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Sales Coaching

From Performer to Coach

In the professions of dancing, music, sports, and acting, as in selling, it is not uncommon to see someone who moves eventually from ‘performing’ into teaching. In the first four professions it seems a natural enough progression and performers generally welcome someone with experience, especially if that experience was successful. The best of those teachers eventually graduate to become professional coaches, and again, it is not unusual to hear professional performers extol the virtues and merits of their coaches, especially when those performers are receiving awards or accolades. This is, however, with the notable exception of salespeople who appear from my research to have a less than charitable view of their managers.

In selling, there’s a phrase that is often used – “Those who can, do. Those who cannot, teach. Those who can’t teach, administrate”. There is an attitude of mind in selling that training is a soft option. The way to corporate fame and success is through the sales management channel. This attitude fails to realise the power and strength of sales coaching. It is primarily because of this attitude that many of the best potential sales coaches never consider joining the profession of coaching in the first place. Sometimes the average performing salesperson is moved into the training department rather than the best salesperson. It underlines the confusion and misunderstanding that there exists between coaching and training. In the vast majority of sales forces, the way that a salesperson most often moves from a selling role into a potential coaching role is via promotion. On Friday evening the best salesperson in the team leaves work to resurface, almost butterfly-like on Monday morning into what used to be a sales management role, but now in many companies is called coaching.

We have heard for the last twenty years that the skills needed to be a successful salesperson are not necessarily the skills needed to be a successful sales manager. However, the practice of promoting salespeople into management positions on the assumption that because they were good at selling they will be good at sales management continues unabated. That’s not to say that assessment, development, and selection processes have not replaced the ‘tap on the shoulder’. It is however only cosmetic. I have been on enough selection panels and met enough salespeople turned sales manager to know that the “tap on the shoulder” still exists but the process now takes longer. The game of objectivity still has to be played but the outcomes are the same. It usually starts by someone saying, “Look, you can have who you want. It’s just that we have to go through this to make it appear fair” No wonder so many new sales managers fail at the first hurdle. The pain of this failure is most acutely suffered by the poor unfortunates in the sales team who have to pay the consequences of an untrained sales manager. By the time the average sales manager has built up some semblance of sales success they have left behind them battalions of sales casualties. I should know – I was that sales manager.

And now? Now sales managers are supposed to be coaches. Yet I see as much preparation for this role as there generally has been for sales management, with about the same level of success. In the fields of sports, dance, music and the theatre, the job of the coach is clearly defined, understood, and respected. In simple terms, the role of the coach is to elicit the best performance possible from his or her charges. They have no other function. In the world of selling, this coaching role is completely misunderstood and expectations are simply not realistic. Many ‘coaches’ have a variety of responsibilities of which coaching is merely one. If coaches have additional responsibilities such as:

· Personal sales targets

· HR responsibilities

· Administrative duties

· Budgeting

… then they are not and never will be effective sales coaches. Being a sales coach is a full time occupation. The sales coach has to be able to concentrate on and dedicate their time to the following areas: –

· Creating and selling a successful vision of the future

· Creating a positive learning environment in which the team feels free to experiment

· Making time available for everyone to learn and to practise

· Reinforcing positive behaviours

· Planning a long-term skills strategy for success

In 1992, I completed a coaching programme delivered by David Hemery (of Gold Medal Fame) and Susan Kaye. With ten of my colleagues I had just scaled a wall, which stretched endlessly skyward, or was it really only fourteen feet high? ‘Scaling’ implies some kind of professional approach, when in fact most of us, men and women, had been hauled over the wall quite unceremoniously. It was at the end of three long days, where we had climbed mountains, crossed ravines, walked along dangerous obstacles, and care-freely thrown ourselves from great heights into the waiting arms of companions. Our journey was along the ‘Challenge of Excellence’ during which our course had sparked our imagination, stimulated our desire to succeed, and watered the seeds of our greatness. It was David who first told me about the seed of greatness. He believes that each one of us has that seed within us. On completing the Challenge of Excellence, whilst my sense of achievement knew no bounds, I was unsure about the greatness of the seed. In hindsight, he was right. We all have it. For me it was one of the major milestones in a long project to discover a better way of managing and of training and developing people. I had been working for nearly two years previously, convinced that coaching from the athletic world could be combined with managerial motivational psychology, to form a more effective style of developing and managing salespeople.

The seed of greatness exists for all those who say they can improve, and even within those who say they cannot. Coaching can release that seed, not just for the person being coached, but also for the coach. Coaching has represented for me a model upon which personal performance issues are clearly defined, structured, and acted upon. It could do the same for you, and for the people you seek to develop. It is the missing piece of the development jigsaw.

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Sales Coaching

Sales Coaching – Sales Phone Follow Up and Email Follow Up Methods

I am often asked the question:

“How do I know If and How I should follow up with a prospect that showed some moderate interest, but I have not heard back from them recently?”

It depends on each individual situation. In some cases it will be best to let it go immediately and in others it will be best to have a clear follow up process. Each situation needs to be evaluated. I have witnessed sales professionals/business owners chase after opportunities way too long, and I have also helped them implement a highly professional follow up method to eventually do business with very large clients. It is essential that your follow up process does not put the prospect on the defensive or cause any pressure at all.

In general, when someone is not responding to a voice mail or phone call after they showed mild to moderate interest, it means something may have changed. Or it means they realized they showed some interest, but have a hard time saying,”No” and they don’t want to have to tell you that they don’t want what you have to offer. Hence, they just choose to ignore the sales person, knowing eventually they will go away. This sometimes is easier than saying,”No thanks, we have no interest in your product or service.”

So, what can you do? First, in your meeting or conference call where they showed mild to moderate interest, it is essential that the next meeting and next step is clearly covered.(Before you leave!) Ensure it makes sense for your business and for *their business goals* most importantly. Don’t leave the meeting without next action steps in place. That will help prevent all of this. Yet, if it is too late, and that step was missed or steps were canceled or there was a major delay,

Here are some other ideas:

Make it easy for them to say “No.” Let them know, it is ok, if you don’t want and need this, it is not for everyone. You can even tell them,”It is OK to say ‘no’ and that you don’t want this.” Guess what happens when you do this? They respect you, and feel no pressure to say ‘yes’ or ‘no.’ You are not trying to push anything on them either way, you are just trying to find out if there is a mutual fit or not to do business. You clearly explain that it may not be for them, and that is ok. Make it easy for them to say,”No thanks,” and you will quickly filter out those prospects who are a good mutual fit, and those who are not. You will then find yourself spending more time with those who may be a good fit, versus chasing those who are not a good fit.

So, to tie this back into the question, think about how you can implement this philosophy into your selling, your voice mails and emails when you get to this stage(If you failed to set next steps or the actions plans changed)

Example:”Mr. X, I know we spoke 3 weeks ago about your specific ‘marketing goals’ and how our ‘ABC Service’ can help you achieve them this quarter. I have not heard back yet on the information we needed to finalize the program. I just want to let you know, it is ok, if you are no longer interested or if you don’t need this service any more, but if you could kindly let me know, either way, I would greatly appreciate it. Thank you.”(The script should take 25 seconds which is a short enough voice mail and very appropriate) You could also tie this messaging into an email.

Jeremy J. Ulmer, Professional Sales Coach

For more information on Sales Coaching [http://coachwithjeremy.com/] please visit: Sales Coach [http://coachwithjeremy.com/] Website

If you are considering working with a sales coach or a sales mentor, please contact me to learn more about my sales coaching and sales mentoring programs.

Jeremy J. Ulmer, Professional Coach and Sales Expert

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Sales Coaching

Sales Action Plan – Building Your Own Self-Development Plan Using Your Customers

I don’t know why I didn’t think of this sooner. I have a sales coach that supports me, helping to analyze my actions during the sales process. It’s very focused on what we are doing now and what we should do next. But I just realized that I should know what has worked best in the past and what has not worked. I can sit down and write out what went right on the project I won, what went wrong on those same deals and then I can write out what went wrong on the deals I lost (most everything…) but won’t that yield an entirely biased list?

So, I started to think about every time I call on my customers, asking them questions on their progress, their roadblocks, their strategies. Everyone of them loves to talk about the product, their project and how things are progressing. So this is where the connection happened.

Now that I personally have a number of customer projects that I have lead the sales effort, it would make the most sense to query those people on how I did. What went right, why they selected my company, what I could have done better. That might also yield a positively biased reaction (we would hope). So, I thought I should include some prospects that didn’t select me because of some obvious reasons.

Now, I put together a scenario of how I would contact each customer, introduce my coach and then lead the coach into an assessment interview. All of my customers are from the organizational effectiveness and development space. So, they should get the fact that I want to conduct a peer review using them.

This is the email I laid out.

Dear Customer of Mine,

I am trying to create some development actions and improve my performance (boy, those words sound very familiar). I obviously sell talent management software and certainly feel the need to have my own talent plan. Since you are I have had a close vendor/client relationship that has lasted for quite some time, I was hoping that you might be able to participate in my performance improvement program.

I have been working with a sales coach for quite some time conducting mentoring and coaching sessions. To expand my program, I thought some peer reviews would be of valuable to my coach and allow some different perspectives (I am sure he is tired of hearing my own assessment!) So, I have asked him to contact you (with your permission) to provide some input to about 5 assessment questions that he has created . In respect of your time, this will only take 10 minutes on the phone.

Can I ask him to contact you directly for this short interview session?

Signed,

Jamie

How does that sound?

Here are my set of questions to pose….the question is “Will I gather the information I am looking for, some unbiased third-party opinions of me, my selling process, my attitude and how I compare to others doing the same thing???

1) (FOCUS ON THEM) Overall, how much impact on your final selection did the product have or did the salesperson have? (maybe percentages, maybe preferences)

2) In looking at this buying process, could you describe some best practices that you uncovered that will help you in future buying decisions?

3) (FOCUS ON ME) What did the salesperson do that was particularly effective and helped to differentiate him from his competitor’s salespeople? maybe ONE top of mind example that sticks out?

4) Could you describe your experience (in a couple of sentences) in the process of buying a product from Jamie in comparison to other corporate purchase decisions you have been involved with?

5) What could the salesperson have done differently to help you along in the selection process or towards a buying decision?

6) From a best practices standpoint, what could you recommend to the salesperson? maybe doing something better that might have changed the buying process – made your life easier, made things simpler?

7) If you uncovered a colleague with a similar need to the product or service you purchased, how likely would you be to refer that colleague to Jamie?

8) Finally, Would you be willing to give this salesperson a testimonial? written via email or place directly into linked in?

How To Contact Me: email address is jamie@jamiecorn.com

About Me: Resident on Long Island…Software sales consultant, former business owner, & financial consultant who has provided expertise to corporate HR organizations on their Talent Management and Human Capital Management processes and workflows. Over twenty-five years of previous business experience within manufacturing.

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Sales Coaching

Mental Sales Is No “Secret”

The art of sales is replete with plenty of lead-generation and marketing systems, websites and toll-free hotlines that promise to bring prospects knocking down your door. But is it possible that there’s another factor-one that we only give periodic lip service to- that might be the real missing key to top producing success?

Napoleon Hill made his mark in the early 1900’s with his landmark book, Think and Grow Rich.
In fact, it’s no surprise that many, if not most, of America’s noted self-development gurus admit that Hill’s book opened doors (& minds) and served as the catalyst for massive and on-going success. Interestingly, numerous real estate coaches and top brokers and sales coaches and trainers from all industries will note the same claim to fame. What was it about Hill’s book that hit home for so many? He acknowledged the power of the mind: we get what we think about.

Not to insinuate that Hill’s ideas suggested we think nice thoughts and then sit around on our laurels waiting for prospects to drop from the sky. Indeed, action is the impetus of measurable results, but before anything-comes the power of thought. When Hill wrote his book, some of his ideas seemed a little bit beyond the ozone layer. However, something gave rise to his credibility. Since steel magnet Andrew Carnegie commissioned Hill to set about the 20-year task of interviewing the richest men in America-men who had last names like Firestone, Woolworth and Wrigley, not to mention Thomas Edison himself-credibility was difficult to challenge.

Fast forward 100 years or so and let’s consider how we can use that ageless wisdom and technique to find prospects and close transactions. While Hill’s verbiage included less explanation than what today’s quantum physics can define a bit better, the fact is that we get what we focus on. If you focus on a deal falling through, catching a cold or getting a flat tire, please don’t be surprised when the dreaded event occurs. In fact, with enough consistency, you can almost bank on it.

While so much press has been given to the movie, The Secret, that it’s surely not a secret anymore, many advocate viewers seem to miss the whole point, and others insist it’s because the whole point isn’t included in the film. In writing somewhere around seven books now (I only lose track because I’ve written hundreds in my mind!) I can tell you that my very first book, Girl Gets World, from 2000, focused on the law of attraction and every book thereafter (with the exception of one real estate book that was more pragmatic). That said, hundreds, no, make that thousands of authors, speakers, trainers and gurus alike have been major proponents and teachers of “the secret.” So why all of a sudden did America seem to wake up and run to the video store?

My guess is that it was simple and “dumbed” down in a way that everyone could “get it.” You see a beautiful diamond necklace, you imagine yourself wearing it, and presto! You wake up and it’s on your neck. So no, it’s not that easy as most of us have figured out. However, and this is what’s important, the idea of “the secret” has gotten more people interested than ever before into understanding a bit about the law of attraction and how it can improve (and sometimes save) lives. And, I suspect if Napoleon Hill had created a Technicolor movie replete with catchy sound bites from Andrew Carnegie and Thomas Edison, well, Mr. Hill might just have won an Academy Award.

There are no tricks or patentable “methods” for using the law of attraction. In fact, it works with our without your buy in, effort or attention. Like gravity, but more difficult isolate and prove. It’s there, though, trust me. So, we all-especially those of us in sales!-would do well to explore the not-so-secret-secret should we wish to excel beyond all rhyme and reason.

The trick is to use this technique to create a healthy business. To constantly keep your mind as focused as possible on the results you do want as opposed to worrying about those you do not want. Unfortunately, we live in a time when negative focus is the order of the day. Just think about it. People are always talking about how the economy is bad and things could get worse; that kind of focus is creating more of the same even if we don’t mean for it to transpire that way.
Fortunately, some-not most, but some-salespeople are aware that success in sales starts with the mental aspect; your mind-set. Even top producers in any industry who have never read about or understood the power of their thoughts are using those positive thoughts to create more sales.

Why not take a chance and try embracing the practice of positive thought and expectation? See the preferred end-result in everything you do, every action you plan on taking. Then take that action, keeping your mind constantly and powerfully focused on the excellent outcome you want to occur. Watchdog worrisome, negative thoughts and fears and replace them with determined, desired results. It might be worth the effort…what do you think?

I love to hear success stories to include in my articles and books, so feel free to pass you’re my way!

Tamara Dorris, MA is a sales coach, hypnotist, professor and author. Her company Top Producing Technique is a membership-based website for real estate professionals and she provides one-on-one sales coaching and corporate speaking and training. Visit her site at [http://www.topprotech.com], get a free white paper on top producers at [http://www.WealthyRealEstateAgent.com] and send her your questions, comments and good stories at tamara2@surewest.net

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Sales Coaching

Increase Sales by Not Talking Yourself Out of Sales

The more you talk. The longer you talk. The more likely you are to talk your way out of a sale. As you speak you’re unwittingly laying little land mines for yourself that blow the whole deal.

You’re so excited about what you do and how you do and what it does for your clients you can’t wait to tell anyone who will listen all about it. Your passion and enthusiasm are a good thing. However, you can be just as passionate and just enthusiastic and actually say very little.

Your sales success is directly proportional to the amount of time the prospect does the talking. Your job is predominantly to keep the conversation going rather than talking. You talk because you’re afraid to give up control of the conversation.

Talking isn’t maintaining control of the conversation it’s a means for you to manipulate the conversation in a way you think best serves you. The prospect is fully aware of this and disengages quickly. The longer you talk the more the prospects defenses go on high alert and they simply close down and stop listening to you at all. They’re only thinking about how they can get rid of you as quickly as possible.

Even when you don’t make the fatal mistake of using a presentation for one-on-one or one-on-two conversations, you still speak in presentation bursts rather than holding a real conversation. The problem with speaking in presentation bursts is the minute you’re off target with what the prospect is thinking about or cares about you’ve lost them. You’re gambling you’ve got it right. Risky business!

During a first meeting you’re tempted to get yourself to a point where you can tell the prospect about what you do, and you might use a similar client as a way to open the conversation.

So you might say, “Jane I’ve been working with another business owner in your same industry who was having trouble meeting their sales goals. The reasons they were struggling include: poor communication with and among the sales force, a limited number of internal experts with product knowledge, and a fast changing product line. When this business owner needed to communicate with his sales people he needed to do so fast plus he needed a way to provide on-demand training getting the sales people up to speed on the new products or changes in existing products. My company provided him with those capabilities. As a result their sales increased, they had fewer customer complaints, and lower costs. Tell me about your business situation.”

Blah, blah, blah if you didn’t hit the right problem Jane is hoping you’re going to shut up so she can get rid of you. While this whole spiel may have impressed you it left Jane cold. Jane like every other person on the planet has one person she’s concerned with, Jane.

Rather than telling your story in this ridiculously long block of dialogue you could have accomplished the same thing and had Jane right there with you actually listening intently to what you were saying. All you had to do was start with a genuine question.

You can’t help anyone or sell anyone until you understand what’s going on with them now. So instead of puking on Jane you could have simply asked, “Jane can you tell me a little about your current situation?” Jane granted you an appointment. She wouldn’t have done so if she didn’t have at least some concern in relation to what you do, so let her tell you about what’s going on with her and her company.

Jane only cares that you’ve helped someone else with the same problems after she’s decided she has at least some interest in moving forward. She may think there isn’t a solution to this problem because she’s tried other things and they didn’t work. If that’s the case, then you can share how her situation reminds you of a similar client’s story. When you share this story tell it in small bites allowing Jane to ask you to tell her more.

If Jane doesn’t ask questions you immediately know you’re off target. The only way to get back on track is to ask another question that will help you understand what’s going on with Jane. Your objective is to understand what Jane needs.

When you can share a client story you’re doing two things. You’re helping to build the prospects desire for a solution that they didn’t have before because they didn’t think there was one. Plus you’re providing proof and overcoming the objection “I don’t think this will work or I don’t think this will work for me.”

The reason it’s so easy to increase sales by talking less is you allow the prospect to think through their situation and discover on their own why they need your solution. As Ben Franklin says the best ideas are the ones you think are your own. Haven’t you found this to be true?

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