By Tibor Shanto

No magic dust, no having to sell your soul to the devil (although sometimes it feel like you have), just some basic practices consistently applied. Track – Review – Intensity – Persistence – Leverage – Execute.

TRACK: It is amazing how many sales people do not know how their sales break down. You ask them “how long is your sales cycle?” Most “depends”. It has come to the point where when we hear that in a workshop we give them a discount coupon for the product Depend. Ask them what their closing ratio is based on the number of proposals presented; how many prospects they need to engage with that will lead to a proposal; how many people they initially have an appointment with that turn into a (real) prospect; the answer usually is “depends”. OK, “depends on what?” You know what they say? “Depends!”

If you are not tracking your activities, conversion rates, use of time and resources, how can you know how well you are doing? What you can change or improve.

A recent participant in a workshop told us that one of the practices we presented does not work. Well we want to help, we asked what his related ratio was, he told us he does not know; we asked ”how does it compare to results you were getting before?” He did not know, not only was he not tracking what he was doing now, but never tracked what he was doing before. It turns out his company was tracking his revenue, and he was a distant last on his team. In this case it was clear that he wasn’t doing much, which explained his results, but had he been tracking elements of his sale we could have addressed specific aspects and put actions plans into effect to help him.

Leaders in every profession track what they are doing. Some reps say it is too time consuming, it isn’t. Tracking the basic elements mentioned above, or a handful of others, adds at best five minutes to one’s day, a small investment for ongoing success.

Review: Now it’s going to be hard to review if you do not track, but there are numerous things that can be examined for improvement and gain.

The hallmark of any successful professional athlete, lawyer, or finance is their continuous quest to improve, grow and develop; how many times have you heard pro athletes say they were “reviewing the game tape”? Professionals conduct a regular review of their goals, objective, changing environment, and their activities.

On a regular basis you want to review your account plans, activities conversion rates, in fact all things that can impact your success throughout the sales cycle. This does not have to be a laborious process, just an effective means of driving efficiencies. One of the best sales people I know runs through a checklist after every meeting he has, he then jots down three things he did well, and three things he could have done better. His goal is to make sure that the things that make his “did well” list are those that were on the “not done right” list in the last meeting. He insists that since he sells an intangible, the only thing that will make a difference is the way he sells, not what he sells.

Intensity: Like it or not sales is a contact sport, if you are not prepared to “bring it” and in the most intense way, you may as well stay at the office, file some brochures! Too many reps take a much to passive approach to sales, or worse they put all their faith on the “relationship” While we have talked about the over blown notion of “relationships” , too many sales people are drawn to the soft side of sales.

Give me a rep with a passion for what they are doing any day over one that spends more energy rationalizing an anaemic performance or pipeline. Energy, drive and focus are integral to consistently delivering results.

Persistence – Along with Intensity, persistence is a much under-practiced. You need to stay with it, and maintain your intensity. As we have discussed in the past reps tend to give up on certain sales situations much too early, especially above the funnel, when prospecting and early in the sale. The challenge is to know when to stay with it and when to step back. Some pursue everything; this not only consumes a lot of resources and energy, but also leads to frustration because they can’t get everything done. Others focus on too few things, which leads to anaemic pipelines and results. The key is to know what to persist with, and what not. By having a proper process for managing their funnels and a systematic approach to their sales supported by their specific metrics, they can take control of their results by managing their actions.

Leverage – Everything you can! There are so many opportunities for reps to gain advantages in the market, but some just don’t. They don’t leverage tools, relationships, references, processes, peers, managers and most importantly learning and knowledge. Many go on about their days doing things as they always have, instead of utilizing the many resources available to them to win deals. Partly it is because they spend too much time in reactive mode, limiting their ability to plan or even be aware of all the things they could leverage to move sales forward. It is hard to say if after a time people just level off in terms energy or desire, and begin to view sales as an hourly wage type job. With others it may be the fact that they begin to believe the hype around their own capabilities and stop looking for alternate ways of getting sales done.

Execute – Just Do It! Most times the root cause of low numbers or unfulfilled targets comes from a lack of action. Nothing more, nothing less. They have the skills, they have the tools, they have the support, they just lack the will or motivation; or what ever it is that just keeps them from doing it. At times it is a question of time management, and they just run out of time, having spent (squandered) the precious resource on none essential pursuits. Sometimes it is caused by a lack of drive, either for reasons mentioned above, some reps hit a plateau and really see no reason to do better, and some just live of a high base salary.

The good news is that for those that do apply their skills, knowledge, tools and resources, making more money in sales is a relatively straight forward thing, not easy, but more than doable. I am not surprised when I hear that the leading earners on most sales teams earn up to twice as much as the average rep in the same company, and in line with the 80/20 rule, three times that what some on their team.

Tibor Shanto, is a Principal with Renbor Sales Solutions Inc. Renbor provides a total approach to managing sales and prospecting activity; building profitable relationships. Helping organizations sell better by effecting measurable improvements in the most critical aspects of the sales process. Programs focus on: Real Prospects – Real Sales – Real Measurable Results.

For more information on helping your team sell better, write to: This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it , visit www.sellbetter.ca or call 416 671-3555.