Companies spend incredible amounts of money promoting their brands through tools such as brochures, websites, social media and advertising. But have you as a business owner ever wondered what members of your sales team are promoting when they’re in front of your clients or potential clients?

I have asked numerous clients through the years, “What are your sales people doing in the field day-to-day and what type of image are they projecting to the market?” More often than not, the answer is, “I’m not sure.”

There are great tools that many companies use to track activities and the results of their sales programs. But how do you know – really know – how your sales team is promoting your company?

The best way I know of is getting out of the office and spending time in the field on live sales calls with your sales team. This tactic provides the best picture of how the team is promoting the company. Sure, these sales calls are somewhat influenced by the fact that someone is observing, but they still give a good baseline understanding of what is occurring from a promotional aspect between the sales team and the clients or prospects.

I have seen other tools, such as well-worded customer service or problem resolution surveys, that could be adapted to capture client feedback on what your sales team is promoting. Have you tried this? What were your results?

Have you ever scheduled phone calls or face-to-face field calls for just you, the owner, to meet with clients in order to get feedback on how your sales team (or your company overall) is doing? What were your experiences? How valuable was the information? How did you use it to make changes within your organization?

The secret shopper technique is one that I have seen executed pretty well in retail environments over the years. Have you used this in your organization? For those of you in field sales, how have you adapted this technique to your situation?

Bottom line: I think business owners have a responsibility to know – truly know – how their sales teams are promoting the company and what type of image they are portraying. If it’s not what we want it to be, we need to come up with a plan to change that, whether through training or tools or whatever.

What do you do to inspect what you expect of your sales team relative to company promotion?

Brian

Public relations, affectionately known as PR, can and does have an impact on companies’ sales programs every day of the year. And not just in the ways that might seem obvious.

Publicity

This is the public relations discipline that is best known and most popular among sales and marketing professionals. PR people use their media contacts and savvy to secure story placements about their companies’ products and services. These placements can then be reproduced and added to sales presentation binders, attached to company websites and e-brochures, and included in direct mail initiatives to current and prospective customers.

So that’s the obvious benefit of public relations for sales programs. But consider:

Community Relations

PR initiatives in the community – things like sponsoring events and contributing to and participating in community projects – have long been placed under the umbrella of corporate citizenship. Which they are, of course. But these initiatives also contribute to brand development and goodwill among clients and prospective clients. All other things being equal, people are more inclined to do business with a company involved in their community than one not involved. This applies, incidentally, to both B2B and B2C enterprises.

Internal Communications

Never underestimate the evangelizing power of a well-informed staff. Employees who are aware of what’s happening in their companies are more engaged. And those who are more engaged are more likely to be watching for business opportunities for the company – whether they work in sales, accounting, operations or HR! This is why good internal communications programs include a business referral reward component.

RFPs / Proposals / PowerPoint Presentations

In many companies, especially smaller ones, these business acquisition documents are under the sole purview of sales. That’s a mistake. Public relations professionals bring the power of effective communication to the party, meaning they can help define and refine sales messages specifically for the prospective client. PR professionals understand that rarely should there be a one-size-fits-all solution for any of these pieces. (And no, just changing the prospective client’s logo on the cover or intro slide doesn’t count as customizing!)

Marketing Communications

Here, too, some companies make the strategic error of including technical experts, sales and IT professionals in the development of brochures, sell sheets, websites, e-brochures, white papers and other client-facing marketing materials, at the exclusion of PR. All of those areas should be represented, of course. The mistake comes when professional communicators are not included in the development of these critical assets. Why? Just because someone is a technical expert on your product, for example, does not mean she is adept at articulating the product’s features, advantages and benefits in a way that is meaningful for prospective clients. As with proposals and presentations, PR can bring focus and consistency to company messages, making them resonate with prospects.

This is just a smattering of the ways PR supports sales; I could go on.

Instead, though, I’d be interested in your perspective. How does PR support sales in your organization? If you’re a PR practitioner or consultant, how have you made a quantifiable difference for your organization?

It’s all about return on investment, right? What’s the biggest or best return you’ve been able to produce, and how did you do it?

Mike

I am taking a leap with this topic and assuming that those of you in sales chose this profession so you can have control over how much money you make. That’s an assumption because roughly 90% of sales people say they are in it to make money but really just want to work less.

That’s why 90% of a company’s sales are generated by the top 10% of its sales force. Sales is either the hardest highest-paying career or the easiest lowest-paying job. I would like to address the 10% who are the hardest-working, highest-earning sales professionals and are motivated by making more money. (To the others, this will not make much sense.)

Looking Back

If you want to make more money than your best year ever, the easiest place to start is by going backwards. Look at the best earnings year in your sales career and conduct an analysis of the following key data points:

• How much did you sell (revenue and units)?
• Where did your business come from (prospecting, networking, client referrals, marketing, etc.) by units and revenue?
• What did your plan look like?
• How well did you execute it?
• What did you do well?
• What could you improve on?
• What unique circumstances existed (different comp plan, economic conditions, etc.)?
• Review the activities in your planner or CRM system from that year. How did each and every activity break out? Where did you spend your time and what was the result?

The Ratios

Now that you have the key data, you can do some easy math. Take each of the data points, calculate your ratios, and work that data backwards as well.

• X presentations resulted in Y sales
• X appointments resulted in Y presentations
• X referrals resulted in Y appointments (break these out by referral source – e.g., client, networking, etc.)
• X events resulted in Y referrals (or X client calls resulted in Y referrals)
• X phone contacts resulted in Y appointments
• X dials resulted in Y contacts
• X time (hours) resulted in Y dials

Calculate your time spent in each key area listed above. Do this daily, weekly, and monthly so you have taken into consideration different time allocations.

Ask yourself how much more you want to make than your best year and simply apply that percentage across all activity ratios listed above. That being said, it could also be argued that you are a better sales person now and that your ratios should be better than they were that year (and I do think this is a reasonable answer).

However, it is dangerous to use this methodology unless you can quantify how much better you are specific to each ratio above. (Example: my contact-to-appointment ratio today is 50%, vs. 30% during my best year.) I would rather start with a set of aggressive activity goals and if I prove that my ratios are better today than they were back then, I can always peel away some activities. It is harder, however, to find more time once I have my schedule in place.

So what exactly am I saying? Simply take your desired income increase (say, 15%), apply that to all the numbers above and you should be able to hit it.  To help ensure success, though, you want to take into consideration a subcategory listed above in your original analysis of your best year – unique circumstances. Depending on what those are, you need to adjust accordingly. By adjusting, I mean a) adjusting activity and results ratios (up or down) and/or b) adding components of activities that were not around during your best earnings year.

For example, if your best year was five years ago, more than likely you weren’t taking advantage of new prospecting methods like social media. You may not have had a CRM system that could chunk out all the data so that you could adjust day-to-day or week-to-week. You may not have had access to the good training that exists today, etc. All of these “unique circumstances” should be factored into your overall plan so that you are taking advantage of newer tools, technologies or situations (i.e., the economy) that did not exist in the year on which you based on your calculations.

So what do you think of this approach? Is it that easy? If so, why doesn’t everyone do it? What holds us back, do you think?  I know that we sales people (particularly those of us in the top 10%) like to think and act as if sales really isn’t a numbers game — that it’s more of an art form. But is it?

Brian

Having been in sales for a couple decades now and watching my peers struggle with consistency relative to their business – you know, the peaks and valleys associated with a typical salesperson’s performance – I began to wonder why some sales professionals achieve consistency in their pipelines while others continue to struggle.

I began to dig into the reasons and this is what I found:

Common to those that struggle with peaks and valleys are a) lack of proper planning, b) lack of plan execution, and c) lack of tools to manage the plan.

Proper planning

Those who have firmly scheduled prospecting activities in their day/week/month seem to suffer less from peaks and valleys than those who either don’t plan or don’t execute their plan. Proper planning means scheduling specific dates and times to prospect. The timeframes typically vary in duration and in time of day. Time of day should be flexible to take advantage of variations in your prospects’ schedules, increasing the likelihood of making contact. Length of time depends on an individual’s close ratio. For example, if it takes 30 dials to make 10 contacts and 10 contacts to make three appointments and you need six appointments per week, then you need to do two of these sessions of 30/10/3 in order to secure the necessary appointments per week. Proper planning consists of starting with the end goal and working the process backwards based on ratios, and then scheduling the necessary activities to achieve the desired results.

The example above is for prospecting but the same methodology works for referrals. If your plan is to obtain three referrals per month and you usually obtain one referral per networking activity then you need to schedule three networking events per month to achieve your desired result.

The point is, there is a plan, based on data, and the necessary activities are properly scheduled!

Execution

 
All of this planning sounds great, but if it isn’t executed, it’s irrelevant how good the plan is. Sales professionals who avoid peaks and valleys not only have a plan, they execute it consistently and without deviation. Years ago, I was a sales manager for a 10-person sales team in a large corporation and one phone-canvassing day the phones went out in our remote office. Without even saying anything my team grabbed their planners (this was before laptops), D&B cards and bag cell phones (now I’m really aging myself!) and went down to their cars to continue with their phone canvassing. It was automatic. They were so disciplined in their approach to the phone canvassing sessions I didn’t need to say a word. They encountered a problem, developed a solution and executed it according to plan. That is execution and that is what top performers do. They execute!

Tools

 
Another element common to those who don’t suffer peaks and valleys is the use of tools to properly execute their plans. My story about D&B cards, bag cell phones and planners was full of examples of tools. Today we have laptops, smart phones, CRM systems, etc. What I learned through my casual study of this topic is that those with sustainable pipelines use and rely on their tools (no matter what those tools are) and those that struggle view these tools as impediments to their success, or one more administrative function they do not want to perform.

Interesting, is it not? Those who succeed in building sustainable pipelines value the tools that help them achieve success, while those who struggle think of these tools as an administrative encumbrance.

Bottom line, my research seems to indicate that building a sustainable pipeline occurs by a) having a plan, b) executing that plan and c) using tools to help manage the plan.

What have you found in your observations? What are we missing here that could help others build more sustainable pipelines? Why do those who struggle continue to struggle and those who succeed continue to succeed?

I would be interested in your thoughts.

Brian

I have seen a significant increase in requests for and usage of customer relationship management (CRM) systems. Why is this? For one thing, it’s becoming difficult to keep up with one’s competitors without a CRM in place and in use.

CRM systems help to strengthen sales strategy, sales management and sales force development. Try this three-part quiz:

Part I – Sales Strategy (to be answered by owners and managers):

• Do you know what your close rates are, per industry and market?
• Do you know what your close rates are, relative to your more profitable work?
• Can you define purchase potential, per industry and market?
• Do you know if and precisely how you are ensuring consistent sales coverage of each industry and market?
• Do you know who is typically making the decisions regarding purchase of your products and services, per industry?

If you answered “no” to any of these, then implementing a CRM system makes sense in order to improve your sales strategy.

Part II – Sales Management (to be answered by owners and managers):

• Do you know, qualitatively and quantitatively, what your sales representatives are projecting as new business for each of the next three months?
• Do you know how many new business quotes were generated in the last 30 days?
• Do you know what types of customers are generating the greatest profit margins?
• Do you know what types of prospecting activities are generating the greatest number of new prospect appointments?
• Do you have the facts you need to help your sales staff make necessary adjustments?

If you answered “no” to any of these, then implementing a CRM system makes sense in order to improve your sales management.

Part III – Sales Force Development (to be answered by sales representatives):

• Do you remember the name of every contact you have made that could possibly buy, or be part of the buying process for, one or all of your products and services?
• Do you have your weekly activities planned out so that you are seeing your accounts as frequently as necessary in order to maximize your sales results?
• Do you know what your close rates are, and thus how many prospect meetings you need in order to make a sale?
• Do you know which networking activities have generated the most in terms of sales commissions?
• Do you know what you discussed in detail the last time you spoke with each of your customers or prospects?

If you answered “no” to any of these, then implementing a CRM system makes sense in order to improve your own development.

CRM systems are not a magic bullet, nor are they a replacement for good, old-fashioned sales activity. But they are an effective complement to it, and they help owners, managers and reps alike to quantify and maximize their efforts.

Do you use a CRM system for something other than the things I describe above? Or, on the contrary, can you make an argument for why a CRM system is not necessary?

Dan

One of the annual conundrums faced by businesses of all sizes is determining how much money to spend on marketing and, by association, advertising.

The underlying question: will allocating dollars to marketing have an impact on sales, and, if so, how much of an impact? Mostly because measuring return on investment is so difficult to do, the debates rage. I’ve worked with CEOs of multimillion dollar companies who were extremely stingy with their marketing budgets. “After all,” they would say, “that’s what our sales reps are for.”

The logic in those cases was that wasting money on excessive advertising or marketing initiatives will have no impact if the sales team cannot sell. This is true, at least to an extent. But what if the sales team can sell? Doesn’t it make sense to grease the skids for them?

All other things being equal between your offering and a competitor’s offering, doesn’t it make sense to prime the pump with marketing and advertising? I think the answer is yes. Absolutely. But not just for the impact that marketing can and does have on the decision maker or end user.

I believe that, generally speaking, there are two audiences for marketing and advertising: external and internal.

Marketing is usually viewed only with an eye toward external audiences. How many prospective customers can I reach with this ad buy? Is our value proposition stated clearly and compellingly enough in this brochure to drive business? Do our micro sites segment customers in a meaningful and intuitive way?

This is a fair – if myopic – view of the world.

I would suggest that companies keep in mind the internal audience for marketing, as well. In this case, I’m thinking specifically about the front-line sales team that benefits from the expenditure of marketing dollars. It may be true, for instance, that a company cannot directly track a certain sale to a particular ad flight.

But even if that is the case, it may very well be true that the ad flight contributed to brand awareness, which contributed to the sales rep’s ability to secure the appointment, which contributed to the rep having the opportunity to present, which ultimately enabled the rep to close the deal.

Similarly, it may be true that a customer answering a new client survey question about the convenience of your sales process wouldn’t think to mention the role played by a brochure in answering their questions, or a white paper in providing them comfort with the credibility of your company.

But even if that is the case, it may very well be true that either a) those tools had an impact on the prospect’s decision “somewhere in the margin,” or b) the tools gave the sales rep extra confidence in her presentation because they helped her remember key benefit statements, or they reinforced certain features in the customer’s mind after the representative had finished her presentation and left.

So, how much should a company spend on marketing and advertising? Hard to say. Most expert opinions I’ve seen range from 1 or 2% of a company’s pre-tax revenue to upwards of 10 or even 20%, depending on how new the company is, how much marketing it’s done in the past, where its product is in its lifecycle and what industry the company is in. That’s a debate worth having in earnest in your conference room.

But does marketing and advertising have an impact? Without a doubt. I don’t think there’s any room for debate on that question.

Is there?

Mike

There’s always a certain level of tension among business owners and the sales team – executives, managers and representatives – to achieve their goals. In today’s environment, though, that anxiety about hitting the numbers is simply about surviving, to say nothing of thriving.

The profession of sales is, by its very nature, full of rejection. Add the sour economy and its attitudinal ripple effects and it becomes increasingly difficult to keep sales people motivated.

Because you’re the leader or manger, you have 50% of the responsibility for motivation. Each team member has the other 50%.

Consequently, you need to be strategic. Here’s how:

Find out what motivates each member of your sales team.  Try giving a “profile” test to each person, which helps identify their respective motivational points. Look at what has motivated them in the past – things like recognition, compensation, ranking amongst peers, and contests. You can even ask what motivates them. But be prepared to dig deep here because many do not have a clear answer already in mind, and therefore have a hard time articulating the answer.

Prepare a program around motivating your team.  This can include contests, recognition boards, a new compensation plan, etc. Introduce it first to the key players on your sales team. These individuals will play an important role in moving the effort forward, so make sure it meets with their approval and that you sense their feelings of motivation as they review it.

During the rollout of your motivational program, be sure to involve the entire sales team.  Ask them “what they think,” “how it would affect them” and “if this helps.” By the time you finish the rollout, your team members hopefully will not only have bought in, but will have started telling each other how great this is.

Keep the program’s momentum going.  Consistent and persistent reminders are helpful. Be encouraging, see the sunny side, and help keep the optimistic attitude strong. Thank the sales team for their motivation and efforts. Meet one-on-one with the members of the team so each person feels how special he or she is.

Every day is full of opportunity. Keeping people in the right frame of mind to seize the opportunity is what will make them – and you – winners.

Do you agree with the 50/50 split of responsibility? What other tips, tricks or techniques do you recommend for motivating your team?

Dan

Ever think about what makes a good salesman? Not necessarily the “traditional” salesman selling homes or farm equipment, I’m talking about the person who is responsible for making things happen. You could be a CPA at your firm but you’re still responsible for helping generate revenue. Even the IT guys in back are going to have to sell their process, concept, or need for software at some point.

Think about your current situation. Are you responsible for selling ideas, a product or service? I know this: if you ever find yourself in job transition you better figure out how to sell yourself. Better yet, I’d highly suggest you become good at storytelling and painting the picture. Let me explain.

Rule #1: If you want people to be interested in you, be interesting and interested.
Seth Godin often refers to this concept as being remarkable. You know what makes him remarkable? It’s his ability to be a master storyteller. He’s also great at painting the picture so that just about everyone can understand exactly the point he is trying to make. Ever notice that the brightest minds do nothing more than state the obvious? What makes them great, different, and remarkable is their ability to be effective at storytelling and painting the picture.

It can’t be just about you all the time. Actually caring about other people’s success in a sincere manner is part of the process, or at least should be. Notice how the people around you light up when you take a genuine interest in them, what they do, and what excites them. This does not mean you have to start faking your encounters. The goal is to surround yourself with people that actually are fun to be with and enjoy your company.

Rule #2: We have different backgrounds, experiences, and education so find common ground that relates to the masses.
Picture being a financial advisor and learning how to be effective selling big ticket items with fees in excess of $30K to your client. It requires a little more than, “Want to buy my mutual fund?” as a close. What you’ll learn over time is that you need to get good at painting the picture if you’re going to have any success in the highly competitive industry.

When it’s time to talk about retirement, the focus won’t be on having $10K per month income, earning 6% with an expected depreciation of capital of 2% per year. That wouldn’t excite anyone, let alone paint the picture in a way that made any sense. Instead, the focus would be about helping them reach their goals. Letting them visualize what it looks like at retirement – not being concerned about day to day finances – would be your mission. Done successfully, you’d make the sale.

Picture telling your prospect this: You plan the cruise of a lifetime and invite the entire family because money is not an issue. Instead of sitting at home receiving postcards from your friends, you’re the one living the dream. Now it’s graduation day for your sweetest granddaughter and thanks to you, she was able to graduate at the top of her class because you helped contribute to her college fund.

You made it easy for them to visualize what successful planning would create for them.
The world is changing as we know it. Budgets have been shrinking and competition is extremely fierce. The ability to sell or be a master storyteller is becoming more and more important. Helping your clients experience the positive feelings from the services you provide before they choose to make the purchase will go a long way towards your success as a sales professional.

Looking at your current sales techniques, how do you stack up? Are you a modern Vincent Van Gogh or Bob Ross, or do you struggle with drawing stick figures? Share a story that demonstrates your abilities of storytelling and painting the picture.

David

Social media gets a lot of ink – or bytes – these days as a method of communication for companies. If you’re looking to spread the word and build a true community of customers, Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and their electronic brethren make a lot of sense.

Likewise, advertising and marketing communications have well-deserved spots in the toolbox, for the good they do in building brands and communicating benefits.

But there’s one tool that frequently beats them all, at least from my point of view: publicity.

Why is this so, and why should it matter to an organization trying to build sales? Because publicity that is properly conceived, strategically developed and carefully placed brings with it something that none of those other tools do – the implied endorsement of an authoritative and objective third party.

Consider a manufacturing company bringing to market a unique diagnostic tool that can be used by automotive mechanics to extend the life of an average engine by up to 20%.

Marketing professionals can help by purchasing ad space in carefully selected publications or on websites and blogs read by their target audience of automotive maintenance facility owners and managers. Nothing wrong with that.

They also can develop marketing collateral materials such as brochures, sell sheets, case studies, white papers, testimonials and a variety of other tools. Nothing wrong with that, either.

And social media can be extremely helpful in leveraging networks to create positive buzz. That’s great.

But consider the additional credibility that would accompany a story on the topic of innovative automotive engine maintenance, featuring the company’s product.

Odds are good that, in addition to a description of the product, the name of the manufacturer and a quote from the CEO of the company, the story also would include comments from an industry expert or other credible person, adding immeasurably to the credibility of the message.

Whether the publication officially “endorses” the product is really beside the point. There’s an unspoken, “implied” endorsement that comes with being included in a story, especially if it is in a reputable business or trade publication of record.

Of course, the risk is that a competitor or industry expert, or the reporter doing the story, don’t share the glowing assessment of your product, and choose instead to trash it. At the end of the day, that risk is why there is so much potential reward in properly executed publicity. (And it’s why you should never prematurely attempt to place a story, before your product or service is ready for a proper coming-out party.)

Publicity is measurable, adds credibility, and, once reprints are prepared and distributed, gives sales professionals a terrific set of talking points and an automatic leave-behind to use with prospects.

What do you think? Is publicity as powerful as I say? Does the potential risk outweigh the reward? Do you have a publicity success story?

Mike

Years ago, when I became a sales manager, I inherited my first sales team. The first question I asked my boss was, “How do I know if I have the right people on my team?” His response: “It doesn’t matter. They are yours. Make it work.”

A little while later, I had my boss’ boss visit me and I asked him, “What are the 10 most important things for me to do to be a successful sales manager?” His answer: “There’s only one. Make sure you have the right people on your team!”

A decade or so later, working at another company, my boss shared the key to success: “The decisions you make with regard to who you surround yourself with will have a greater impact on your success and happiness than any other decision!”

In one of my favorite business books, First Break All the Rules, Marcus Buckingham talks at great length about hiring “talent” rather than “experience.” Unfortunately, most companies hire based on experience rather than talent, which is why there are more hiring mistakes than there should be.

If you, like me, have done a fair bit of interviewing and hiring over the years, you have probably made mistakes. That is common; you can’t be right 100% of the time. There are tools available today to help minimize the mistakes, things like personality profiling, and IQ and EQ testing, but you are still going to make mistakes.

But here’s the thing: the only true hiring mistake — the one that takes the longest to recover from — is not immediately fixing your mistake by terminating your bad hire. Ultimately, this helps the company and the employee, since the “fit” is not there.

But back to the question of knowing if someone is the right sales person for your team. I think it boils down to one very simple question.

If I’m fully staffed and a superstar becomes available, would I get rid of someone on my team to make room?   If the answer is yes, then I need to be recruiting.  If the answer is no, then I have the right team.

If I’m not fully staffed — and recruiting — and find someone and they aren’t as good as the superstar on my existing team, I keep looking.  I do not “settle.”

I find this to be my true measuring stick to ensure I am constantly upgrading the talent of my team and never being “held hostage” by the wrong people in the wrong positions doing the wrong things!

How do you evaluate current and future team members?

Brian