Articles by: Mark Christie | Visit Website

The Single Most Important Step of the Sales Process…Bar None!

04/27/12 by Mark Christie | Sales Training | No Comments »

Overcoming Price Objections

04/25/12 by Mark Christie | Sales Training | No Comments »

If you’re in sales, overcoming price objections is just something you have to take for granted. But, really, are your prospects really being that unreasonable. Think for a moment of your home and get a mental picture of your livingroom. What kind of furniture is in it? Do you and your family sit around on green milk crates stolen from the back of a convenience store? Did you buy the absolute cheapest furniture you could find? Probably not. You probably purchased something that you wanted, something that was comfortable and that you’d be proud to have visitors see.

Here’s another question. Have you ever deliberately paid too much for something? Not too likely is it? You may have paid too much for something, but you didn’t do it deliberately.

The reason for these two questions is to emphasize the point that your prospects are no different than you. They’re going to buy things that they want and they’re going to avoid overpaying for something. In other words, they’re looking for good value for their money. That’s the first key in overcoming price objections.

Price objections arise for one of three basic reasons (and that’s it):

1. Your product or service IS overpriced.
This means that the prospect can get exactly the same product and exactly the same service for less money somewhere down the road. Now, if your product or service is overpriced then you do have a major problem. Unfortunately, it’s usually the company’s problem and, as salespeople, we can often do nothing about it. Frankly, the fact that your product or service might be overpriced is a rarity in the marketplace. It’s just too competitive a world out there for that to happen very often.

2. The prospect CAN’T AFFORD your product or service.
Now we should have found this out back in the Probe or qualifying stage of the sales process by asking the prospect whether or not he or she can afford your solution. If the prospect truly can’t afford what it is you’re selling, you probably shouldn’t be this far along in the sales process. If this happens to you a lot, take a look at your qualifying or probing process to see if you’re asking the right questions. While the prospect may not know how much your product or service is, you should know how much he or she is prepared to pay for it. That’s the purpose of the Probe step — to qualify your customers.

3. The prospect doesn’t want to afford it.
This is by far the biggest reason why the price objection ever comes up. Of course it’s your job as a salesperson to make sure the prospect wants to afford what it is you’re selling. That’s where your selling skills come in. Sell value, not price.

Where Does Price Fit In?
When overcoming price objections, remember, in any sale, price will always be a factor but it is rarely the deciding factor. In fact, only 10 to 15 percent of prospects put price first. Other key factors that prospects take into consideration are:

• Confidence. How confident am I in you, your company, and in what you’re offering?
• Quality. Is what is being offered good quality for the price? Is the value there?
• Selection. Is this a take-it-or-leave-it situation or do I have choices?
• Service. Will the after-sales service be there when I need it?

Remember, it’s important to sell value. If the prospect doesn’t perceive you as being better or unique, then the only difference you have to work with is price.

Authored by Mark Christie, owner of SalesForce Training.

SalesForce Training & Consulting is a professional services firm and Salesforce.com training firm based in Toronto, with training centers in Boston and Chicago, helping sales teams improve their performance, in front of the computer…and in front of the customer.

Coaching Strategies for Sales Managers

02/07/12 by Mark Christie | Sales Management | No Comments »

Sales managers or sales leaders do joint calls with sales people pretty often (or at least, they should be). What we find however is that sales managers or leaders rarely coach the sales person, but rather they mentor them, or they enter the this-is-what-you-did-wrong mode and let-me-tell-you mode. Here’s what it looks like:

Sales Manager: So what did you think of the call?
Sales Person: It was O.K., there are a few things I could have done differently.
Sales Manager: Agreed. One of the things I spotted, for example,remember when the prospect said “X”, you probably should have replied with “Y”.

Sound familiar anyone?

Sales Managers or leaders must learn the fine art of questioning.

Here are some ways to be more effective at sales coaching and debriefing after the sales call.

Sales Manager: So what did you think of the call?
Sales Person: It was O.K., there are a few things I could have done differently.
Sales Manager: That’s great that you are aware. What exactly do you feel you could have done differently?
Sales Person: Well, that one time when the prospect said “X”, I could have probably probed for a bit more information.
Sales Manager: (do NOT go into – oh yeah, and you should/might/could also have said “Y”)
Sales Manager: That’s a good observation. So, how could you have probed the buyer for more information?

See how it works? This way the sales person will think for themselves and they own the responsibility for the results of the call. Sales people (just like prospects) like to be asked, not told. As sales mangers, we must be tactful in our approach. Long gone are the days of bossing people around (if they ever did exist). We need to lead people – inspire them – coach them – for maximum performance and bring the best out of them.

Sales Managers – stop talking … and start coaching!

SalesForce Training & Consulting is a professional services firm and Salesforce.com training firm based in Toronto, with training centers in Boston and Chicago, helping sales leaders achieve truly lasting behavior change amongst their sales teams.

Discover why traditional sales training doesn’t work.

True Sales Professionals have to have IT

02/03/12 by Mark Christie | Sales Techniques | No Comments »

As a sales training company, we get called upon often to help sales teams sell more. Before any training “solution” is implemented however, we like to perform an assessment on the sales team, in essence, to see what we’ve got to work with.

While it’s true, most sales teams will benefit from some additional soft skills training, what we typically find is that there always a few individuals on the team (hopefully only one or two, but sometimes, unfortunately, it’s many more than that) for which training alone (or at all) is the answer. These individuals are just simply don’t have “IT”. So what is “IT”? And can they ever get it?  Well, let’s answer the second question first. ”IT” can’t be taught, and “IT” is not likely to come to those that didn’t come to the job with it to begin with (although, on rare exceptions, “IT” can be found by some).

So what is “IT”. Well, “IT” is really six different things. First, a little perspective.

Unlike most professions such as medicine, law, and engineering, selling may never become a “profession” because it doesn’t have a self-appointed or governmental body to oversee, regulate, or monitor its activities. In addition, salespeople have no formal or informal educational requirements and no code of ethics to believe in or adhere to.

The fact that we may not be formally a profession doesn’t mean that we can’t conduct ourselves and our business in a profess­ional manner. So, if we can’t be a profession, let’s at least be professional.

Here are some of the qualities that are important in a sales professional, or better put, this is what “IT” is:

Positive Attitude

Sales professionals are up, positive people. They’re the kind of people others like to be around. When they enter a room, the mood is lifted. They recognize the old adage that life is 10 percent what happens to you and 90 percent how you react to it, and they react to life in a positive manner.

Enthusiasm

Like attitude, enthusiasm is something we have complete control over, unless we choose other­wise. Enthusiasm isn’t the rah-rah, in-your-face hype that can turn off some people. It’s a positive expression of your belief in your product and yourself and being prepared to let that belief show to others.

Persistence

Many salespeople are quick to drop a potential opportunity. They expect instant results and if a sale doesn’t close quickly, they move on to the next one. They forget that most sales are made after the fifth contact and that most prospects will voice five or more objections before making a buying decision. Salespeople have to learn to hang in there until the prospect either buys or dies.

Drive

To be successful in sales you must have an inner drive that pushes you towards your personal goals. No goals combined with no drive makes for no success.

Desire & Discipline

Many “wannabe” salespeople simply don’t have these two qualities and don’t understand why they aren’t successful. You must have the desire (and drive) to succeed and the discipline to do what is required to be a success.

Integrity

This one really has three parts:

1. Maintain honesty and integrity in all relationships with customers, prospective customers, and colleagues, and continually work to earn their trust and respect.
2. Accurately represent my products or services to the best of my ability in a manner that places my customer or prospective customer and my company in a position that benefits both.
3. Respect my competitors and their products and services by representing them in a manner which is honest, truthful and based on accurate information that has been substantiated.

So there you have IT!

SalesForce Training & Consulting is a professional services firm and Salesforce.com training firm based in Toronto, with training centers in Boston and Chicago, helping sales leaders achieve truly lasting behavior change amongst their sales teams.

Discover why traditional sales training doesn’t work.

Four Situations to Avoid for Sales Training

02/01/12 by Mark Christie | Sales Training | 2 Comments »

Thinking of training the sales team? Wonderful. However, before you engage the services of an outside firm, or even an internal training department, make sure that these four scenarios are put to bed first.

1. Training is done in the midst of turmoil.

Many times I have talked with senior sales managers who say something like, “We’ve just had a layoff / reorganization and we think our regional managers need to learn some team building / change management / motivation so they can help their reps be more positive.” When I hear this, I cringe.

People have difficulty learning when there is great change and emotional upheaval all around them. I have found that managers often greet management training at this time with great skepticism if not outright cynicism.

Tip: Implement sales training when things are going relatively well (before serious problems arise). It works best as a long-term approach to prevent problems and build organizational strength and not nearly as well as an after-the-fact crisis fix. If you are in the midst of problems now and your sales managers need help, first make sure operational issues such as new processes, policies, etc., are well discussed with them and your time frames for change are realistic. After confusion, frustration and emotional upset have died down, sales management training can start to be effective.

2. Sales training objectives are not clear.

When I talk with companies to see what they want from management training, I ask, “How will you know the training was successful?” Most often, the response is that they’re looking for improved closing ratios, more accurate forecasting, higher productivity, etc., but they’re not really sure how to determine the success of the training.

Tip: So many factors beyond sales training impact these issues that it may be better to focus on activities that can be tracked. For example, if your company wants better, or more cold calling, what activities would demonstrate that? One might be having managers conduct regular team meetings that (a.) have an agenda, (b.) include everyone in the discussions, and (c.) produce written summaries. This can be specifically trained, readily observed and easily assessed. And it will improve communication.

3. There is no follow-up after the training.

Managers attend a training session, work diligently throughout, go back to work and then-nothing. No more is said about the information by anyone. Why is this a problem? Shouldn’t we expect adults – especially those who have demonstrated a higher level of capability such as managers – to just take the information and put it into action? Unfortunately, training doesn’t work that way. But it appears that most companies have exactly this expectation.

It is well known by psychologists, teachers and training professionals that repetition is key to learning. This means re-visiting and re-stating a given block of information several times in different ways to help remind participants of key points and reinforce their importance. Most follow-up after training today is given 6-12 months after the original program. Certainly, that helps but it is also well-known that reinforcement of learning must be immediate to have the most impact.

Tip: Send training participants a short written summary, then perhaps a quiz, then a brief example of how someone has or could use the training once a week for three weeks after training. These are re-statements that reinforce the information. Then, you should have brief follow-up discussions with training participants over the next two months.

4. Sales managers are not held accountable to improve their performance after training.

After spending significant money on training their managers, most bosses never ask them two simple questions: (a.) “What will you do differently as a result of the training?” and, (b.) “When will I see it?” This is puzzling because managers are held accountable for so many other things-why not for performance improvement after a substantial investment?

Tip: It’s true that getting hard number results from management training is difficult because there are so many factors that affect a company (ie. turnover, productivity, etc.). But it’s still possible to hold managers accountable for their personal activities, such as holding team meetings, writing notes of recognition for employees and documenting problems properly, just to mention a few. It’s not asking too much of managers to demonstrate improved behavior after training, and these activities will help achieve desired results. Specific new personal activities can be made part of each manager’s quarterly or annual performance goals.

At the same time, companies must recognize that when managers attend a class and become enthused, they often return to their jobs and are confronted with catch-up work and fires to put out, as well as skeptical colleagues and subordinates who prefer to stick with the old, familiar ways. These are powerful discouragements that hinder any manager’s efforts to change. So there must be positive reinforcements when managers do show improvement.

Make sure your managers receive certificates of completion and that the training is noted in their files. Offer some additional percentage of their raises or bonuses contingent upon successful completion of the course and continued demonstration of certain behaviors. Provide enhanced eligibility for promotion, additional training and other perks. Whatever you choose to do, the objective is to make it valuable to them to change their behavior.

These four situations can be difficult to avoid but if you’re confronted with them, look for ways to minimize them, even if it’s only by some small measure. The good news is that anything you do to address these issues will add significantly to the value of your sales training.

Post originally written by Geoff Nichols of EDUCO and the author of the book, Taking the Step Up to Supervision, as well as numerous published articles on management.

SalesForce Training & Consulting is a professional services firm and Salesforce.com training firm based in Toronto, with training centers in Boston and Chicago, providing sales leaders with the direction and support to ensure that their sales training programs are properly designed and executed.

Discover why traditional sales training doesn’t work.

Coaching to Improve Sales Performance

12/18/11 by Mark Christie | Sales Management | 3 Comments »

The Rule of 6

10/03/11 by Mark Christie | Sales Hiring Assessments | No Comments »

Our good friends over at SalesForce Search taught me something very valuable the other day.  It’s called “The Rule of 6”.

“The Rule of 6” had relevance on a recent sales call I had with a prospect who needs to hire a new salesperson.  We discussed the role, and the characteristics of the sales person he would be looking for.  In our practice we use a job benchmarking tool called JOB FIT.  What JOB FIT does is determine what mix of values, behaviors, task preference and selling style the top candidates are going to display.  We are huge proponents of this tool, because these are qualities that are very hard, if not impossible to spot, with a traditional interview.  It takes only 30 minutes to complete.

When I suggested that my prospect take some time to complete this report, along with other members of his management team to ensure that they were all aligned, he responded by telling me he couldn’t find an extra 30 minutes in his day, and would likely forgo the exercise.  “Just send me some candidates to interview.”

This is where “The Rule of 6” comes in.  For every hour of effort it takes you to hire your next sales person, if they end up being a bad hire, it will take six times as long, and six times the effort expended, to terminate them.  When you consider all the extra time spent coaching (above and beyond what a great sales person would take), cajoling, pleading, arguing, listening to their excuses, meeting with mangers to discuss the problems, documenting their performance to satisfy HR’s requirements, not to mention the lost hours of sleep sure to come your way, it’ll probably come close to six times the time and effort spent finding and hiring them.

“The Rule of 6″ also applies to cost.  Take your sales person’s base salary.  Now multiply by six the cost associated with a bad hire.  The lost productivity on your part, the missed opportunities to spend more time with your team, the customer issues, the damage to your firm’s reputation, the opportunity cost of not getting sales, the payout.  The list goes on.  And that’s if you fire within the first six months!

So it’s your call.  Invest some extra time now to ensure that you are planning to hire the best available candidate, or roll the dice and do it quickly, but recognize that you will spend six times the time, aggravation, money to fix your mistake.

3 Simple Steps for Selecting the Right CRM

09/10/11 by Mark Christie | Using Salesforce.com | No Comments »

If you are embarking on a CRM software selection process, it can be a daunting task.  With all of the products and partners to choose from, finding a jumping off point can be a struggle.  We’ve compiled a list of tips to guide you through your software selection process and suggestions for “must-have” features and functionality that will ensure that you choose a CRM system that will support your needs now and into the future.

1) Start With a Plan and Ensure You Have Buy-In

• Gather background information on the benefits, savings, ROI and cost justification of selecting and implementing a CRM solution.  Present this information to your organizational leadership and make sure everyone in your organization is on board with the project to help ensure success.
• Determine who the stakeholders in the project are and work with them to establish a common, company-wide goal for the CRM system.  From these stakeholders, put together a project team that is headed by a true CRM evangelist.
• Determine your budget, while keeping in mind the costs associated with the selection process as well as implementation, integration, training, and ongoing support.
• Assess your business processes to determine what best practices you have in place and what areas could benefit from improvement through the new system.  Determine the pain points in your existing system, and map your current processes in all areas of the organization.  Then once you define your business requirements, you’re better prepared to select a software solution that meets your business needs.

2) Compare Your Options

• Consider working with a partner that offers Software Selection Consulting Services to help you through the process.
• Before you view a demo of any solution, make sure that the partner showing you the solution understands your requirements and is committed to showing you how their system will meet those requirements.  Don’t waste your time being swept away by impressive features that you will never use.
• Be sure that your hardware and operating system can support the systems you are considering.  You don’t want to waste time seeing products that aren’t feasible options for you.
• If you are looking at several options, establish a scoring system that tracks the various benefits and shortcomings of each product.  The scoring needs to reflect not only the features of the products, but the qualitative aspects of the solution and working with the partner.
• Your internal CRM project team should be present for all demos and meetings with the partner.  They should be encouraged to share their concerns and feedback, as well as ask questions.  Use the partners responsiveness to the team’s concerns and questions as a factor when you are deciding whether or not to work with them, as it will affect your business relationship long-term.
• Make sure that you are being shown the current version of the software.  Don’t make a purchase based on promises for future technology.

3) Find a Solution to Grow with Your Business

• A true CRM solution will provide company-wide benefits  through marketing campaign management, sales force automation, customer care, contact management, task management, and scheduling.  Settling for anything less in the short term will cause you to repeat the software selection process in the long-term and cost you more to implement or integrate disparate products.
• Make sure that the CRM solution you are considering integrates with your other business management applications.  It should be able to be deployed on different technologies as you needs change as well as support Web Service, have a strong API for integration and be able integrate with other technologies such as your phone system and website.
• Your CRM system should support the ways you do business and be accessible from anywhere you do business, that means it should support all standard wireless devices as well as support interactive web chat with your customers and make a wide range of information available to them over robust web sites.
• As a technical solution, your CRM software needs to be properly matched to your technical requirements and capabilities.  Therefore, you should look for a CRM solution that provides the capability to seamlessly move from a hosted solution to an on-site systemand vice versa as your technical abilities change.

By Socius, an Ohio Microsoft Dynamics CRM Partner

Are Your Salespeople Overpaid?

03/30/11 by Mark Christie | Sales Management | No Comments »

As a sales training firm, we’re often asked, “How much should I be paying my salespeople?” That’s a question that I think most sales managers and business owners would like answered. So I’m going to share my concept with you.

The average salesperson, on the other hand, will probably want to lynch me after reading this article. And why would they want to do that? Because a lot of salespeople still believe in many of the timeworn generalisations that apply to the world of selling such as:

The grass is greener on the other side,
I have a lousy territory,
My prices are too high, and
I’m underpaid.

I’m not saying that these statements are untrue. What I am saying is that many salespeople use these arguments without really confirming their truth. The truth is that sometimes the grass is greener on the other side, some salespeople do have a lousy territory, sometimes their prices are too high, and some salespeople may well be underpaid.

This article is not about paying salespeople what they’re worth; it’s about how much the business can afford to pay their salespeople.

Disclaimer

The concept I’m about to share is not cast in stone. It is a generalisation, like Prado’s Principle (the 80/20 rule, i.e. 80 percent of your business comes from 20 percent of your customers) that has stood the test of time. Think of what follows as the Salesforce Theory of Direct Sales Compensation (i.e. direct sales compensation should be equal to or preferably less than 20 percent of gross profit). As you work out your own numbers, remember this is a generalisation and your mileage may vary.

Sales Efficiency

I’m going to show you how to determine how efficient your sales department is, and I guarantee you’ll either be delighted, stunned, or dismayed at the result.

I recommend you do the calculation for the entire sales department, as gross numbers are usually easier to find. If your result is out of whack, you’ll probably want to do the calculations on a salesperson-by-salesperson basis to determine where your problem lies. In fact, doing this exercise for each salesperson is an excellent measure of a salesperson’s sales efficiency. It will also tell you if you are overpaying for the sales you’re getting.

Sales efficiency is a subtle but important factor in running a sales department. Your job is to bring in more money than you spend — a lot more — but you’d be surprised at the number of organizations who are paying too much for their sales. Don’t let this happen to you.

There are two ways to determine sales efficiency — the Quick Test and the Bean-counter Method. Most sales managers will prefer the Quick Test but it is wise to go through the Bean-counter Method as well.

Quick Test

Here’s the rule for the Quick Test and it’s the basic premise of the Salesforce Theory of Direct Sales Compensation which states that direct sales compensation should be equal to or (preferably) less than 20 percent of gross profit. The lower the percentage the more efficient your sales operation is from a fiscal point of view.

Direct sales compensation includes salaries, commissions, and bonuses. Indirect costs are taken into consideration in the Bean-counter method outlined below.

That’s it. I told you it was quick.

Bean-counter Method

In order to determine your sales efficiency, you’ll need to calculate your true cost of sales. Some people do this incorrectly. They neglect to include the hidden costs such as benefits, expenses, and cost of supervision.

If you know your actual numbers, use them in the formula below. Otherwise use the percentages shown, and you’ll be pretty close to reality.

The Cost-of-sales Formula

• Start with the total yearly compensation (direct sales compensation, see above).
• Add 30 percent for benefits and taxes.
• Add 15 percent for supervision.
• Add in automobile expenses or allowances.
• Add in direct communication costs or allowances (pagers, cell phones, etc.).
• Add yearly travel and entertainment (T&E) expenses.
• The total is your annual costs of sales.

Now calculate what percentage your cost-of-sales is of your annual gross profit. The lower the percentage, the more efficient you are.

If it’s less than 30 percent you’re running a very efficient sales department. If it’s between 30 to 35 percent, you’re still okay but you may want to weed out any poor performers who aren’t pulling their weight. If it’s between 36 to 40 percent, you’re running a high-cost, low-efficiency sales department. If your sales costs exceed 40 percent, you’re in the danger zone and starting to pay too much for the sales you’re getting.

Once your sales costs exceed 50 percent, you’re running the business to feed your salespeople while you’re probably starving.

An Example

Let’s take the example of a sales department with five salespeople with a total sales compensation cost of $367,000. Thirty percent of $367,000 is $110,100 and 15 percent is $55,050. The annual T&E expenses ran $48,500 for a total of $580,650. The annual gross profit was $1,760,000, which means the cost of sales was about 33 percent.

While that’s okay, it’s a bit too high for my liking. I’d want to do the calculations for each of the salespeople to see if I have any problem children. If all the salespeople were about equal, I’d take a look at my overall margins to see if they’re too low, my costs too high, or if my compensation packages are too generous.

The Advantages

Doing this exercise for each salesperson has a number of advantages. It can help with performance reviews. It allows you to rank your people in terms of efficiency so you can see who’s giving you the most profit for the least cost. It tells you if the salesperson that’s a perpetual pain in the lower part of the anatomy is worth keeping.

Stay Profitable

Your job as a manager is to run a profitable, efficient operation and this exercise will help you determine how close you are to hitting that target. Good luck!

SalesForce Training & Consulting is a professional sales training firm based in Boston and Toronto, providing sales coaching, sales management training, salesforce.com implementation and sales training

Managing Nomads

03/28/11 by Mark Christie | Sales Management | No Comments »

Do your people know where they are going and how to get there, or are they wandering in the sales desert?

I realize that you shouldn’t need to be concerned about this as a sales manager. I know you feel you hired responsible people with good work ethics. People who get up in the morning and go about doing what you hired them to do. Unfortunately, it doesn’t always work out that way.

Wandering Willies

Over the many years I’ve been in sales and sales management, I’ve recognized that the sales profession attracts a unique type of individual. For the most part, they are very sociable, outgoing, personable, and totally lacking in self-direction.

I’ve often felt that many salespeople are like leaves blowing in the wind in that they seem to wander off in whatever direction is convenient at the time. When they leave their homes in the morning, the wind takes then off in whatever direction it happens to be blowing. Sometimes they blow into the office, sometimes they blow into a prospect’s or customer’s office and, sometimes around 10:00 a.m., the wind blows them into the local coffee shop where they congregate with all the other sales leaves that also blew in.

I call these blowing sales leaves Wandering Willies. They start off their day with no particular place to go and therefore they go no place in particular. They just wander until they stumble over an opportunity. They’re like the blind squirrel that finds the occasional nut.

Natural Defect

I feel that naturally good salespeople are born with a birth defect. The organizational gene in our DNA stream is missing. You’ll note that I’m including myself in this category. We do not like to be organized and will fight all attempts on the part of others to organize us.

That’s not to say that we shouldn’t be organized, it’s just that we have challenges doing it naturally or willingly. I learned early in my sales career that I better get organized if I was to succeed in sales.

One look at my desk and you’ll say that I’m still not well organized and you’d be correct. I’m better though. What I do is have quarterly organizational frenzies where I get my desk, my files, my opportunities, and my mind organized. Then I’m off and running efficiently for about 30 days when the decline starts and I slide into chaos until the next quarterly frenzy. It works for me.

Blanket Condemnation

Before a lot of good salespeople get really annoyed and put out a contract on me, let me say that I realize that there are a lot of highly disciplined, well organized, and effective salespeople out there. I just don’t happen to be one of them. This article is about the remaining 90 percent of us and for the people who must manage us.

Know Where Your Children Are

Remember those ads on television years ago that asked parents, “It’s 11:00 p.m. Do you know where your children are?” The corporate version of this for sales managers is, “It’s 11:00 a.m. Do you know where your salespeople are?” Some salespeople can be like kittens and if you don’t know where they are and what they’re doing, they’re probably up to no good (or nothing at all).

I’m not suggesting that you have to spend all your time monitoring and checking up on your salespeople. After all, you’re a sales manager and not a parent. What I am suggesting is that some of your salespeople–the ones I’m eluding to in this article–require a certain amount of guidance and supervision to ensure that they’re going in the right direction and doing the right things. This is why operating in a salesforce.com CRM environment has become essential to running today’s sales team.

Helping Your Nomads

There is an old axiom that says if you don’t know where you’re going, any road will take you there. The key to helping your Wandering Willies is to not only help them know where they should be going but, in some cases, show them which road to take.

One of the best ways I know of to help your nomads figure out where they’re going is to ask them to turn in a plan for the upcoming week that includes where they plan on going and why they are going there. That activity map should be embedded within your CRM reporting functions and be ready to view first thing Monday morning at the latest. Sharp and dedicated salespeople will have it ready by Friday afternoon so their minds are free to enjoy their family over the weekend.

While I’m not a big fan of micro-managing, you would be wise to ensure that your team is inputting ALL of their data into the CRM system and actually following the plan. You should also do the occasional Friday afternoon surprise inspection on the person’s activity for the past week. Did they do what they said they would do? If not, why? What got in the way? What could they have done better? Did they try to fill their week up with too much? Do they need help prioritizing activities?

Use the exercise to help improve the salesperson’s ability to better schedule and use his or her time wisely.

PYW-WYP

Another old saying I remember being pounded into my head by one of my sales managers is, “Plan Your Work, Work Your Plan.” You might want to pound that into the heads of some of your salespeople as well. And while I’m dragging up all the old platitudes, how about this one, “If you fail to plan, you plan to fail.”

Don’t let your salespeople fail. Help them learn how to plan so they don’t spend time wandering around the sales desert.