I started off today thinking about a book I picked up 10 years ago. The Sales Manager’s Troubleshooter. I have referenced it for ideas often over the past decade. On LinkedIn (http://www.linkedin.com/groups?gid=1279807) I am floating some of the “problems” in the book out to sales leaders to get a 2009 take on the troubleshooting. My guess is that fundamentally the answers will be the same, but who knows….

Then, I pick up my Wall Street Journal today and there I see an article titled How to Fix Your Life in 2009 (http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123068308029744121.html). The one about high heels really hit home!

So, in the spirit of troubleshooting, please share your solutions for our first “problem”.

The problem: Your ability to personally execute is not what you would like it to be.

Now is the time for Sales Managers to really be there for your teams. Remove obstacles (why is it our own companies act as “sales prevention” sometimes?!), reduce the noise, run interference and provide opportunities to learn from each other. This economy is changing daily and we need to stay proactive and operate in “real-time”. One way to do this is to take a “war room” approach to navigating your way through this. Each week on your weekly sales team call, take 10 minutes or so and ask the group about any experiences in the past week that were related to the economy. For example, cancelled deals, discount requests, travel freezes, delayed decisions, etc. Find out what is happening and, as a team, discuss some possible strategies for dealing with those scenarios, so other reps can be prepared to handle such things if they also face them. The “war room” should stay positive, strategic and proactive. Try it next week!

(brought to you by Meeting to Win, LLC – www.meetingtowin.com)

Anyone a college football fan? My family is! SEC Football to be specific. I read an article in the Wall Street Journal last weekend called What the Rise of Southern Football Says About America (http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122843720586081461-email.html). It was an interesting article and it sent me reflecting on this football season. I read the article right before the Florida Gators were going to play Alabama for the SEC Championship and I thought of the now famous press conference after the University of Florida’s first (and only) loss this season. Tim Tebow, the quarterback nicknamed “Superman”, still beat up from the game had this look of resolve on his face, he looked the press in the eyes and told them…well, check it out for yourself – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=96vAbtpakLg. He makes a pledge at the end. I am sure that wasn’t the end of it and more stories will emerge now that they are playing for the National Championship. When they went to practice the next day, there was a new level of intensity. This is what sets leaders apart. Tim Tebow stood in front of the nation and took responsibility for the loss that just happened and the intensity that would happen. He stood up for his team, inspired his team and has been leading his team ever since. Remember, he didn’t pick his teammates. He needed to work with the talent, mostly good, he had. This “pledge” and leadership skills have already made him the most-loved Gator of all time and leaders can all learn something from him, that pledge, this season and that loss.

Please share any lessons from this college football leader in the comments section.

I challenge Sales Managers to not settle for underperforming, even now. Inspire your teams, create a new level of intensity, set your sights on a goal and lead the team to achieve that. I had a sales leader tell me yesterday, “advance into oncoming fire”. It’s a military strategy and he was using it to illustrate why his people needed to be proactive right now instead of sitting back, or “retreating” as he described it, waiting for customers to cancel their orders or ask for discounts on signed contracts.

How can you, as a Sales Leader, help your team win NOW? Tim Tebow made a public pledge and then and applied good, old-fashioned hard work and strategy to back it up. How can this be done on a sales team?

Brought to you by the team at Meeting to Win, LLC, www.meetingtowin.com. Collaborate. Motivate. Accelerate.)

Sales Managers should harness the collective experience and success of the sales team in this ever-changing selling environment. This is done by encouraging the team to collaborate on live deals, business challenges, stalled deals and even wins and losses. This can be done a number of ways. Here are some ideas. Please feel free to comment and add more ideas to create a collaborative environment where the entire team weighs in instead of just the Sales Manager.

Idea #1: When a business problem is brought up on a team conference call, Sales Managers should resist the urge to give their opinion immediately. Instead, say something like “I will be happy to share my experience and opinion. Before I do that, Jim, would you mind sharing what you think?” Get Jim’s opinion and Sally’s opinion and so on. The person who raised the question will have a much richer answer because of the additional input.

Idea #2: When a salesperson calls the Sales Manager on a live deal for help (negotiation, strategy, problem, etc), ask them to call one or two teammates to gather their input and then call the Sales Manager back for the discussion. Again, they will have a more comprehensive approach to problem solving and will be encouraged to lean on teammates more moving forward.

Please share your ideas, also.

10 Sales Management Benefits of Holding Effective Weekly Sales Team Meetings in 2009

Sales Managers can accelerate performance in one hour per week by simply holding better weekly sales team meetings. Meeting to Win, LLC shares 10 benefits Sales Managers can expect for making this effort in the new year.

The weekly sales team meeting should be a time for a sales team to collaborate on ideas, learn new practices and prepare to compete and win. The meeting should involve every participant’s input, cover interesting and relevant topics, build business acumen, allow the less experienced to learn from the more experienced and build a collaborative team environment. If a Sales Manager is planning and executing interesting, collaborative, relevant weekly sales team meetings (www.meetingtowin.com/10tips), the benefits will be endless. The team at Meeting to Win, LLC (http://www.meetingtowin.com/) created a list of 10 benefits Sales Managers can experience in 2009 by committing to relevant, focused, well-planned weekly sales team meetings.

#1: Teamwork. The Sales Manager should not be the only “go-to” person for the entire sales team. When sales teams get together for a collaborative weekly sales team meeting, they are constantly learning from each other’s experiences and areas of expertise. When a sales challenge arises, team members will call each other for ideas and help. Sales Managers don’t have all the answers and should be thrilled when their teams harness the collective experience of the entire team. Collaborative team meetings foster this practice.

#2: Performance Management. When sales team meetings encourage participation from the entire team, Sales Managers get to hear how their teams think, solve problems, weigh in on challenges and analyze deal strategy.

#3: Improve Win Ratio. When weekly sales team meetings are used to collaborate on live deals, win/loss reviews and showcase recent wins, sales teams learn from actual experiences and apply those lessons to future deals shortening sales cycles and improving win ratios.

#4: Build business acumen. This is a hot topic right now. Customers say they want to work with sales representatives who can help them run their business more effectively. Sales teams are never done building business acumen in a constantly changing business climate. The weekly sales team meeting should cover current events, relevant books and articles from thought leaders and apply those to their selling environment. Every week the team becomes more valuable to their customers with this commitment to building business acumen.

#5: Expand expertise. Weekly sales team meetings provide an opportunity to hear from guest speakers who are experts on relevant topics. Sales team members can have access to a product or service specialist from your own company, a customer who is willing to share their perception of your company or a senior leader who can share your product/service pipeline. Using this time for relevant guests is a great use of time and expands the team’s knowledge and expertise.

#6: Create, Discover or Develop Leaders. Effective weekly team meeting agendas allow the participants to lead discussions and exercises. This gives the entire team leadership opportunities each week.

#7: React in Real Time to Changing Economy. The economy and, therefore, the selling environment changes every day. Sales teams need to learn from each other as buyers are reacting. Sharing experiences in real time will prevent many surprises for the entire team. Success during this challenging time will come from awareness, appropriate planning and agility. Collaborating weekly on the topic is critical to long-term success.

#8: Focus. The weekly sales team meeting offers an opportunity to keep the sales team focused on the right activities and outcomes. Effective weekly sales team meetings keep the team accountable to the most important focuses and set the tone for the selling activity each week.

#9: Continually Build Sales Skills. No matter the experience level, no one has mastered selling. The effective weekly team meeting offers opportunities to hone selling skills and become more and more effective. Constant reinforcement of important selling skills is key to development as a Sales Professional. It really does take practice.

#10: Have Fun! Sales Managers should use the weekly sales team meeting to motivate the team, celebrate successes and encourage efforts. By adding some fun, Sales Managers can keep a positive environment even when addressing challenging topics.

Of course, the key to experiencing these benefits is having effective weekly sales team meetings. Meeting to Win has posted 10 Tips for leading effective weekly team meetings on their website (www.meetingtowin.com/10tips). Sales Managers can plan these effective weekly meetings themselves or they can choose to outsource this activity to Meeting to Win (http://www.meetingtowin.com/). Either way, it only takes a few successful meetings to start enjoying the benefits outlined.