this year.

Those are the headliners, and these are my personal objectives…

Personal (Secondary) Objectives:

JF Corporation: We have created two distinct divisions within Corp

Top Sales Associates will be home to:
Top Sales World
Top Sales Awards
Top Sales Everything (Launches in January)
Top Sales World Global (Launches April)

JF Initiatives
Jonathan Farrington (New Site Launches in January)
JF Partnership (Launches 2011)
JF Blogit
Global Training Resource (Launches Fall 2011)
Tougher at the Top (Launches Spring 2011)
ASP Profile (Launches Spring 201)

Locations: We plan to launch six new web-sites, and re-launch another during 2011.

Books: I plan to publish “Tougher at the Top” later in the year, and look out for possibly two other “collaborations”

Time Allocation: I plan to allocate 50% of my time to Top Sales World in 2011, which will involve:

Overseeing a complete makeover during Q1
Hosting 44 Hardtalk interviews (Kicking-off in February)
Chairing 36 Roundtables
Editing 8 White Papers
Producing 2 Online Sales Conferences (April & September)
Producing 2 Online Sales Leadership Conferences (April & September)
Editing 12 monthly newsletters for TSW team members
Editing 52 weekly updates for TSW subscribers
Co-ordinating and growing the TSW LinkedIn group
Overseeing the TSW “Social Media” strategy
Introducing the TSW Store & TSW Jobs Board
Developing strategic alliances with like-minded resource sites
Developing the TSW Sales Academy
Negotiating marketing partnerships

Plus of course, organizing the 2011 Top Sales & Marketing Awards.

JF Initiatives:
I have allocated just ten hours per week for personal coaching and training, which means that the majority of JF Consultancy work will be delivered by external partners.

This will allow sufficient time for developing the new JF sites, and also the “extra-curricular” activities which I so much enjoy.

In summary, is this all achievable? Obviously, otherwise I would not be challenging myself to achieve it – and we do have to continually challenge ourselves. Too often, too many people take the soft option – the easiest route. That is not my way. In track and field terms, I do not want to just clear the bar; – I want to murder that height by two feet.

I want to be able to look back when I stand back from all of this, and say things like “I did” “I made it happen” “I gave my best”

I simply cannot imagine being one of those people who look back and reflect in old age “I could have” “I wish I had” “If only I had”

So when you reflect on what you want to achieve in 2011, will you raise your bar, or is “average” acceptable to you?

Tomorrow: Thoughts about “influence” and “credibility”