Home / Posts tagged "Tibor Shanto"

You’re Great At What You Do – But What You’re Doing Isn’t That Great0

By Tibor Shanto – tibor.shanto@sellbetter.ca

One of the things that makes great sales leaders great, is their ability to delicately balance various and at time juxtaposing dynamics in sales. One of the more subtle but potentially very impactful of these is in achieving structured change and improvement in the way their organizations and individual sales people sell in changing environments. Specifically the need to do the right things through the sales cycle, and – executing those actions well.

The challenge is to strike the balance between doing the right things and doing those things consistently better.

Organizations should be striving to create an environment and process that evolves with the demands of the market, which by definition means a continuous evolution in the way buyers buy, and the way sellers sell. This does not mean daily or weekly changes, nor does it imply dramatic change, but over the course of time, say over 12 – 24 months there will be clear differences and movements in your buyers’ expectations, at times even the buyers themselves, and in the way your product is sold and how your sales reps interact with the market. This in turn means the way you need to sell, the “right things’ you need to do and execute to win sales, will also change.

While this change or evolution is desirable and good, it does impact the other side of the scale, the “doing things better” side. Just as you begin to make progress on one skill set, or element of the sales process, change happens, making improvement a challenge, although not impossible. The reality is that improving sales skills is not an overnight process like many try to pretend, as a result it is entirely possible that just as you gain competence and confidence in a given skill, the market will require that you change, and acquire additional skills which will take time to learn and master. Starting the cycle over again. This is why the difficulty in achieving a balance between doing the right thing and doing it better.

Companies deal with this in a number of ways. Some choose to adopt core practices, and then spend time ensuring that their teams are improving their execution over time. The up side, better execution, the downside, the skill is no longer relevant or revenue generating. For an example of this, just look at the experience of those in industries moving to managed services from a previous product or similar sale, look at IT or print as an example. IT players spent years perfecting the break fix sales or solution sales, when everything changed, from the buyer to the way they sell to that buyer.

Others will send individual sales reps to different programs provided by different third parties. Some have told me that this allows for different ideas, and these will be shared among their team. Interesting concept, I have yet to see it implemented well, and usually leads to many inconsistencies as a result of disparate inputs, certainly makes it hard to have a cohesive process.

One company I know invites a motivational speaker each year, their goal is to “pump up the troops, provide a little magic, and set them loose”. While this may be fun, a 60 minute “motivational” presentation at a kick-off meeting, is a lot like cotton candy, sweet, fun, little nutritional value, and does not last much beyond the sugar high; it gets some laughs, some one-liners you can throw around the rest of the year, but does little get people to think, and does not ensure adoption of newly required skills. Without adoption, there is neither improvement nor change, especially for adults who already have day jobs. A consistent focus on adoption leveraging practice and a follow-through process, including a series of hands on sessions extended over a period of months, as we do with our programs, will drive adoption, which results in a change in how people sell. Once you get them to implement, then you can work on helping them do it better, but again, shifts in market expectations. But the reality still remains that just as they do it better they may be required to change.

One thing we do with our clients is to shift the focus of the sale, getting them to look at and focus on the buyer’s objective over other things, such as solutions. The challenge in focusing on solely on solutions, is it leads to sales people running around the country side, where everyone they run in to looks like a problem that is right for their solution.

Many buyers have much greater clarity about where they want to go, their objective, than how they want to get there, the solution. By changing the focus of the sale, you not only get deeper and better engagement, but you can adopt a specific interview style and process that drives engagement around the buyer’s objectives. This creates a sort of “pull-through” effect, as the markets and individual client’s objectives evolve and change, so does the way you sell, and meet those newly evolving requirements.

Beyond the many benefits of putting their objectives in the bulls-eye, it allows organizations to create a real balance between getting your teams to sell the right way, while allowing them to execute better before introducing new ways to sell.

What’s in Your Pipeline?
Tibor Shanto

Aligning Time Horizons (#video)0

By Tibor Shanto – tibor.shanto@sellbetter.ca

Time is pivotal to sales success, on the plus side, it can help you better engage with potential buyers, and on the down side it can create distance and barriers between you and the buyer. One specific is the degree in which you are aligned with the buyer’s horizon. All too often we get ahead of the buyer, or fall way behind, either can slow down or cost you a sale.

Take a look at what I mean, then download our E-Booklet – Sales Happen In Time:

What’s in Your Pipeline?
Tibor Shanto

Small Talk Is For Small People – Sales eXchange 2040

by Tibor Shanto – tibor.shanto@sellbetter.ca

When I talk to sales people about how they start sales meetings with new potential buyers (first time they meet), most (not all) tell me they “break the ice with some small talk”, then they “get in to it!” We’ll leave the getting into it for another time, what I don’t get is the “small talk” bit, I am not sure that in the current format, as practiced by most sellers is effective, necessary, and at times can be risky to the opportunity.

I am antisocial, (although some have accused me), but spending time talking about the weather, or the useless season the local sports team is having seems counterproductive to the goal of the exercise, helping the buyer move closer to their objectives, and yours. And while the people buy from people crowd may want to pounce on me, wait. You can “break the ice”, and set the mood without having to resort to pointless gibberish.

The buyers are all busy, as I should think you are, you obviously said something that caused them to invest an hour of their time with you, it is up to you to maximize the ROT for both. Getting to the point may not the worst strategy. Some buyers may make you feel that they required “small talk”, but that is more conditioning than anything else, if you deliver value by the end of a successful meeting, they will not complain about not having their time wasted.

I am also not suggesting that you jump right into the deep end, I know that the “void” walking between the reception area and the office or meeting room has to be filled, it is how you fill it that can differentiate you from the others.

As you are doing research ahead of your meeting, look for recent events, announcements, or analyst coverage, not specifically related to your product, but significant for the company and or the person you are meeting. A while back I was meeting with a dairy company that was the first to introduce Omeg3 into a line of product, to accentuate the launch, they introduced a beveled edged carton so it would look different from the other milk cartons on the shelf.

On “the walk” from reception, I asked how the packaging was received, changes they had to make to production, and were they looking to use packaging as a differentiator way with other products. While this had nothing with what we were meeting about, it indicated to the buyer that I came prepared, that I was taking an interest in the entire business, not just the part I can sell to, and I can relate the benefit of my offering to the other responsibilities he had. In return, the information he shared with me about the above, helped me refine and better position my value vis-à-vis his objectives. Small talk, yes, but it beat talking about snow in March or the fact that the Leafs were going to miss the playoffs again.

While we think we are being social with small talk, it can and does often come up being hollow, unimportant, and does not move things forward even one millimetre, in which case, what’s the point. It is also interesting that many people who don’t like the small talk when they are buyers, rely on it when they are sellers.

What’s in Your Pipeline?
Tibor Shanto

How Many Sales People Can Dance On The Head Of A Pin?0

by Tibor Shanto – tibor.shanto@sellbetter.ca

Ever wonder why some companies can generate as much revenues with less sales people than others with more? I think it has to do with the hoarder mentality that permeates sales thinking. “The more territory, the more accounts I get, the better I will do”. Yet often the opposite is true, more often than not, less is more in sales accounts and territories.

I remember when I was given responsibility for a new region, eight sales people looking after 13 states. First thing I asked them to review the status of their top ten accounts, recent activity, and their specific plans for the next 12 months (pre CRM days). Each of the eight territories, had some 300 – 500 accounts; on average, the top ten accounted for 72% of revenues in the territories, ranging from a low of 64% to a high of 82%. Coincidentally, around the percentage mark of where they were to quota. Their coverage plan was routine rather than inspiring, and growth was going to be more from momentum and rhythm, rather than execution of a structured plan.

I then asked them when they last saw or spoke to account number 25, account number 51, and number 100. As you may expect, #25, sometime in the last six months, one remembered speaking to number 100 at Christmas, mostly because they called in to update their password, a call they transferred to their inside account support person.

When I asked them what can be done to hit their goals, all but one suggested that we add accounts to their territories that were homeless due to a recent departure. When I suggested that I was actually planning to go the other way, reduce the number of accounts down to about 50 per rep, the hording gene really kicked in. “That crazy Canadian, I always knew they were socialists, he is looking to nationalize my accounts, reduce my empire”.

Well I wasn’t going to nationalize, but give it to the support team, who were dealing with accounts number 50 and on as it was. This would make for less clutter for the territory reps, and provide the clarity they needed to work with their clients, prospect for new opportunities, and drive success. They thought I was nuts, when I suggested they can have as many accounts as they want to prospect and bring on, 20, 50, 100, whatever they liked. But with nearly 72% of their revenue coming from ten accounts, it would be easier to grow the ten, add a few juicy new accounts to make goal, rather than spending their time counting accounts from a distance.

The hoarding gene is strong in sales; after all, some of these reps become managers, then directors, and eventually VP’s. You can tell when you meet them, the solution to everything is adding more resources, more territory, more reps, more accounts; behind on the numbers, “give me another rep”. At the same time you meet others, who after analysing the data, look to optimize territories to maximize client experience and revenues, shrinking territories to create focus, rather than growing them and creating dilution.

One of the only good things to be said for the recession is it showed many organizations that they could in fact deliver more numbers with less headcount. Reducing creates focus which drives creativity, when you reduce, the competent reps step up and deliver, while others demonstrate why you may be better off with less. Sellers always tell you that in sales it is “quality over quantity”, why not apply that to territories and reps as well?

So to answer the question as to how many reps can dance on the head of a pin? A lot less than you think you need to have on that head.

What’s in Your Pipeline?
Tibor Shanto

How to and Why to Cold Mail – Sales eXchange 2032

by Tibor Shanto – tibor.shanto@sellbetter.ca

If you are a regular at this blog, you know that I am big proponent and supporter of cold calling. I don’t fall into a camp. I think clod calling is a necessary part of a multipronged approach for engaging with potential buyers you have not have not spoken to before, or have a means of generating a referral to. While social media is a big plus, there are times when still the most direct, cost and time efficient to get “in front” of someone is to pick up the phone and make a cold call.

Unlike some others who will tell you to use only one method over another, I have more respect for your intelligence and time than to tell you to only cold call and ignore referral selling, I believe you need to leverage as many tools and resources as are available to you to get you message to the right person. Furthermore, the reality is that in some markets, with some products, where the audience is not involved in social media, or is unreachable through referral, your choices are limited, especially if your goal is to engage and sell, not just to look cool and modern.

One key reason you want to use as many tools as possible, is that it could take many touch points to get someone to engage, not to buy, but just to engage, depends who you read it could take anywhere between 5 – 9 touch points for the nickel to drop with a potential buyer. Consider:

48% Of Sales People Never Follow Up with a Prospect
25% Of Sales People Make a Second Contact and Stop
12% Of Sales People Make a Second Contact and Stop
Only 10% Of Sales People Make More Than Three Contacts
10% Of Sales Are Made On the Fourth Contact
80% Of Sales Are Made On the Fifth to Twelfth Contact

To make the most of the touch points, you need to mix up the modes of approach. As with most tools, it is important you use the right one for a desired outcome. What follows assumes:

• You need to have a direct conversation with the prospect to sell successfully, either face to face or by telephone. • The e-mail in question is your very first attempt to reach the prospect.

Given the above, especially the second point, you need to determine what your objective is. If you have never spoken to the buyer, the objective is clear, to schedule a firm time for the first conversation. It is not to sell, deliver your value prop, start a relationship, or anything other than getting their commitment to speak at a specified time. You want a call back to confirm the call, or as you will see in a moment, to actually schedule a meeting. If your goal is different than that, what follows may not be for you. On the other hand if you have never spoken to them before, and you need to direct, then what other outcome could you hope for?

The Format

Keep it short, two or three lines – in a 140 character world, you need to focus. Chances are your e-mail will be read on a mobile device, if you don’t capture them in that first screen, you won’t. You may get one flick of the thumb, the second will be to delete.

The Subject Line – think of how you do things, first question do I know this person? If not, you look at the subject line, if it doesn’t grab you, delete. If it does, you may open it, as a result the subject line is crucial, as the reader will not know you. This is why your subject line should be your call to action with a question mark.

Example (from a few years back):

Subject: Meeting June 30, 9:30 am?

Dear Mr. Prospect,

I am Tibor Shanto Principal with Renbor Sales Solutions, over the last three years we have helped The Business Development Bank of Canada set more appointments with Canada’s small business owners. I read about The Scotia Bank RV, and am writing to set up a meeting to discuss how we may help you and Scotiabank reach your objective.

How is Monday June 30th at 9:30 am?

Thank you in advance, Tibor Shanto

Result, within 90 minutes, I had response saying the date did not work, but they suggested an alternative time for us to meet.

Doesn’t work every time, about 10% – 20% of the time it does, but it is just one of many tools. Combined with voice mail, a presence in social media, and you have an effective means of engaging, or at the least, an effective touch point.

An interesting observation, while the perfect result is 10 – 20 percent, I do see a number of people visiting my site after getting the e-mail, and while many may not call back, when I follow up with my next touch point, they are more aware of who and why. When they visit the site, check out the blog, see what I am up to on social media, I am willing to bet, that some of the appointments I get through other channels with these same people was helped by the initial short and direct e-mail.

What’s in Your Pipeline?
Tibor Shanto

The 30 Hour Work Week3

by Tibor Shanto – tibor.shanto@sellbetter.ca

No this is not an alternate to Timothy Ferriss’ The 4-Hour Workweek, a good read I would recommend, many applicable ideas for B2B sales pros; but this piece is about helping sales people deal with and conquer one of our biggest challenges.

One of the biggest reasons (excuses) I hear, and hear very often from sales people as to why they don’t have enough (any) prospects in their pipeline, is that they just don’t have the time to prospect. They tell me that by the time “I finish all the things I have to do, I just don’t have the time.”

In the past I have talked about the shortcomings of time management, preferring instead to focus on time allocation to the right activities. But still many people find it difficult to do “all” the things they have to before the clock runs out. This is interesting in that what they often end up doing is nowhere near as important as prospecting, after all, what can be more important than finding and engaging with future revenue streams? Based on work with sales teams, here is a way you can do all the important things you have to do in the course of a week including prospecting.

Let’s say you have a 40 hour work week, if you really are in B2B selling you know this is a hypothetical, but let’s go with it. Sales time is like a gas, it fills the space available, put no matter if it the canister is five litres or ten. I have seen sales people get as little done in 45 hours as in 40, whether their deadline is close or far, they always come right up against it. It is not simply procrastination, it is a question of habit; and sales people are not alone in this, people work to deadline, a rare few don’t.

Add to that the element that they don’t always commit their valuable time to the right activities, and these will differ based on what you sell, but you don’t have to watch sales people lone to see that some of the things we do are busy work and not revenue related work. It may make us feel good, you know like taking a customer service call, gabbing with that caller for 20 minutes, rather than passing them to the right person right away. Of course you then have to follow up to see how things ended, and after a 90 minute investment, you have little to show for it other than feeling good. Given that the average sales year is about 1,760 hours, do just that one thing once a week, and you’ve wasted 75 hours or almost 5% of your face time, or 5% of you quota.

Here is where the 30 hour work week comes in, rather than fighting to set aside a mere few hours to prospect, turn it around, pretend that your week is only 30 hours. Remember you will fill the time you have, so if you have 30 hours, you’ll do all the things you are doing now in 40, and then have 10 hours for prospecting, and maybe the football pool. Do this for a week or four, and it will become habit, and the next thing you know you’ll have more prospects, more money, and more time to run, more time with the kids, and money to boot.

Think of it as a gastric band for sales. Hey, it’s good enough for Christie.

Now available through Renbor – The Pipeline Lap-Band.

Don’t Forget – Contest Closes Today!

What’s in Your Pipeline?
Tibor Shanto

3 More Tips For Effective Telephone Prospecting1

by Tibor Shanto – tibor.shanto@sellbetter.ca

On Monday I wrote about the need to counterbalance for some of the realities of telephone prospecting, and some things sellers can do to compensate. Today I offer up some other basic things you can do, to improve your success in some simple ways.

Some of these things may seem mundane and basic, but that doesn’t lessen their importance in consistent results from telephone prospecting. As in sports, music or other crafts, focusing on the most basic aspects is as important as mastering the big things, your messaging, value props, etc. The balance and combination of the two, augmented by your style and personality are what make for your success.

We spoke about intonation on Monday, we the most basic thing you can do is smile when you are on the phone. Smile even when you feel like reaching through the line and strangling the person at the other end. The tone and tenor of your voice is different when you smile, but it does carry over the phone and impacts your listener. We all remember the old song “When you’re smiling – the whole world smiles with you”, is true! Smiling is something you can practice, sounds odd, but in the heat of the moment, when your emotions kick in, you will forget unless you practice it as part of your routine.

Speaking of practice, yes, you should practice – out loud, and more than once. Sales people often look at me funny when I suggest they lock themselves in a boardroom or meeting room and practice their approach, be that a prospecting call, an actual sales meeting, anything important. By practicing, you become not only more confident, but master the salient points much better. In fact in addition to practicing, I recommend you write down the key points you want to cover, when you write things down you retain them better, just like in collage. By the way, this does not imply that you are memorizing the “presentation”, I don’t like presentations, but you can apply this to questions you want to ask around key points you need to explore to get the client engaged and in a buying mode. By practicing and mastering what you want to cover you minimize the need to think (or worry) about what you are going to say, when and how you’ll say it, freeing up valuable bandwidth to focus on what the buyer is say, and processing power to deal with that properly.

For prospecting calls, it is important to practice how you will respond to and manage objections potential buyers have. It is one thing to download our Objection Handling Handbook, it is another to spend some quality time with it in a room alone and practicing the methods and concepts, much like practicing a playbook in sports. It may unfold differently on the field, but the practice allows you to react from a base of knowledge. If the meeting is large, important, or to a committee, spend time visualising the meeting, exploring potential paths it may take, questions, comments or objections participants may pose. You’ll find that you’ll be much more prepared for the expected and the unexpected. The same works for a prospecting call.

Finally, and it may seem small, stand up when you make calls, get a headset so you can use your hands to express yourself the way you would in a direct conversation. With Bluetooth headsets, you now have the freedom to walk around, feel and be relaxed, and that too carries over the phone and adds to your intonation. Add a mirror to the equation and you can really affect the way you speak, and how they hear you at the other end. Some say this sounds bizarre, but to bring it full circle, I remember taking a telephone skills program from Bell back in the 80’s, and when we finished the course, we were given an 8 x 6 mirror, and in Bell blue at the bottom it said “Smile”. Worked then, and still works now, as long as you commit and execute.

Don’t Forget To Enter The Big Contest!!
See Biz Stone, Seth Godin and others

What’s in Your Pipeline?
Tibor Shanto

For many, summer is a time to take it back a notch, relax, and enjoy a slower pace. For others it is a time to bear down and focus on things they want accomplish, they spend time preparing their next adventure and conquests.

If you’re not ready to left the summer drift by, and see it as an opportunity to reignite your passion and take things to the next level, we have good news for you.

On July 24, Legacy Mastery, is presenting a fantastic event in Toronto: A PASSION FOR LIFE, is a full day event pack with today’s EXCEPTIONAL LEADERS who will transform your BUSINESS, PROFESSIONAL & PERSONAL PERFORMANCE.

I know it sounds like a big statement, but the day lives up to it, here is the roster:

Tony Robbins – Peak Peformance – Entrepreneur, Author & Peak Performance Strategist World Authority on Leadership Psychology
Robert Greene – Keys to Mastery – Best Selling Author , The 48 Laws of Power, The Art of Seduction, and Mastery
Chip Heath – Creativity & Branding – Best Selling Author of Switch, Made to Stick and Decisive Loretta LaRoche – Work Life Balance – Acclaimed Stress Expert, Author, Humorist and Motivational Speaker
Joe Plumeri – Success Strategies – Chairman and CEO of Willis Group Holdings (2000-2012) CEO, Citibank North America (1999–2000); Chairman and CEO, Travelers Primerica Financial Services (1995-1999); President and Managing Partner, Shearson Lehman Brothers (1990-1993)
Desiree Rogers – Customer Relations – CEO, Johnson Publishing Company, LLC; White House Special Assistant to President Obama; 2009-2010, White House Social Secretary, 2009-2010

A great bill no matter what you have your eye set on, you’re bound to get the inspiration and practical steps you need to succeed.

And As you would expect, as a reader of The Pipeline, you can register now, use the code RENBOR, and receive $100.00 courtesy of Renbor Sales Solutions and the good folks at Legacy Mastery.

These events tend to fill up fast, act now to get your seat, and your $100 discount by using the code RENBOR.

Enjoy and profit!

Tibor Shanto

Effective Telephone Prospecting Tips – Sales eXchange 2023

by Tibor Shanto – tibor.shanto@sellbetter.ca

If you are a sales person who does not use the phone to proactively prospect for potential clients, you may not find this post of interest, on the other hand you may find something to spark you to take up the habit.

As with many things in sales, to successfully engage and move through the process, you need to do some things that are counter intuitive, don’t conform to how you may act or behave in regular circumstances. But if you’re in sales, you know that selling is not a normal circumstance.

While the numbers vary, there seems to be consensus that communication is:

60% Body language
30% Intonation
10% The words you use

The challenge for those using the phone is that there is no room for body language, (well almost), and with that 60% of their ability to be fully effective is negated. Unless you compensate for that in some way, you are relying more on luck than anything else.

Most sales people do not take this into account, and in fact approach their prospecting calls as though they were in a face to face meeting, a fatal mistake.

All good selling involves a bit of drama or theater, the telephone as a medium, also lends itself to a bit of theater, when prospecting by phone you need to combine both. You need to accentuate certain things to make up for the lack of visual. The logical thing is to put greater focus on the second element, intonation. Rather than speaking in your normal tone, using words you would use sitting across the desk from someone, you have to make things bigger, be more assertive, descriptive and direct.

Think of the old radio programs, and how they ballooned things for effect, and so must you, especially given that your buyer is getting calls from dozens of other sellers, and that if you are an unscheduled call, their focus and attention is elsewhere, unlike when they have committed the time to at least listen to you in the context of an appointment. Introduce a bit of drama and effect, use more descriptive words, and accentuate them. Rather than simply saying we do this or that, say “we have a proven track record of success in delivering double digit growth.” Get rid of socially expected norms of being polite, rather than saying “I was wondering if we could meet” or “I was hoping…”; say it direct and with conviction.

People have a tendency to rush the prospecting call, which makes it easy for a prospect to go with the flow and the call faster. Leave greater pauses between words, let the meaning land before moving on, slow down, make you voice deeper. Ask questions, make them engage, rather than just listen and object. This is why having a script helps. Not so much because you will recite the words by heart, but it allows you set the momentum and rhythm that will engage the listener on the other end (assuming the right content and message).

Remember that the lack of body language cuts both ways, while they can’t see you, you can’t see their reaction either, so you have to sharpen you other senses. My first sales job was telesales, the first things I was taught was that I had to listen for things other than words. Focus on the breathing, the space between words and sentences, and all the other things that make up for the lack of body language. In the end, there is more than one element that will help you “give good call”, but if you do not make up for some of the big things, the small things will matter less.

Don’t Forget To Enter The Big Contest!!
See Biz Stone, Seth Godin and others

What’s in Your Pipeline?
Tibor Shanto

Sales Leaders – Manage Your 50% Minority5

by Tibor Shanto – tibor.shanto@sellbetter.ca

In the past I have written about the propensity of sales leaders to accept and live with the Pareto Principle, the 80/20 rule. For example, 20% of your reps deliver 80% of your revenues, I know one team with 9 reps, where 2 sellers are responsible for 71% of the revenue. At one time, in the Shanto Principle I asked the question what if organizations could move the dial to 70/30, what would the impact be?

Companies continue to struggle with this reality, in many instances the 80/20 looks more like this:

20% – Top of the pack, consistently successful, adaptive and responsive to market movements, often spearheading the change in sales that are required to keep and win more business.
55% – Steady players, not always winning, or delivering 100% of plan, but put in a steady (just enough) effort to be in the 70% – 90% of plan zone. Room to improve, but bad enough to fire (although you have to wonder).
25% – Perennial underachievers. Steadily underperforming, while you don’t invest time in them, they are still part of the team. While you know you should fire them, you give in to the voice that says they are better than nothing, while I look for a replacement.

You may think that the above is a variation on the traditional A, B, and C player model, many do, which is a mistake.

I strongly suggest that you look at it more like:

A Players – The top 20%, Group 1

B Players – The top half of the 55%, Group 2

C Players – The bottom half of the 55%, Group 2 X Players – The bottom 25%, Group 3

I have always argued that leaders should focus their time and attention to the A players, show the most love to those you want to lose least. Show no time or attention to the C Players; the lack of attention clearly communicates that they either need to adopt and contribute, make their way up to B status, in order to get attention, or move on to organizations. The B’s need to be put on a path to achieve A status. NOTE: this is once the sales rep has been on-boarded, trained on your systems, and integrated into the process. This could be as little as three months, or as long as a year, but there does come a point where they need to deliver on their own. I still stand by this, but have ratcheted things up a bit, by encouraging you to not waste time, resources or emotion or keep that bottom 25%, the X Players. Rather than pretending that they are C players, suggesting some hope, when in fact they are a toxic waste in your sales organization, meaning you have to dump them ASAP.

Accepting the Status Quo, (yes, we do it too), is riskier than many sales leaders want to pretend, and here is why. Any way you slice it, the majority of the sales team is missing quota. It is true that more sales teams collectively are making quota, even while most individual contributors are not. What is the take away for those on the team who continuously are missing targets? Sales teams are like any other collective of people, there is a perception of majority rule, and if the majority is not making quota, then that soon becomes the norm. Not something sales leaders should encourage or tolerate, but by not acting quickly and strongly to end that, it soon becomes the norm, and worse.

If more than 50% of the team is not making quota, rationalizing becomes easy; “it’s not me, it’s the product”, “it’s the price”, “it’s the whatever”. “After all, look at all the people who are also in the same boat, it can’t be me”. Those few that are making quota, well they become the anomaly, the pack will stick together to comfort their own, and ostracise the others.

One of the top priorities of a sales leader, and their managers, has to be to ensure that at the minimum, more than half of the team exceeds their quota. This needs to be done across the whole organization, and by each front line manager locally with their teams; having a patch quilt of teams that do and don’t is not acceptable. While ultimately we want everyone to make their goal, this is a start; 50% plus of each team, and 50% plus of the whole organization.

How do you do that, a simple upward rotation is a good start. Not only do you heavily reward success, you simultaneously punish failure. Start with the of 10% rule, every year fire the bottom 10% of each team, not just the entire sales organization, but on each team managed by a front line manager; and if they have two teams, fire the bottom 10% from each team. Many are often reluctant to do this, telling me they can’t afford to have a vacant territory, if you ask me, the opposite is true, you can’t afford having territories run by these X Players. You can’t afford having your clients be attended to by these X Players. By the way, you don’t have to wait for the end of the year. If they are not executing the activities required to win, it will not take a year to realize things. One company I know fires those who are in the bottom 10% three months running. They are transactional, and can tell early, you may need to wait the year, or not. You just need to ensure that the period you choose allows for slumps and temporary factors that you can address and correct.

As this pruning takes place, especially as it becomes the declared policy, you’ll find that those in the middle of the pack begin to self-correct and do things that drive them ahead, realizing that as the bottom is lopped off, they either move higher or face being the next to go. This upward rotation pays dividends across the team, the C’s and B’s begin to move up, and the A’s realize they have company, and their personality trait kicks in, and they improve their game to maintain the gap with the B’s. Lifting your results to higher and higher levels. You may even find after a few years of this approach that you do more with less players; alternatively, expand products and markets with a more qualified and talented team.

Once you get to where more than 50% of the organization is making goal, the dynamic switches. Rather than people rationalizing why they are not making quota, after all those who are not are now in the minority, people look for ways to make and exceed quota, and begin to share their best practices. Majority rule! If you do find yourself in an enviable position where all you reps are making or exceeding goals, may still be a viable way of ensuring continuous improvement and growth.

This may seem a harsh route, but as leaders, that’s why we get the big bucks, for big decisions and big differences. Any way you look at it, it will never be as harsh as having to explain the alternative to the executive committee.

What’s in Your Pipeline?
Tibor Shanto

1 2 3 … 37 Next »

Now available through Renbor – The Pipeline Lap-Band.

Don’t Forget To Enter The Big Contest!! See Biz Stone, Seth Godin and others

Don’t Forget To Enter The Big Contest!! See Biz Stone, Seth Godin and others

Don’t Forget To Enter The Big Contest!!
See Biz Stone, Seth Godin and others

Don’t Forget To Enter The Big Contest!!
See Biz Stone, Seth Godin and others