John Lees, sales & marketing specialist

 

Let us say that someone, perhaps you or a person in your internal team or your external team (such as a reseller, agent or dealer), is performing at a disappointing, unacceptable level when it comes to sales results. To know that an individual is failing is important and quite easy to see…but then the question is, ‘why is this person failing, and what can be done to give them a helping hand…or perhaps the boot?’ Using the word ‘measure’, it is possible to assess where and why someone is falling short of their sales targets:

 

MOTIVATION…relates to an individual’s ambition to be valuable and successful in business, because if the company is committed to growth and the individual is not…this represents a serious contradiction and therefore a recipe for all round failure. The key task of management is not to motivate people; it is to hire and work with motivated people…otherwise every other factor to be ‘measured’ is redundant. ‘Is the person Gung-ho!, or ho-hum?’ Score out of 10/……

 

ENTHUSIASM…concerns the extent to which a person feels strongly that the sales propositions/stories they take to market are very much needed (but not asked for) by customers and prospects and extremely valuable. To feel less than enthusiastic means that the person doing the selling is more like a plain envelope than an attractive, seductive gift -wrapping! ‘Has the person mentally bought what they must sell?’ Score out of 10/……

 

AWARENESS…refers to someone’s understanding of the details of the proposition they sell, beyond being excited by it. If a doctor prescribes a drug he should be able to explain how it works, and the same principle applies to selling. ‘Is the person fluent or flummoxed?’ Score out of 10/……..

SELLING ABILITY…reflects how a person presents themself and their company as an ally and not as an attacker…and also their skill in presenting their story as an opportunity, and not as a duplication or ‘change’. Also crucial is asking quality questions to find needs, and recommending a plan of ‘service action’ that the market sees as being manageable. ‘Can the person open and close the sale well?’ Score out of 10/…….

 

URGENCY…means the extent to which an individual operates with a plan and a commitment to ‘make sales happen’ - in an agreed time frame - so that key selling work is ‘arranged’ as a deliberate act and not as ‘something to be tried when time permits’. ‘Is the person committed to sales success…or not?’ Score out of 10/…….

 

RESPONSIBILITY…concerns the positive pressure applied to sales people by management, to ensure that results are monitored and acted upon according to the level they must be at. Leave this issue to sales people and you will lose control and they will lose sales.. Every week, people in sales should be asked ‘are you confident of reaching your sales plan this month?’ If the answer is ‘yes’ and proves correct, fine, but if the answer is ‘no’ then work by management and the individual needs to be organised to ensure the desired result is achieved. ‘Is the person aware of being in a sales spotlight?’ Score out of 10/…

 

EFFORT…refers to the quality and quantity of action initiated in support of the sales objective. Talk can be helpful but it is vital that people in sales roles be committed to exertion and endurance, otherwise the exercise will prove academic. The ally and driver of effort is anticipation, and the enemy and inhibitor of effort is negative imagination…manifested in language such as ‘the economy is against us’, or ‘they have a relationship with another supplier’, etc. ‘Getting the job done’ is preceded by the act of ‘doing the job’, and so effort is key. ‘Is the person willing to get their hands dirty?’ Score out of 10/……

 

The law of ‘cause and effect’ is at play here, in that the ‘measure’ device enables management to look beyond results…so as to see and act on the reasons for poor performance. The ‘measure’ device should prove very helpful to sales team leaders who want to provide a serious support service to people with sales obligations, beyond ‘noticing’ and ‘complaining’ about poor results. In my view, team members ‘dance to the tune of management’, and so the ‘measure’ device will help leaders to choreograph the key elements of sales action…to the point of consistent sales success for all parties involved. The challenge then is to give the right people a hand, and to give the wrong people the boot. If poor performers are allowed to stay, they will come to represent your true standard of sales behaviour to the entire team!

John Lees is a sales & marketing specialist, operating as a professional speaker, trainer, consultant, business coach and he is the author of 11 books on business development.

Email: info@johnlees.com.auWebsite: www.johnlees.com.au