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Archive for the ‘discipline’ Category

Underperforming Sales Reps, Put Yourself on a Performance Plan

Thursday, March 4th, 2010

In most cases, we see an official “performance plan” as the beginning of the end for some poor sales rep.  The performance plan seems to be more of a termination plan as the evidence suggests that the goal is often not better performance, but instead a way to begin documentation to justify termination.  In every case where I’ve seen someone put on a performance plan, that was their cue to start a full court press job search before they were fired.   

So, it’s safe to say that no sales rep wants to be put on a performance plan, right?  Right!

If you are a sales rep facing underperformance, my guess is that you are worried about your job.  You might be hoping no one has noticed, you might spend your time sharing the positive news while keeping everyone’s focus off the negative performance, you might be explaining away your bad sales (customer budget cuts, etc) or.. you might even be job hunting.

Here is something to try instead.  Put yourself on a Performance Plan.   This is a Turnaround Boot Camp style Performance Plan by the way. 

We know that we can’t keep doing the same thing and expect different results. That really is the premise of a Performance Plan. 

To get started:

  • Look at what you have been doing and critically analyze exactly how you are spending your time to determine what is producing results and what is not. 
  • Consult with team members who are exceeding goals for advice on what you could be doing differently. 
  • Once you determine which of your sales activities are producing positive sales results, triple your output of those activities.
  • Figure out where you are investing time in non-selling activities (learning a new CRM, sitting on an internal committee, etc) and eliminate those activities from your week. You can politely request to be excused – if you get fired, none of those things will really matter anyway.
  • Start your day earlier and end your day later.
  • Look the part. 
  • Exercise, eat right and get enough sleep.
  • Write out your 30 day plan.  This should include day by day what you will be doing and with which customers or prospects.  For example, maybe every day starts with 50 cold calls, maybe Sundays are research days, Tues-Thurs is for 15 face-to-face appointments, etc. 
  • Have an accountability plan in place – a report, updates in your CRM or something to monitor your progress.
  • Have a clear goal for the end of 30 days and a way to monitor progress along the way.

Now, here’s key element:

Request a meeting with your Sales Manager – NOT during selling hours (you need those).  Have an early coffee or after hours meeting with your Sales Manager to let them know you have put yourself on a Performance Plan, walk them through it and get their input to fine tune it and gain agreement on your course of action. 

By proactively addressing your underperformance with your Sales Manager you will open the doors of communication regarding expectations and possible outcomes of underperformance.  You will show the initiative to address the problem proactively giving your Sales Manager an opportunity to help you succeed instead of look for a way to manage you out.  

Too often we keep moving along hoping no one will bring up the issue everyone knows exists (we do this with customers, too).  If you know you are underperforming, your sales manager knows it, too.  His boss will ask him about it and it will eventually be dealt with.  Wouldn’t it be great if you could change the story by being brave enough to call it out and proactively do something about it? 

So, if you find yourself falling short, stop worrying and start acting.  Build you plan ASAP and start executing with your Sales Manager’s support.

Put yourself on a Performance Plan today.

(Post brought to you by Jill Myrick, CEO of Meeting to Win.   Meeting to Win provides sales team meeting topics for Sales Managers who want to run sales team meetings that aren’t a bore.  Inspire your team with Meeting to Win.  Subscribe here.)

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Posted in best practice, communication, discipline, down economy, how to have productive sales team meetings, management tips, performance, sales activity, sales management, sales manager tips, sales managers, sales meetings | 1 Comment »

Neal Boortz is Outraged. You Should Be, Too.

Thursday, February 4th, 2010

Neal Boortz is outraged this morning.  To be fair, no matter which day I choose to write this, I could start my post the same way and, to be fair again, there is a lot of stuff to get outraged about if you enjoy being outraged.  Today’s particular outrage is about a school district here in the Atlanta area spending $400K of federal stimulus money to take 200 teachers to a conference in Hollywood, CA for 4 days of learning and development.  The justification for this includes the idea that the teachers will come back from this trip excited about what they learned and eager to implement what they learned in the classrooms.

This topic made me think about the annual sales meeting that many salespeople just came back from.  January is a hot time for this.  It is typically fair to say that salespeople learn a lot during these annual meetings and do come back excited.  But then what happens? Well, the same thing that will happen to these teachers.  Back home things continue to churn and students need to pass tests, parent conferences need to continue, a failing student needs to be addressed, discipline problems continue, the school play needs to be rehearsed, tests need to be graded and so on.  Before these teachers realize it, they are doing exactly the same things they were doing before they left for the conference and the conference was nothing more than a pep rally and a chance to socialize and sightsee with peers from around the country.  Lfie can get in the way of great intentions after all.

Hopefully what will happen is this instead.  The school system will follow this Hollywood conference with a plan to implement the top ideas from these meetings that will make the most impact on key areas this school district needs to address.  Whether that is increasing graduation rate, implementing more sports programs, raising the SAT test scores or reducing absenteeism.  What is the plan and what is the plan to hold these teachers accountable to bringing back the change that will make a difference?

If you’ve just had your annual sales meeting, what is different in the way you help customers because of the time you invested to attend your meeting?  Some companies follow these up effectively and many, many do not.  Everyone comes back after the company has invested hundreds of thousands of dollars and selling time and salespeople have invested selling and family time and …. do the very same things they did before they left.  Sure, they are a little excited, but are also now 4 days behind in their day jobs.  Now it’s catch up time instead of implement-what-you’ve-learned time.

Bottom line, you should be outraged like Neal if your company dragged you half way around the country for a big rah-rah session with no plan to advance, reinforce and apply the valuable lessons and information you absorbed during your meeting.  I know I would be.

(Post brought to you by Jill Myrick of Meeting to Win.  Meeting to Win provides weekly sales team meeting training topics.  Each agenda offers 60 minutes of sales development content along with ideas to reinforce, advance and apply the training in the field.  Join us by subscribing today.)

Posted in discipline, down economy, how to have productive sales team meetings, management tips, meetings, new years resolutions, sales management, sales manager tips, sales meetings, sales team, sales team meeting agenda, sales team meeting agenda topics, sales team meeting ideas, team meeting, tips for meetings | No Comments »

Pull Up Your Anchors – The Sea Awaits

Saturday, January 16th, 2010

Being a successful salesperson takes unbelieveable self-discipline.  It is a job that requires proactive activity to move forward.  At the same time, there are enough things to simply react to that a salesperson can stand still instead of move forward.  I am in the process of writing a sales team meeting agenda to help our subscribers identify their anchors and then figure out how to pull them up occassionally so they can move forward into the sea of opportunity that exists for them.   I thought I’d share the concept in a blog post, also.

How can you tell if you have anchors?  Here are a few questions to answer:

  • Have you identified a new problem to solve for your current clients?
  • Have you presented new ideas and solutions to help them meet their goals?
  • Does your pipeline grow and move at a good pace?
  • Have you added new customers, new contacts and new referral partners to your client list in the past year?
  • Are your sales growing?

If you answered “no” to any of those questions, you may need to find and pull up your anchors so you can move forward and grow your business.  Anchors are the things you are doing instead of developing and expanding your business.

To get started, think about everything you do in a week to simply maintain, or not lose, your current business.  These are your anchors.  Examine those activities closely and determine how to use those to grow your business or how to delegate them to a capable associate with different responsibilties (customer service, etc).  Anchors can be good sometimes.  Occassionally it makes sense to stop, drop your anchor and get ready to move forward again.  Just don’t sit there too long. 

Now, replace your anchors with business development activities.  Your ship will be sailing again before you know it. 

Pull up your anchors – the sea awaits.

 

Post brought to you by Jill Myrick, Owner of Meeting to Win, LLC.  Join our growing community of subscribers for weekly sales team meeting topics in a 60-minute format.  Agendas include practical exercises, practice sessions, discussion topics and leadership opportunities.  Grow your sales with Meeting to Win.

Posted in What They Are Saying About Meeting to Win, agenda ideas, agendas, blog, discipline, efficient, management tips, meetings, sales activity, sales meetings, sales team, sales team agenda., sales team meeting agenda, sales team meeting ideas | No Comments »

Sales Managers – Expect More, Babysit Less

Tuesday, July 14th, 2009

I have always gotten some great satisfaction from working. Both the success and the struggles make the rest of life that much more rewarding. While I enjoy the work, I am determined not to do it more than a certain number of hours per week. Someday when I am on my death bed, I will not be saying “Oh, I wish I would have stayed at the office later a few more nights.”

So, easier said than done? I don’t think so. As a sales manager I realized there was so much room to add efficiencies, none of which were shortcuts, just smarter, more efficient ways of ensuring my waking hours weren’t solely for work.

When I first became a manager I looked around at the “busiest” sales managers and quickly realized they weren’t the most successful. As a matter of fact, the successful ones looked calm and went golfing on Fridays. Guess which group I wanted to belong to!

Here is one practice the golfers used and you can use it to if you have better things to do than work late every night.

Expect more and babysit less. Sales Managers manage adults. Why do they feel they have to remind them 10 times about a report that’s due or an upcoming meeting? Why do they call them when they are late for a meeting to remind them to join the call? Why do sales managers send reminder emails about something on every one’s calendar? Why do sales managers re-send information that has already been sent or could be found on the company intranet?

See where I am going here? Many sales managers are creating their own monsters, allowing their sales reps – actually training them to – get away with undisciplined behavior that those very sales managers wouldn’t tolerate from their children.

So, how do sales managers turn this around and begin saving hours per week? They simply must stop the behavior that the sales reps begin to rely on. If there is a meeting that a sales rep must attend, managers should send the reps a calendar notice with all the necessary information right in the meeting notice. Once reps “accept” that meeting, they should NOT be reminded again. Tasks and information should be sent in an organized, consistent format with clear due dates. The sales manager must communicate to the team how they will receive information and then make sure to stick to the communication plan and then let them be.

Use the technology to communication effectively, make sure everyone knows the communication system and allow adults to act like adults. Everyone will feel better, more organized and more in control.

Expect More, Stop Babysitting.

Post brought to you by Jill Myrick of Meeting to Win, LLC. Meeting to Win provides weekly sales team meeting agendas for sales managers who want to proactively manage their sales teams through a weekly sales team meeting.

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