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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.)

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Stay “On The Grid” During the Holiday Season

Sunday, December 20th, 2009

It is almost impossible to not “go off the grid” with your prospective customers and customers during the holidays. Everyone is heading to some much needed time off.  You can have a competitive advantage by staying on the grid while your competitors are dropping off.  Here are 5 ways to do it that won’t cut into your much needed and deserved R&R.

1.  Send Happy New Year cards to your clients.  These cards should arrive right before or right after Jan 1st. Your greeting will stand out since it won’t be arriving with the pre-Christmas gifts and cards that get lost in the shuffle or arrive during vacations.  Your New Year’s greeting could include a calendar or some useful information for the new year. 

2.  Send an article or book that is relevant to the current business climate or their current business issues.  They can start the new year thinking about you and gaining some fresh ideas.

3.  Get on their calendar for a January meeting.  The new year is a great time to evaluate the business you did the previous year and set plans for the new year.  Requesting a Jan meeting in December is extremely effective.  Customers want to feel they have a productive Jan set up before they leave for the holidays, also.  Setting up a meeting with a good objective is a good way to help them do this.

4. Help them prepare for new year planning meetings.  If they are a current customer, one way to do this is to send them a slide deck outlining the work and accomplishments in 2009 along with some ideas to continue the good work in 2010.  Your email can start with “Often our clients ask us for a recap of the previous year so they can use it during thier new year planning sessions.  I thought you may also find this helpful.   Please see attached document.  I am happy to walk through the slides with you at your convenience.  Hope it’s helpful as you head into the new year.“  Write it in a way that they could use it with their superiors and in planning meetings.  They will see you as a true partner and you’ll cut their 2010 workload before the year even begins.

5.  Instead of just an “out of office” reply, send a proactive note to your customers and prospective customers several days in advance of your vacation.  Let them know you’ll be out and how they can get in touch with you if appropriate, or at least how to get in touch with someone who can help them in your absence.  They probably will be out, too, but they will have you in mind and feel that you took an extra step to ensure they are taken care of even when you are out.  (It’s a great reason to reach out to them when you return to let them know you are back in the office and move your relationship forward.)

Enjoy your time “off the grid” while a few small efforts will keep you “on the grid”.  Happy New Year!

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Posted in communication, how to have productive sales team meetings, management tips, new managers, new years resolutions, sales activity, sales management, sales manager tips, sales managers, sales tips, tips for meetings, tough economy | No Comments »

The Q4 Push – Are You In? The Time to Act on 2010 is NOW!

Sunday, October 11th, 2009

j0433410This has been a tough year for many.  It’s Q4 and salespeople could be feeling tired and ready to “write this one off” and take another shot at it in 2010.   Here’s the problem with that.  Momentum is a very cool thing and it’s great when it’s working for you and horrible when it’s working against you.  So, even if 2009 is a lost cause in terms of goal achievement, there is no better time (well, a month ago would have been better, but…) to get momentum going for 2010.

To gain more and more momentum as you close in on 2010, try these strategies:

The first five on the list come from the advice my friend Alvin of Tactivity shared in a LinkedIn discussion. I’ve added (and repeated) a few ideas that have helped me, also.

  1. If you’re on pace to the President’s Club in your organization, then increase your activity.
  2. If what you are doing hasn’t been working, then complete a thorough cleansing of the pipeline/funnel: Is it real? Is it good business? Can you win?
  3. Prioritize your activities around the health of your newly cleaned funnel
  4. Brainstorm a list of possible actions for your top opportunities; then choose only the 3-5 activities that will really advance them towards closure
  5. Go get it done!
  6. Conduct business reviews with existing clients to secure relationships, identify risks and uncover new ways to help them.
  7. Examine your territory for new opportunities a tough economy has turned up.
  8. Increase your sales activity.  Oh, did we already mention that one?  Action creates action, energy creates energy.  Make more calls!
  9. Solidify referral partners.  Decide to gain 20 referral partners and stay in touch with them, ask for referrals, be accessible and be someone they would be proud to refer (hint: send them referrals, also).
  10. Stay “on the grid” with prospects and existing customers.  Share useful information to help them run their business more effectively.  Don’t be out of sight or you know where you’ll be…. Out of mind.  Many of their sales reps have “gone dark” lately as companies do lay-offs and reorganizations.  Just being there may differentiate you!
  11. Have a team meeting every week to celebrate successes, share ideas, collaborate on hot deals and challenge each other.  This team accountability and celebration is fuel for your sales engine.  (You know we couldn’t leave this one out!)
  12. BONUS:  Increase sales activity.  In my experience, there is NO substitute.  Commit to accelerated sales activity in Q4 if you do nothing else.  Yeah, it’s worth mentioning 3 times. 

2010 can be an amazing year.  Salespeople that build momentum now can get a head start and be rewarded by helping more customers in 2010 than they ever thought possible.  Not to mention, for some 2009 can be a distant memory….  Get started today.  Staring in January 2010 will be TOO LATE.

To help sales teams build momentum during Q4, Meeting to Win is running a Q4 Push Promotion which means…free sales team meeting agendas for Sales Managers.  Sales Managers can subscribe for sales team meeting agendas and get all of Q4 for free.  First payment of $10/month won’t be charged until January 2010 (sales managers can unsubscribe any time in Q4 and never be charged).  The agendas are designed to motivate sales teams and accelerate performance while continually gaining and maintaining incredible momentum. 

Read more HERE then join us by subscribing HERE and entering the Promo Code “Q4PUSH”.

Posted in LinkedIn, Uncategorized, agendas, best practice, communication, culture, down economy, free sales team meeting topics, management tips, meetings, new managers, new years resolutions, opportunity, performance, sales activity, sales management, sales manager tips, sales managers, sales meetings, sales team, sales team meeting ideas, sales tips, tough economy | No Comments »

New Year’s Resolutions for Sales Managers

Tuesday, December 30th, 2008

I love Dave Stein’s blog and today’s was another good one. Here is a link to Dave’s New Year’s Resolutions For Sales Leaders post: http://davesteinsblog.wordpress.com/2008/12/29/new-year-resolutions-for-sales-leaders/.

I thought we could add a few more to the list:
11. I will commit to open, honest, real communication with my sales team. Sales people could be facing frustrations and new challenges in this economy. Some are scared, some don’t know how to adjust. Keep communication frequent, consistent and open with your teams.
12. I will hold a regularly scheduled sales team meeting for the many, many benefits they bring. This is a great opportunity to share best practices, analyze wins and losses, improve sales skills, learn from each other’s experiences, understand in real-time what impact the economy is having on our customers, etc. The result? Shortened sales cycles, improved morale and a more equipped sales team.
13. I will commit to holding selling time sacred. Increase customer time by setting the example. Don’t let internal meetings take up selling time. Suggest selling hours each day or selling days each week – whatever works in your business. And then, let NOTHING interfere with that, NOT even your CEO. As a sales manager, set aside time each week to get out on sales calls. This time with your team and customers is too valuable to skip.
14. I will ask my team, as a group or individually, how I can better support them. Your team needs you to run interference, push internal issues through, approve terms, etc, etc. Ask them what they need more of and less of and then figure out what course of action makes the most sense. One way to do this is to ask the team about the best and worst managers they’ve had and why they think they were the best or worst. You’ll learn a lot about what your team wants from you and they won’t feel like they are critiquing you personally. You can follow that exercise by asking them if they’d like to see some of those “best” things from you and fewer of those “worst” things to turn it to how you can serve them.
15. I will bring fresh ideas, new activities and valuable opportunities to my team regularly. Don’t let things get stale. Keep bringing ways to learn to your team. Invite guest speakers, give them access to new tools and best practices, put some effort into planning interesting meetings. Keep looking for ways to add value for your team.
16. I will read one new business book per quarter. The benefits of this are endless. Your own creativity flows better, you learn from thought leaders and experienced, successful business people, you get new ideas and you stay fresh. Your team senses this and it sets the tone for your culture. If this is too much, start with Book Summaries and read one 8-page overview each month. (http://www.summaries.com/)
17. I will ask my sales team to read one new business book per quarter. See #16. Plus, you could all read the same book and discuss it or each choose your own and give “book reports” so everyone learns on multiple topics.
18. I will attend regularly scheduled business reviews with our clients. If you aren’t already doing this, commit to scheduling regular business reviews with your top clients. It’s a chance to find out how you are doing, review how you are helping them the way they hired you to, address any challenges and understand how their needs are changing and how that means you should change. Ask your reps to schedule these and attend them religiously.
19. I will commit to focus! It is tempting to have knee-jerk reactions to the changing economy and constantly change the team’s focus and strategy as you go. Resist this urge. Pick your selling strategy and commit to it with regular follow-up, communication and accountability.
20. I will make a commitment to prospecting with my team. New customers and new business from existing customers is a life line. Constantly be working towards new customers and new business from existing customers. Make this a regular activity and help the team figure out what specifically they should be doing and how often. Depending on your business, each person adding one or two new logos or departments could help you sustain long-term sales growth.

Please add yours!
The Meeting to Win Team
www.meetingtowin.com

Posted in etc, management tips, new years resolutions, sales manager tips, sales managers, sales tips | No Comments »