ThinkSales Magazine Issue 01

Page 1

Sales Leadership & Strategy

Leading-Edge Technology

Talent Management

Best-Practice Tactics & Techniques

sales management leaders

Issue 01 • October 2010 • R44,95

Special Feature

Sales Leadership The ultimately accountable job

South Africa’s first publication for high-impact sales management leaders

www.thinksales.co.za



issue 01

Contents

ThinkSales Newsletters

Sign-up for weekly newsletters at www.thinksales.co.za

Oct 2010

ag e n da STRATEGY

20

20 S trategy The New Core Competency for Growth 22 Leadership Going with Your Gut 24 Assess Questions to Assess Your Sales Organisation 26 C ase Study Rapid Transformation of a Salesforce

54

28 Alignment Niche Marketing: Inverting the Sales Funnel 29 Marketing Pitching to the Pessimist

tools

31

31 Latest BlackBerry's Tantalising New Torch 32 Gear Extreme Laptops 33 V irtual Tools Meet Online with WebEx 34 S ales 2.0 The Massive Shift in Sales Culture 36 T ech Ahead Get Control of All Your Data with QlikView

talent

38

38 Productivity Put an End to Pointless Sales Meetings 40 Managing Why Great Sales People Aren’t Often Great Managers 41 Hiring Fill Your Talent Pipeline 42 Results Sales Metric Management System 44 Motivating Creating Inventive Incentives

technique

46

cover Feature

The Ultimately Accountable Job Leading Today’s Sales Organisation New demands from customers, rivals, the CEO, and the sales organisation itself are changing what it takes to succeed as head of sales. By Jerome Colletti & Mary Fiss

regulars

11 68

Accelerate Drive Your Personal Performance

72

big deal Sales Director Sandra Swanepoel

rewards Reward Yourself, Incentivise Your Team

46 C onnect Six Principles for Cold Calling 48 C ustomer Viewpoint From Sales Reps to Solutions Providers

02 C ontact us

49 Performing Five Steps for Successful Role Playing

06 Publisher's desk

50 Probe The Seven-Question Prospect Interview

04 Expert Contributors 27 Subscribe

51 C oach Close the Gaps in Performance o c to b e r 2 010 t h i n k s a l e s . c o . z a

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PUBLISHING CREDITS EDITORIAL Publisher Andrew Honey editor Nicole Lombard deputy editor Nadine von Moltke copy editor Lesley Lambert writers Juliet Pitman, Monique Verduyn, Nadine von Moltke Production assistant Casandra Visser ART art director Dineo Mokgoasi photographers Des Ingham-Brown, Mike Turner ADVERTISING National Sales Manager Peter Lindstrom Senior media solutions consultant Debbie Bishop-Williams media solutions consultants Carl Sandells, Michelle van der Westhuizen media solutions assistant Ntendeni Rambuda ADMINISTRATION operations manager Michelle Venter financial officer Karen Gladwin financial assistant Emma Walker Executive PA Verna Lombard pr & marketing Janine Lombard subscription consultant Janine Lombard administration Seipati Modise DIRECTORS managing Andrew Honey digital & print Nicole Lombard non-executive Ivor Jones, Steve Trehair

how to reach us thinksales corporation Published by ThinkSales Corporation (Pty) Ltd address 1st Floor, Fernglade, Fernridge Office Park, 5 Hunter Ave, Ferndale PO Box 327, Pinegowrie, 2123 Tel +27 11 886 6880 • fax +27 11 789 9113 • Online www.thinksales.co.za Subscriptions department tel +27 11 886 6880 • email subs@thinksales.co.za advertising enquiries tel +27 11 886 6880 • email sales@thinksales.co.za Editorial department email editorial@thinksales.co.za • mail PO Box 327, Pinegowrie, 2123 events department tel +27 11 886 6880 • email events@thinksales.co.za ThinkSales is a registered trademark of ThinkSales Corporation (Pty) Ltd. ThinkSales considers its sources reliable and verifies as much data as possible. However, reporting inaccuracies can occur, consequently readers using this information do so at their own risk. Each business opportunity and/or investment inherently contains certain risks. It is suggested that prospective investors consult their attorneys and/or financial advisors. Although persons and companies mentioned herein are believed to be reputable, neither ThinkSales Corporation (Pty) Ltd, nor any of its employees, sales executives or contributors accept any responsibility whatsoever for their activities. © ThinkSales Corporation (Pty) Ltd. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form without prior permission of the Publisher. Permission is only deemed valid if approval is in writing. ThinkSales buys all rights to contributions, text and images, unless previously agreed to in writing.

PRINTing Paarl Media Paarl



EXPERT contributors Anthony Iannarino is the President and Chief Sales Officer for SOLUTIONS Staffing and the MD of B2B Sales Coach & Consultancy, a boutique sales coaching and consulting company. He is also an adjunct faculty member at Capital University’s School of Management and Leadership where he teaches Persuasive Marketing and Social Media Marketing in the MBA programme. Learn more about Anthony at www.b2bsalescoach.com Barry Farber consults with a variety of industries helping them break through the sales clutter and land more deals. He is the best-selling author of 11 books, translated into 25 languages, with over one million copies sold – including Superstar Sales Manager’s Secrets. Farber has trained over 300 000 salespeople and his clients include AT&T, American Express, ESPN/ABC Sports, Merck, UPS and Verizon. Learn more about Barry at www.barryfarber.com Bertie du Plessis founded MindPilot positioning specialists in 1995. His client list comprises both blue chip global corporations such as Naspers, Sasol and Standard Bank and SMEs. He has lectured at GIBS for its MBA programme and in five different other disciplines at tertiary institutions. Learn more about Bertie at www.mindpilot.co.za

Ivor Jones was employed by Dun & Bradstreet South Africa from 1972 to 1981 where he became their top sales performer. Ivor was appointed as National Sales Manager in 1976. In 1982 he launched KreditInform, building it into South Africa’s largest B2B credit management solutions company. It was sold to Experian in 2008. He is Chairman of ThinkSales Corporation, a non-executive director of Entrepreneur Media SA and a non-executive director of Matrix Marketing. Learn more about Ivor at www.thinksales.co.za Jeff Thull is a leading-edge sales strategist and valued advisor for executive teams of major companies worldwide. He has designed and implemented business transformation and professional development programmes for companies like Shell, 3M, Siemens, Microsoft, Intel and IBM. Jeff is also a recognised international speaker and best-selling author. His book, Mastering the Complex Sale is a number one best selling book on Amazon.com. To learn more about Jeff visit www.primeresource.com Jonathan Farrington is a globally recognised business coach, mentor, author, consultant, and sales strategist, who has guided hundreds of companies and thousands of individuals around the world towards optimum performance levels. He is the CEO of Top Sales Associates, Chairman of The JF Corporation and Senior Partner at the JF Consultancy based in London and Paris. Learn more about Jonathan at www.jfcorporation.com Julie Hansen is a dynamic consultant, speaker and author. She trains salespeople how to communicate more persuasively using strategic acting techniques. Julie is the author of ACT Like a Sales Pro. Prior to founding Acting for Sales, she was an award-winning sales producer in media, publishing and real estate, as well as sales director for The National Enquirer and STAR Magazine. Learn more about Julie at www.actingforsales.com Landy Chase is a sales expert who specialises in increasing the effectiveness of sales organisations. Since founding his company in 1993 he has given nearly two thousand presentations in over sixty different industries. Chase has formal experience as a National Sales Trainer for a two-billion-dollar service provider and management experience directing the efforts of sales forces in major account sales. His book, Competitive Selling, was published worldwide in 2010. Learn more about Landy at www.landychase.com Lee Salz is a sales management strategist specialising in helping companies build high-performance sales organisations through hiring, on-boarding and aligning using his sales architecture® methodology. He is the President of Sales Architects, the CEO of Business Expert Webinars and author of the award-winning book Soar Despite Your Dodo Sales Manager. Coming soon is Lee's new book The Sales Marriage... How to Hire and On-Board the Right Sales People. Lee can be reached at lsalz@salesarchitects.net Les Gore is the Managing Partner of Executive Search International. He has over 25 years expereince in executive search and recruiting. Prior to forming Executive Search International in 1992, Gore spent 10 years as group vice president at the USA’s largest search and recruiting organisation. His previous experience includes management positions with J. Walter Thompson Co. and General Electric. Learn more about Les at www.execsearchintl.com Melissa Raffoni has worked directly with more than 100 CEOs as President of Raffoni CEO Consulting for over a decade. She has served on the faculty at MIT’s Sloan School and Harvard’s Kennedy School. Melissa holds an MS in Corporate Strategy and Managerial Communication from the MIT Sloan School and a BA in Economics from Colby College. Learn more about Melissa at www.raffoniceoconsulting.com Paul McCord is the author of two best-selling sales books: Creating a Million Dollar a Year Sales Income and SuperStar Selling. He has over 25 years of experience in sales and management experience across the sales world. His experience in training and consulting with companies of all sizes in a range of industries has given him a unique understanding of the problems, issues, and opportunities sales people, sales leaders and companies face. His client list includes General Electric, Microsoft, Siemens and Wells Fargo. Learn more about Paul at www.powerreferralselling.com

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publisher's desk

Why ThinkSales?

S

Welcome to the inaugural issue of ThinkSales Magazine.

ales leadership is one of the most complex and demanding of all executive positions. Sales leaders are not only responsible for top-line growth but also disciplined sales processes, organisational architecture, scenario planning and motivating and managing the sales team; they are also the ultimate customer champions. Unlike business managers, marketing managers and financial directors, there is a very limited tertiary education path for sales practitioners to follow to qualify for the job. Their expertise is learned while working their way up the ranks. Further compounding this problem is the fact that there is no universal consensus on a set of standards or duties to characterise the sales leader’s job description. And while there are literally millions of sources of information pitched at improving performance at the sales executive’s level, resources and training material for sales leaders remain scarce. It is against this backdrop that ThinkSales was launched.

What ThinkSales Provides ThinkSales delivers content and solutions for sales management leaders. It is the first media and solutions provider to focus squarely on meeting the needs of sales leaders – sales directors, sales managers, CEOs and GMs. The products and services are designed to assist sales leaders in all aspects of their demanding role of leading today’s dynamic and demanding sales organisations.

The solution is delivered through our own products – such as this magazine – and also in partnership with the world’s leading organisations in fields such as sales training and sales personality profiling. Central to all ThinkSales products and services is the fact that successful sales are definitively a result of processes, disciplines, methodologies and systems. Our goal is to deliver ideas, tools, frameworks and techniques to master the various disciplines associated with sales leadership.

ThinkSales Magazine This is it: South Africa’s first handbook for highly motivated, dynamic, performancedriven sales management leaders. The magazine is a reference tool on all aspects of sales leadership and is published to inspire, motivate and drive superior leadership and results. In the words of Jim Collins, “Whether you prevail or fail, endure or die, depends more on what you do yourself than on what the world does to you.” Enjoy this issue, visit our website at www.thinksales.co.za and, most importantly, if there are still tickets available, book now for the ThinkSales Sales Leadership Conference 2010 that features the most dynamic line-up of sales experts ever assembled for a two-day conference in South Africa.

Andrew Honey, Publisher & Group CEO 6 » t h i n k s a l e s . c o . z a o c to b e r 2 010






Accelerate » Drive your personal performance

P

eople who claim that success breeds success might be on to something, if a recent study at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is to be believed. The study tracks how brain cells change their responses to right and wrong actions, providing a clear snapshot that it isn’t mistakes we learn from – but rather our successes.

Success Breeds Success

cognition

Success is the Best Teacher

According to the study, not only do brain cells keep track of whether a recent behaviour was successful or not, but when the behaviour is successful, cells become more finely tuned to what we have learnt. In other words, brain processing and behaviour improve after successes (we learn), while there is little to no change in the brain after a failure.

What Does This Mean For You? Stop focusing on the negatives or mistakes you or others make, and reward successes. That’s a lesson we all could learn. – Juliet Pitman

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» Accelerate

books

Ambitious? Stanford University professor Jeffrey Pfeffer explains why some people become leaders and others don’t. The book

Power: Why Some People Have It – and Others Don't, by Jeffrey Pfeffer, Harper Business, R270 The Lowdown

Power. We all want it. But how do we achieve it? And how do we keep it? Pfeffer reveals the strategies and tactics that separate the winners from the losers, and teaches us how to wield power. No More Mr Nice Guy

More qualified people are competing all the time. Rivalry is intense. Understand the principles of power, use them, and you can survive any battle. While Pfeffer rejects ruthlessness, being noble won’t cut it either. The world won’t change

Whine and complain if you want, but being thoughtful and strategic, resilient, alert, and willing to fight when necessary will get you further. Be daring

It’s early in your career when differentiating yourself is most important. And, don’t worry so much about being likeable. Although it’s important in getting people to do things for you, research shows that too much likeability can been seen as a weakness. – Monique Verduyn

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forward

Test Your Political Skill Measure your political skill and aptitude to up your career game.

P

olitical skill is the ability to understand others at work and to use that knowledge to influence others to act in ways that enhance one’s personal or organisational objectives. Since organisations are essentially political arenas, political skill can predict performance evaluations and career success. Take the professor Gerald Ferris' test below, be honest and work on improving your areas of weakness. You'll be better off for the effort.

Take the Test On a 7-point scale, where 1 = strongly disagree, 2 = disagree, 3 = slightly disagree, 4 = neutral (neither agree nor disagree), 5 = slightly agree, 6 = agree, and 7 = strongly agree, answer the following questions: 01. I spend a lot of time and effort at work networking with others ___ 02. I am able to make most people feel comfortable and at ease around me___ 03. I am able to communicate easily and effectively with others___ 04. It is easy for me to develop good rapport with most people___ 05. I understand people very well ___ 06. I am good at building relationships with influential people at work___ 07. I am particularly good at sensing the motivations and hidden agendas of others___ 08. When communicating with others, I try to be genuine in what I say and do___ 09. I have developed a large network of colleagues and associates at work who I can call on for support when I really need to get things done___ 10. At work, I know a lot of important people and am well connected___ 11. I spend a lot of time at work developing connections with others___ 12. I'm good at getting people to like me___

13. It's important that people believe I am sincere in what I say and do___ 14. I try to show a genuine interest in other people___ 15. I am good at using my connections and network to make things happen at work___ 16. I have good intuition and am savvy about how to present myself to others___ 17. I always seem to instinctively know the right things to say or do to influence others___ 18. I pay close attention to people’s facial expressions___

The Result Add up your score and divide by 18. You will have a score between 1 and 7. Higher scores mean you have more political skill, lower scores mean you have less. You should be above 4 — and possibly well above 4 — if you have aspirations to reach great heights of power.

Dimensions of Political Skill The questions measure four dimensions of political skill, so you can also see where you are stronger and weaker. • Questions 5, 7, 16, 17, and 18 measure social astuteness • Questions 2, 3, 4, and 12 measure interpersonal influence • Questions 8, 13, and 14 assess your apparent sincerity • Questions 1, 6, 9, 10, 11, and 15 measure you networking ability Gerald Ferris is co-author of Political Skill at Work. He has spent years conducting research on political skill, what it means, and its effect on people’s careers. This research has become the basis for an assessment model that evaluates political skill. The assessment is based on empirical evidence.



» Accelerate

health

Boost your body, boost your career

sharper image

Beauty Pays Off It’s official: the more attractive you are, the more money you make. It’s no secret that exercise is vital to maintaining a healthy body, but research shows that it might also have a positive impact on the health of your career. increased productivity

A study entitled Exercising at Work and Self-Reported Work Performance, published in the International Journal of Workplace Health Management, established a link between exercise and increased productivity at work. It’s not hard to imagine why. Regular exercise leads to increased and sustained energy, which means getting more done. One study found that 72% of people who exercise say they are able to manage their time better. raise your confidence

People who are fit also tend to be more confident, which inspires confidence in others. The documented decrease in stress following exercise can also help people to manage their work relationships better, enabling them to deal with conflict more maturely and constructively. All of which makes for a better leader. – Juliet Pitman

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I

t hurts to be beautiful, according to the age-old cliché. Yeah, right. We live in a culture consumed by image. The plastic surgery industry promotes superficial notions of beauty; reality TV exhorts average people to undergo extreme makeovers; and even the gorgeous A-listers who grace magazine covers have been airbrushed into impossible proportions. Employers are not immune, according to a Newsweek poll, 'How Much Is Beauty Worth at Work?' Job seekers have always been advised to dress up for interviews, but the survey suggests that managers look beyond attire and evaluate applicants according to how attractive they are. The bottom line? It pays to be good-looking. According to the poll, paying attention to your looks isn’t just about vanity, it’s about economic survival. Ugly people are less likely to get hired and promoted and they earn less, even in occupations where appearance has nothing to do with the job. Here are some of the most interesting revelations:

1. 2. 3. 4. Looks do matter at work

It’s worse for women

Fat people don't score

Too old for the job

When it comes to getting hired in the first place, 57% of managers believe an unattractive (but qualified) job candidate will have a harder time getting hired. Once hired, looks will continue to affect the way managers rate job performance. 59% of managers advised spending as much time and money “making sure they look attractive” as on perfecting a CV.

Women are faced with a double bind: they are expected to be sexy but can be punished for being too attractive. 61% of the hiring managers surveyed said they believe a woman would benefit from wearing clothing that shows off her figure at work. Meanwhile, 47% of those same managers said they believe some women are penalised for being too goodlooking in the office.

Although obesity is a global problem, employers discriminate against fat people. Two thirds of respondents said they believe managers would hesitate before hiring a qualified job candidate who was significantly overweight.

84% of managers said bosses would hesitate before hiring a qualified job candidate who was older than co-workers.

What to do? Your best bet is to join ‘em if you can’t beat ‘em and make a concerted and expensive effort to improve your personal appearance. Botox anyone? – Monique Verduyn



» Accelerate

status

balance

Choose your words wisely

Finding Meaning and Mojo Get your groove back.

S

tate of mind might seem like a ‘soft issue’, but part of the sales leader’s role is to motivate the team and keep them upbeat, positive and focused on success – a negative disposition can have a detrimental impact on the sales performance of an entire company. Marshall Goldsmith, author of the nowfamous book Mojo: How to Get It, How to Keep It, How to Get It Back If You Lose It, sums this up: “Imagine that your leader comes in every day and communicates the message, ‘I'm unhappy to be here.’ Well, what does that say about you? I don't like you. This isn't meaningful. What's that say about the company? This place is a waste.”

When you are talking to someone, do you notice when you use a, an, it, the, my and I in a sentence? Don’t worry if you don’t. According to linguistic expert Professor James Pennebaker from the University of Texas, we have a terrible memory of our own as well as other’s use of function words. But, that’s not to say they aren’t important. language reveals status

The way people use function words reflects not only their linguistic style, but their social status, how they view the world, and even what personality type they are. Of all the function words, “I” is the greatest indicator of status between two people in an interaction. The person whose use of “I” words is lower tends to have a higher status. You can tell a lot about who’s who in an office by the way people refer to themselves.

Score With Success Goldsmith spends a lot of time with highly successful people and he maintains they all have high scores on ‘mojo’ – a positive spirit or attitude towards what one is doing. Mojo is the opposite of inertia and apathy. And, he adds: “There is a clear cause-and-effect relationship between mojo and success.” Of course it’s impossible to communicate a sense of joy in what you’re

doing, or a belief that your work is meaningful, if you don’t feel those things. And while mojo is impossible to fake, Goldsmith believes it is possible to find or recapture.

Redefine Yourself What you need are a couple of vital ingredients – identity, achievement, reputation and acceptance. All of these underpin happiness. You need to start off by defining who the ‘you’ is that you want to be. “We get locked into unnecessary self-limiting definitions of who we are, but we don’t have to,” says Goldsmith, using the example of U2’s Bono to illustrate his point. He’s been a music lover, musician, rock star and humanitarian, redefining who he wants to be throughout his life while still remaining authentic. His secret, according to Goldsmith, is that he engages in work that is positive and meaningful. “These people never act like their lives or their work are trivial – and that’s one of the reasons they’re great leaders,” he says. – Juliet Pitman

Get a mojo-meter Record and track your own mojo with a free download of the Rypple MOJO Meter App for iPhone or Blackberry. Go to http://www.mojothebook.com/download-mojo-app/

– Juliet Pitman

“You can do so much in 10 minutes. Ten minutes, once gone, are gone for good... Divide your life into 10-minute units and sacrifice as few of them as possible in meaningless activity.” Ingvar Kamprad, founder of the furniture brand IKEA

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ag e n da strategy

The New Core Competency for Growth-Minded Companies If you’re competing on price, you’ll never achieve maximum profitability. It is critical to make value creation everyone’s job. By Jeff Thull

A

re you sure that you’re providing the value your customers bought into? Even if your answer is an emphatic yes, you might want to take a closer look into your customer’s world. In my experience, 50% or more of all companies feel that they aren’t getting true value from their suppliers. That number almost certainly includes some of your customers. The danger is you may be assuming that the fault lies with them – maybe it’s an implementation issue or maybe they’re blind to the value that you believe exists but they just don’t see. It doesn’t matter. If your customers can’t perceive the value you provide, it simply doesn’t exist. That’s the value gap and it’s one of the biggest roadblocks to sustained growth and maximised profitability. The value gap can often be traced back to cross-functional dysfunction, a term that basically means that individuals or departments are not working together, or even worse, they may be in conflict with each other. Consider these examples: Are new products created that have little connection with your customer’s real problems? Is marketing generating leads but not being held accountable for their quality? Are sales people rushing to “present” solutions instead of seeking out relevant information on the customer’s real requirements? With confusion and disorder, customers default to what they do understand – price – and there goes the downward spiral to commoditisation. The issue is when various departments or individuals are operating with cross-

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Are new products created that have little connection with your customer’s real problems? Are salespeople rushing to “present” solutions instead of seeking out relevant information on the customer’s real requirements? With confusion and disorder, customers default to what they do understand – price – and there goes the downward spiral to commoditisation.

purposes, a company’s value strategy is likely to be diluted by the time it reaches the customer. The customer perceives, rightly or wrongly, that either the value being offered simply isn’t there, it isn’t unique compared to alternative solutions, or there are doubts that the value being promised will be delivered – all of which leads to hedging, forcing price comparisons and driving profits down. Sellers ultimately watch their margins erode as price becomes the driving force of the decision.

Bridge the Value Gap In order to close the value gap, companies must create “prime solutions” – solutions that: n Deliver optimal results, capable of leveraging value to the highest level of the customer’s business n Ensure that customers have identified and purchased the best solutions to their problems n Provide implementation and value creation strategies that enable customers to achieve the ROI that they anticipated To achieve this goal, a company must end cross-functional dysfunction. It must replace “cost cutting” with “value creation” as a core competency. In other words, creating and selling value must become everyone’s responsibility.

So Where Do You Start? How can you build a culture in which value creation becomes the mantra and your customers see you as an incomparable source of value? Here are some guidelines to start transforming your organisation:

1. Begin With a Tangible and Compelling Customer Problem All too often, we can develop products and services based on faulty assumptions about value. Chances are these assumptions could be inconsistent with the customer’s perspective. By the time we discover the disconnects – time, money and market position have been lost. Not only must we look through the eyes of our customer and develop products and services that address our customer’s financial well-being, but we must constantly validate our assumptions about value. We must ensure we can convert what we believe is value into value our customers can fully achieve and measure.


strategy 2. Commit to Diagnostic Marketing Define your solution, which has been designed to solve a problem that your customer is currently facing, or is likely to experience. Then create your market message based on a thorough diagnosis and understanding of that problem and its solution. Your messages, however, must be written in the “negative present,” a place customers don’t want to be. They ask a customer to examine their current situation and suggest… These are the symptoms of the problem you may have, and if you are noticing this evidence, we may have the solution. Additionally, marketing must prepare the tools and support materials that will be used to diagnose the customers’ business problems and design the solutions. These materials must guide sales people through the same diagnostic process that is used in solution development and marketing. They must assist sales people in identifying the indicators and consequences of the customers’ problems that their solutions address.

3. Learn The Art of Diagnostic Conversations Traditionally, a sales person’s goal has been to close the sale, get the signed order, hit the numbers, bring in the business… win. For companies that provide prime solutions, the desired outcome of the sale is the same, but the focus and the process are dramatically different. The diagnostic sales professionals work more like physicians. They provide highquality diagnostic services, prescribe and treat responsibly, and attempt to ensure optimal health for their “patients” (the customers).

4. Keep an Eagle Eye on Impending Issues The rewards of keeping close to the customer are well known. We must ensure that customers attain the valuable results they expected when they purchased our solutions. That means not just solving problems that crop up, but actually watching for and diagnosing problems that customers don’t realise they have. We are closest to our customers when we are serving them, and

therefore we are well positioned to diagnose additional issues and opportunities before the customer may recognise them and ask for help.

Create a Feedback Cycle To capitalise on these valuable, and for the most part untapped resources, you must create conduits for continuous feedback. These feedback mechanisms connect the end of the value chain back to its beginning. The information that’s captured by customer service employees actually flows back into the cycle and serves as the basis for the development of new prime solutions. Thus, the conclusion of one revolution around the cycle becomes the impetus for another. This may sound like a daunting amount of work, but the result – transformation into a prime solutions provider and the

resulting impact on your bottom line – is its own reward. Think of how you would respond to a solution provider who brought these capabilities to your door…a resource who would help you achieve a successful implementation, quantify and maximise the return on your investment, and ensure the sustainability of your optimised business performance. This sounds like a highly valued business partner, a source of continual competitive advantage… a position we all want to occupy in our customer’s minds. Jeff Thull is a leading-edge sales strategist and valued advisor for executive teams of major companies worldwide. He has designed and implemented business transformation and professional development programmes for companies like Shell, 3M, Siemens, Microsoft, Intel and IBM. Jeff is also a recognised international speaker and best-selling author. His book, Mastering the Complex Sale is a number one best selling book on Amazon.com.

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strategy

ag e n da leadership

Going With Your Gut New research reveals fascinating insights into the extent to which business leaders can trust their intuition. By Juliet Pitman

T

he collapse of global financial markets taught us, among many other things, about greed, the lack of systemic controls and the extent to which the human decision-making process can be hopelessly fallible. This in turn raised extensive debate about how to improve decision-making ability and whether we can rely on our intuition to guide us. Surprisingly ‘going with your gut’ is an accepted means of making mission-critical decisions in business and people find it tantalising that something almost ‘magical’ can inform a better decision-making process. However, research suggests reliable intuition is more about learned skill and expertise, and that what you take to be trustworthy intuition is often nothing more than over-confidence based on lucky past guesses that happened to have paid off.

The Intuition of Experts Nobel Laureate Daniel Kahneman and psychologist Gary Klein published a paper in the American Psychologist journal investigating the conditions required for people to make accurate intuitive judgements.* They argue that skilled intuition – the type that’s most reliable – is based on recognition from prior experience. For example, a nurse will have a ‘gut feeling’ that a child is gravely ill, but even though this ‘intuition’ might feel automatic and involuntary, it is based on the nurse’s recognition of certain cues and her memory from past professional experiences. Such skilled intuition is found among experts who have enough experience of a regular repetitive situation, and have had the opportunity to learn from such experience.

Where Does This Leave Business? But what about less predictable situations, such as those most often found in business? Many executives might argue that their 22 » t h i n k s a l e s . c o . z a o c to b e r 2 010

expertise, experience and opportunity to learn in their specific environments mean that their intuition is reliable and can be trusted. But Kahneman and Klein sound an important warning note about overconfidence. “Unfortunately, […] the correlation between the accuracy of [people’s] judgements and the confidence they experience is not consistently high,” they say. In many instances, leaders will take a lucky risk that happens to pay off. Such experiences give them the impression that their gut feeling is always reliable, when in fact there is no basis for such a belief. To make matters worse, the business world lauds leaders who make quick decisions that pay off, so the lucky risk-taker receives external positive reinforcement that his intuition is reliable. Then there’s the issue of not seeing critical aspects of a problem, something often related to over-confidence and, it must be said, arrogance. “An executive might have a very strong intuition that a given product has promise, without considering the probability that a rival is already ahead in developing the same product,” Kahneman points out.

How to Get it Right So what’s to be done? “Subjective experience is not a reliable indicator of judgement accuracy,” say the researchers. You need to deliberately and consciously evaluate your intuition. Monitor the data and experience upon which it is based and be aware of the fact that there might be entire aspects of the problem to which you are simply blind. Guard against bias, particularly a bias to discount people who challenge your decision or highlight its pitfalls. Kahneman and Klein suggest the use of two helpful tools: the premortem and the check list.

The Pre-mortem The pre-mortem helps to reduce overconfidence and improve decisions. It performs the same function as the post-mortem – investigating why something went wrong – only it does it preemptively instead of retrospectively. Once you’ve described a proposed plan, get your project team to imagine that it has failed miserably. Each person should write down, in two minutes, a list of reasons why they think the plan failed, and then present these starting with you. The idea is that the process will uncover some of the unforeseen factors to which you might have been blind. It also encourages a culture of questioning and challenging ideas. “Instead of showing people that you are smart because you can come up with a good plan, you show you’re smart by thinking of insightful reasons why this project might go south,” says Klein. * Conditions for Intuitive expertise: A Failure to Disagree. Kahneman, D & Klein, G. American Psychologist. September 2009. 515-526.

the check list While Kahneman and Klein admit that check lists are not appropriate in all decisionmaking situations, they can be useful under certain circumstances, such as at due diligence stage, to avoid over-confidence. Questions should include: 1. What is the quality of the information about which the decision is being made? Interrogate the numbers and where they come from. 2. Have I excluded information because it doesn’t support my gut feeling? 3. How independent is the information? Does it come from one source, or multiple sources? 4. Is my opinion influencing what the rest of my team thinks about the decision? 5. If there is group consensus on the decision, has it been achieved through discussion or independently by each individual? (Discussion-based consensus creates conformity and is known to reduce the accuracy of judgement).


selling technique

agenda


strategy

ag e n da assess

8 Questions to Assess Your Sales Organisation It’s time that CEOs focus on sales strategy and effectiveness. These questions require serious consideration. By Melissa Raffoni

4. “What key measures are you using to track sales effectiveness? Do you have a sales dashboard?” Is it cost of sales as a percentage of revenue, close ratio, sales person productivity? Something else? You can't really optimise if you don't know which lever you want to move.

5. “If you believe there are two ways to drive sales – increase the funnel and/or increase the close ratio – what are you doing to achieve those increases?” 6. “Is your sales compensation plan driving the right behaviours?” Is there enough of a variable compensation component to make a difference?

7. “It's a new world, how are you taking advantage of it?” Partners are willing to talk, new talent is on the street, customers are looking for high ROI offerings, social media is changing how people communicate. Are you experimenting?

8. “Do you have the right people?” Test Your Sales Model

M

y colleagues and I are in the process of surveying about 50 CEOs of companies ranging from 10 to 1 000 employees. About half the results are in so far. At the moment, can you guess the number one thing keeping CEOs up at night? So far, it's how to optimise the sales channel. If you and your team are assessing your organisation's sales effectiveness, here are eight common questions that I hear CEOs ask each other in peer groups:

amazed at how difficult it is to answer this question well. With the constantly changing competitive landscapes and customer needs, every company should take a second look at what they are pitching and why it still resonates today. I'm sure, for most, the value proposition needs a facelift.

1. “Ok, tell us again, what's your value proposition? Why should customers choose you over the competitors?”

3. “Do you think your overall cost of sales is where it should be?”

It's so basic, isn't it? Yet, I continue to be 24 » t h i n k s a l e s . c o . z a o c to b e r 2 010

2. “What is your sales process and how does your organisational structure map to it?”

What makes you think that? Are you comparing to an industry standard or mapping to a projected financial model?

Have you built a fairly predictable and repeatable sales process? If so, what will happen if you simply put more resources against it – will you yield a greater result? If not, why? If so, why not do that? Other common questions centre around the model and what works – hunters, farmers, key account reps, independent reps – does your model still make sense in this economy? Do you need to be more aggressive or take a different tack? Is there a model that will yield a better result given the cost? Having grown up in sales, I understand the complexities of running large sales organisations. I don't mean to minimise the challenges that come with changing sales channel strategies and structures. My intention here is to encourage leaders to hold up the mirror and ask again some of the fundamental questions. CEOs need sharp axes as 2011 approaches, but they also need to know which trees to chop at. Melissa Raffoni has worked directly with more than 100 CEOs as President of Raffoni CEO Consulting for over a decade. She has served on the faculty at MIT's Sloan School and Harvard's Kennedy School. Melissa holds an MS in Corporate Strategy and Managerial Communication from the MIT Sloan School and a BA in Economics from Colby College.



strategy

ag e n da case study

Rapid Transformation of a Salesforce Taking a phased “university approach” to change helped one company transform its salesforce – successfully – in six months rather than the usual 12 to 24. By Josh Leibowitz & Ben Vonwiller Situation Changing the way a large, dispersed sales team operates is hard, and implementing a sales programme quickly and making it stick is even harder. Yet, that was the challenge facing a direct service company’s commercial business unit, which had 20 area managers, 200 sales managers, and 2 000 sales representatives. The unit was struggling with high staff turnover and poor performance: each year, for example, a third of the sales leads coming in through the call centre – roughly 100 000 calls – were never followed up on because of weak management tools and processes.

Complication Investors were looking for quick results, so the company’s senior leaders insisted on a programme that would raise sales almost immediately. They therefore decided to implement it in six months rather than the 12 to 24 typical for a project of this scale. Additionally, in recent years the company had conducted a number of sales improvement programmes with mixed success, which suggested that employees might be reluctant to attempt another complex change programme.

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Implications

and processes, including standardised performance metrics, diagnostic reports, and a custom-designed tool to track and promote accountability for every sales lead. Once the area managers “graduated” from the academy, they rolled out the programme in phases, starting with high priority markets in their own areas. Sales managers and the reps they supervised applied the new tools. To ensure that these changes endured, the company instituted recurring structured

Just having the right tools won’t force quick or lasting change in the way a large and dispersed salesforce operates. But companies can achieve that kind of transformation by identifying an appropriate group of managers, distributed across the organisation, to take the lead in promoting change and by adopting the university approach, in which trainees in turn train the employees who report to them. This article was originally published in McKinsey Quarterly. Copyright 2010 McKinsey & Company. All rights reserved. Reprinted by permission.

Programme Roles and Participation Pivotal Role

C-Level Executives

Programme Rollout

20 Area Sales Managers

Resolution Rather than relying on a central team of change leaders and rolling out the programme in sequence, from area to area, the company adopted a phased “university approach,” which enabled it to launch the programme in all areas simultaneously. The 20 area managers, who had a pivotal role in the sales hierarchy, attended central “academies” along with sales managers. Here they all learned to use new tools

coaching sessions where area managers used the performance tools to evaluate sales managers and to pinpoint and address their weaknesses. The sales managers in turn coached their reps in the same way. Both the tools and the coaching sessions played a crucial role in the success of the programme, which was implemented in most markets within the required six months. By the end of a year, the unit had increased its lead conversion rates by 20% and the number of self-generated leads by 25%.

200 Sales Managers

2 000 Sales Representatives

Corporate Leadership • Lead overall transformation • Set national implementation road map • Develop formal reinforcement mechanisms • Ensure availability of appropriate tools and skill-building support • Prepare communications strategy for field

Areas Sales Managers • Act as champions and 'super coaches' for implementing programme • Make quick transition from learning skills in 'academies' to leading programme implementation in their own sales areas • Use regular structured coaching interaction with individual sales managers to drive performance transformation • Share programme's best practices across markets within sales area

Sales Managers • Learn to use new sales tools • Implement sales programme in their sales markets, achieve predetermined milestones • Use regular structured coaching interactions with individual sales reps to drive performance Sales Representatives • Learn programme and new tools from sales manager


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ag e n da alignment

Niche Marketing: Inverting The Sales Funnel Improve the quality and effectiveness of your sales process by targeting fewer prospects. By Juliet Pitman

I

n a tough sales environment there’s a tendency to throw more of the same procedure at a problem. Sales teams are urged to increase their prospect lists and ramp up the number of the people they speak to every day. By casting the net even wider companies hope to make even more sales – but often what they end up doing is simply spending more money, resources and time without any great return on investment. Bruce Mayhew, strategic marketing consultant and trainer in Toronto, Canada, provides insight into how to do it differently – by inverting the traditional sales funnel.

need your product or service – all of your current customers as an example. Sales teams spend the short time they have with these customers (now prospects), trying to convince them to buy something most of them probably don’t need or want. Essentially, you’re throwing product at people and hoping something will stick. It wastes time, energy and resources and doesn’t result in a particularly high hit ratio.

How does inverting the sales funnel help?

What’s wrong with the traditional sales funnel? Why the need to turn it on its head?

If you invert the sales funnel and concentrate on selling to fewer people who you know are very likely to need or want your product or service, you’ll spend less time and fewer resources to close the deal.

In a traditional sales funnel you may speak to a huge number of prospects, irrespective of whether you think they might

Some might argue that contacting fewer prospects will lead to fewer

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Spin-off Benefits: Cost saving, resource optimisation and brand building are the benefits of niche marketing, says Bruce Mayhew, strategic marketing consultant.

sales. Can you explain why this won’t be the case? It is indeed an idea that makes sales people nervous because they automatically think they’ll end up with fewer sales. But consider this. Say you usually contact 1 000 prospects to make 20 sales. If you invert the sales funnel and contact 50 targeted prospects in a knowledgeable and personal way, you can still make 20 sales. Even if you lose one and only close 19 deals, which is what companies worry about, you need to consider that you’ve saved the time it would have taken to talk to 950 additional prospects. And if you use this time properly for further niche marketing and selling, you can significantly increase your sales overall.

Does the approach work best with new or existing customers? It’s equally effective for both. When launching a new product it’s more effective if you market to a niche audience first instead of trying to sell to everyone initially. Choose those people who will best understand and appreciate how your new offering is unique and will meet their needs.


strategy marketing

Doing so will help you develop credibility and a reputation among early adopters, which you can then use to extend your marketing to a wider audience. It also makes sense when it comes to existing customers. For example, a telecommunication company that cold calls its entire customer base in an attempt to sell a new out-of-country long distance plan, regardless of whether they’ve made out-ofcountry long distance calls, is wasting its time and financial resources. They’d do better to use the information they already have on their customers and target people who make outof-country long distance calls.

Pitching to The Pessimist Drawing on the negative can produce positive results. By Bertie Du Plessis

Scientifically speaking, it is not only more likely that you will be pitching to a pessimist, but people are motivated twice as much by the fear of loss than by the promise of reward. You are more likely to make a sale or close a deal if you

What are the key ingredients for getting it right?

understand this and pitch accordingly.

The success of niche marketing begins by having a clear sense of what sets your company and your product or service apart from the competition. Only when you are able to identify and articulate what this is are you able to go to the next step, and that is to define who your best customers (or prospects), are. Once you know this, you can build a very targeted and personal sales and marketing strategy to sell to this group while also building valuable relationships. Another key ingredient is for sales and marketing teams to work more closely together, with marketing activities supporting the targeted approach that sales teams will take. Advertising, promotions and other marketing tools should speak directly to the same targeted niche market that the sales team will be canvassing.

optimism. We are far more averse to loss than the promise of reward. Where this

Apart from considerable cost saving and resource optimisation which in turn can lead to an increase in sales, are there any other spin-off benefits to inverting the sales funnel? There’s an important additional benefit worth mentioning – one that involves the reputation of your brand. Consider how much damage you do to your reputation every time you annoy someone with a cold call or junk mail that involves trying to sell them something they don’t need. And it’s even worse if you’re doing that to an existing customer, whose needs you should understand better. Bruce Mayhew is the founder of Bruce Mayhew Consulting, a strategic marketing consultancy and communication training agency in Canada. He specialises in helping companies get their brand and message understood by the right target market, through the development, design and implementation of print and web-based marketing strategies.

Approximately 66% of the population tends more towards pessimism than can be a strength for the salesman, however, is that when confronted with the threat of loss we have a significant propensity for risk. According to behavioural scientists Daniel Kahneman and Amos Tversky, people are much more sensitive to negative than to positive stimuli. Their experiments show how participants will accept the same mathematical risk when confronted with the threat of loss which they had previously declined when there was merely the promise of reward. It is not so much that people hate uncertainty, it is that they hate losing. “Think about how well you feel today, and then try to imagine how much better you could feel… there are a few things that will make you feel better, but the number of things that would make you feel worse is unbounded,” Tversky argues. Tap into this emotion and a deal becomes imminent. The best example of this simple psychology lies in our own recent history. When, in the advent of a democratic South Africa, Nobel Peace Laureate, FW de Klerk, experienced resistance from within the white community, he called for a referendum in 1993. The campaign was run along the following leitmotif: “If we remain as we are, we will lose everything we have. If you take the risk of voting ‘yes,’ I am optimistic that we will lose much less in the long run.” The result is history. De Klerk got a resounding victory. It is naive to think that you can move people by simply being optimistic. Take these two examples from direct marketing: Option A says: “Please remember to enter this competition and win the holiday of a lifetime.” Option B rewords this same idea to read: “Don’t miss the holiday of a lifetime, please remember to enter!” The pull of option B is substantially stronger because it threatens loss – even though the holiday was never ours to lose. The secret lies in threatening loss, followed by great reward. That’s how to make a deal.

Bertie du Plessis founded MindPilot positioning specialists in 1995. His client list comprises both blue chip global corporations such as Naspers, Sasol and Standard Bank and SMEs. He has lectured at GIBS for its MBA programme and in five different other disciplines at tertiary institutions.

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ag e n da

tools

latest

The Tantalising New Torch High-end usability, functionality and all-round appeal.

B

race yourself for what’s being touted as one of the most significant BlackBerry launches yet, the Torch 9800 smartphone. Packed with tools that business customers will love, the new handset is the first to combine a QWERTY keyboard with a full touchscreen experience. Whether you choose to type messages on the touchscreen or the keyboard, browse the Internet using pinch to zoom or navigate with the optical trackpad, the BlackBerry Torch allows you to communicate any way you want.

n So What’s New? The Torch is the first to launch with BlackBerry 6, a new operating system that retains the features that users know well, but promises to be more powerful and easy to use. Expanded messaging capabilities with intuitive features simplify the management of social networking and RSS feeds, and provide integrated access to BlackBerry Messenger, Facebook, Twitter, MySpace and IM applications. The multimedia experience is top notch and includes a dedicated YouTube app and podcasts app.

n What’s to Love? The browser renders HTML web pages and email quickly and beautifully for a great browsing experience. You can access multiple sites simultaneously, double-tap to zoom while maintaining the placement of a page's key elements, and pinch to zoom. Universal search, always accessible from the home screen, allows you to search through email, messages, contacts, and more, as well as extend search to the Internet or find applications on BlackBerry App World.

n Got The Look? Elegant yet sturdy, the phone has a solid slider mechanism and feels chunky in the hand.

n Apps At Your Fingertips After powering up the Torch for the first time, a set of pre-loaded icons allow you to download and begin using a variety of rich entertainment and social networking applications, and to access news content. Another great app is Visual Voicemail, which lets you choose the voicemails you want to hear first.

n Bottom Line With a new user interface, new browser and new handset design, the highly anticipated Torch is the perfect smartphone for business users. – Monique Verduyn

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ag e n da gear

The Ultimate Tool for the Road Warrior's Arsenal

1

Diamond for the Rough

When it comes to extreme laptops, here’s our pick of notebooks tough enough to go the distance.

1.

The semi-rugged Mecer T890M Tablet, weighing just 1,5 kg, is designed to withstand nature’s elements and simultaneously offer solid mobile connectivity. If your job is demanding and the conditions extreme and gritty, this is the tablet for you. It comes with a shockmounted 250GB hard drive, a 2,0 pixel web camera, wireless LAN, 6-in-1 card reader, fingerprint reader, Bluetooth, Ip54 Ingress Protection Rating, and an integrated GPS with a map of southern Africa. Cost: R19 364 Get it from: www.mecerpc.co.za

R

uggedised laptops are a must for business travellers who are frequently on the road or up in the air and need a portable computer that’s tougher than the average commercial machine. Destined for hard labour, business rugged laptops have shockmounted hard disk drives and tough casings, and are able to withstand being knocked and dropped. They are also lightweight enough to make them easily portable.

– Monique Verduyn

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2.


tools virtual tools

Meet Online

3

Breakthrough Performance

The Dell Latitude E6400 is designed for the professional who needs connectivity and reliability above all else. Built a bit like a tank, it has a durable magnesium alloy cage which is great for longevity. The mostly metal design makes it able to withstand a fair amount of abuse. The 14,1" screen is matte so there’s no reflection. The LCD panel is LED lit, giving you power saving benefits too. Cost: R19 799 Get it from: www.shopandship.co.za

Exchange ideas and information with anyone, anywhere. Take care of business online like you would face-to-face with WebEx. Whether you are presenting to remote clients, training from head office, or meeting with colleagues,

3.

WebEx. It combines realtime desktop sharing with phone conferencing, so everyone sees the same thing as you talk.

Use From Anywhere WebEx is software delivered as a service (SaaS), so once you subscribe, you can use it from any computer with an Internet connection, and from most smartphones. You can schedule a WebEx session

4.

ahead or start it instantly in your choice of ways: n From your personal WebEx site n From Webex.com n F rom Microsoft Outlook or your Microsoft Office document

2

Workhorse for Any Environment

Certified for ruggedness and able to withstand a six-foot drop, Panasonic’s Toughbook 30 is the ultimate in durability. It features a 13,3" anti-glare, anti-reflective screen, an optional second battery that fits into the media pocket and 160GB shock-mounted hard disk drive. In addition, the Toughbook 30 is mobile broadband ready, comes standard with Wi-Fi and Bluetooth and with optional integrated Gobi mobile broadband. The reliable Toughbook 30 enables realtime access to information even in the harshest environments thanks to its sealed all-weather design. The entire chassis, with the exception of the keyboard and screen, is made from magnesium alloy. Fully sealed keyboard, ports and hard drive make it ready for any conditions. Cost: R38 076 Get it from: www.toughbooks.co.za

4

On-the-go Resilience

The HP EliteBook 8440p Notebook PC has a brushedaluminium platinum finish and business-rugged construction to provide protection on the move. A magnesium/aluminium display enclosure and magnesium alloy chassis provide increased durability. This is perfect for mobile professionals who need manageability, security, upgradeable wireless and system and graphics performance in a business-rugged notebook with a 14" diagonal display. The spill-resistant keyboard and a battery life of up to 24 hours make it even more attractive. No matter where you are, integrated wireless technologies will have you covered. You can also access email and contact information in seconds without booting up. Cost: R13 419 Get it from: www.hpshop.co.za

You invite others to participate over email, IM, or text. They simply click a link in your invitation to join you online. Once you’ve started your session, choose “share” from the menu to share documents, presentations and applications.

Cost You can get WebEx Meeting Centre including mobile access, voice conferencing, and online recording for $49 (R355) per month. This will enable you to host unlimited meetings with up to 25 people at a time.

Contact www.webex.com – Monique Verduyn

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tools

ag e n da sales 2.0

The Massive Shift in Sales Culture With Sales 2.0 the future is about virtual customer engagement and alignment between sales and marketing. By Monique Verduyn

T

here’s a new trend in selling that takes its name from the tools and methods driving it. Sales 2.0 has its roots in the Web 2.0 movement and is making it imperative for both sales and marketing teams to work in unison to acquire customers, optimise the sales cycle, and better analyse and track a company’s marketing return on investment. By harnessing the power of Sales 2.0, you can transform your entire organisation and improve both your top and bottom line results.

The Web 2.0 Factor Web 2.0 sites have changed the way that consumers use the Internet by adding rich, interactive, user-friendly interfaces, delivering applications via browsers (computing in the cloud), enabling site data to be owned and controlled by the user, increasing user influence and participation through social networking, and taking the customer through the sales process easily with seamless shopping carts. Web 2.0 has also given people more control when it comes to investigating products and services. Prospective buyers are more informed than ever before, and they can find out what they need to know about a product without speaking to a salesperson. “Customers use the web to search for products and they expect the process to be quick and easy,” says Rob Stokes, CEO of digital agency Quirk eMarketing. “That’s because web-savvy consumers have become seasoned e-commerce users and are now demanding instant gratification.”

Aligning Sales and Marketing What is the impact of these developments on sales and marketing? Because your customers’ buying behaviours and expectations have changed as a result of Web 2.0, so must 34 » t h i n k s a l e s . c o . z a o c to b e r 2 010

Harness the Power. Sales 2.0 can transform your business and improve bottom line results, says Rob Stokes, CEO of Quirk eMarketing.

your sales and marketing processes adapt to benefit from these changes. That evolution is critical for businesses. Increasingly, sales and marketing teams are using social networking services like Twitter and Facebook to broadcast their latest successes, product features or events to a wide audience who have chosen to “follow” or “like” the organisation. This ability to reach out and communicate with willing followers is also making it possible to target buyers and decision-makers rather than executives who may not be involved in the buying process.

It’s Still About Relationships New Sales 2.0 technologies also allow sales people to engage prospects as they share information across social-media sites. Of course, sales will always be about relationships, but new media makes it possible to build those relationships in more efficient, measurable, and cost-effective ways. Sales 2.0 raises the quality of your customer engagements, making it possible to interact anytime, anywhere. “Because customers or prospects are able to visit your website at their convenience, often outside of business hours, you need to know about it, and you must know what they were looking at,” says Stokes. “It’s imperative that you create connections with your prospects and keep them highly engaged.” Instead of using traditional sales and marketing methodologies where you inform customers about your value proposition, the web enables ways for you to adapt to customer’s online buying behaviours, Stokes adds. The new form of relationship selling isn’t about selling anymore – it’s about helping the customer buy. That is why alignment between sales and marketing is so important. “It’s about turning your website into a gateway to your business,” says Stokes. “Web analytics plays a key role in this respect. You need information on how users interact with your site in order to ensure that you can optimise their experience. If you provide them with information and communication that is of value to them, chances are that you will move them closer and closer to making a purchase.”

Capturing the customer online Timing is everything when it comes to sales. Use these web-based, lead-nurturing techniques to take advantage of every opportunity there is to stay in touch. 1. Webinars can be used to attract and educate hundreds of prospects. Web conferencing can be used for personalised sales meetings and demos. 2. Send and track email newsletters to keep product and pricing announcements fresh in the mind of an audience that’s partly qualified. Choose a solution that can track click through's to monitor what interests prospects. 3. Sales 2.0 takes its cue from e-commerce websites like Amazon.com, where customers can buy quickly and easily. 4. Some sites enable more frontline interaction with customers. Chat rooms, buddy lists, private messaging, blogs and microblogs all help keep the customer engaged and encourage them to browse, participate, and return. 5. Offer free downloads such as content-rich e-books that will be of use to customers and get them to provide you with their email address so you can maintain contact.


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ag e n da tech ahead

Get Control of All Your Data A new kind of cost-effective business intelligence software lets you stop guessing and start knowing how to make faster, smarter decisions. By Monique Verduyn

Consider Using a BI Solution If: n You're battling to answer basic questions about your business n You spend more time collecting data than analysing it n You're drowning in reports n You have problems with the quality of the information you use n You're forced to make decisions with insufficient information n You have problems combining data across different systems n You're frustrated with the complexities of OLAP

How Does it Work?

B

usiness intelligence (BI) solutions are notoriously difficult to implement, and few meet user and organisational expectations. According to an ITWeb survey, only 19% of respondents at the 2010 BI conference, held earlier this year, viewed their BI solutions as a success. That’s what makes QlikView a notable exception. IT research and advisory firm Gartner calls QlikView “disruptive technology” and “the best performing BI platform in the market.” In this year's BI Survey 9 – the world's largest independent survey of BI and performance management users, conducted by the Business Application Research Centre – QlikView ranked first in customer loyalty, query performance (least complaints), and inclination to purchase more licences, continuing to outpace larger rivals like SAP

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(Business Objects), Oracle (Hyperion) and IBM (Cognos).

Top Performance QlikView ranked high in other key categories, including: n Ease of use for end-users was cited as one of the most important factors influencing the purchase decision (38% of respondents) n Query performance was rated highest by QlikView customers n Speed of implementation – QlikView was among leaders in implementation within three months and had 85% of customers implemented within six months n Intention to buy more licences – QlikView had the highest number of customers intending to buy more licences

QlikView lets users search intuitively across databases and quickly displays information in charts and graphs that are easy to understand. It lets you decide which data you want to collect rather than forcing you to sort through an information hierarchy. Typical questions include: What did we sell most of on Heritage Day? Where did we sell it? Who sold the most? It’s a “new generation” software tool that combines reporting, BI and web query into one product. “It enables you to answer any question about your business,” says Davide Hanan, MD QlikView South Africa, “You can consolidate, search, visualise, and analyse your data sources for in-depth business insight and quick, smart decisions.” In addition to unifying multiple data sources it easily integrates with existing systems – including traditional BI software such as Cognos, Hyperion and Business Objects. QlikView enables users to make ad hoc queries in a non-hierarchical data structure. This is made possible by AQL – associative query logic – which automatically associates values in the internal QlikView database. “The automatic associations of QlikView create endless possibilities for making ad hoc queries without requiring defined structures and hierarchies,” says Hanan. “QlikView promotes unrestricted analysis of application data, helping users make time-saving and accurate decisions.” This associative technology works the way the mind does. It provides one-click access to visually rich, interactive dashboards anyone can build quickly and modify easily. The system is simple to use and learn. There are no complex interfaces, confusing screens or unfathomable commands and queries.


tools case study The Company

Intelligent Business. Business Intelligence software improves business insight and decision-making, says Davide Hanan, MD QlikView South Africa.

Easy Deployment, True Mobility It’s a single product that can be deployed internally or rolled out by implementation partners. QlikView also offers mobile, cloud, laptop, and on-premise accessibility. QlikView provides interactive access whenever and wherever you need it. For mobile professionals who need access to comprehensive, real-time information, QlikView is available as a mobile app that delivers an interactive experience by providing anywhere, anytime access, while taking advantage of the functionality of the mobile devices on which it runs. All major mobile platforms are supported by QlikView, including iPhone and BlackBerry. QlikView for iPhone fully leverages the iPhone’s multi-touch interface and GPS.

Cloud Availability QlikView can be deployed in the cloud to further speed implementation, scale capacity and give your company the benefit of lower upfront costs. Companies running QlikView in the cloud enjoy scalability, platform neutrality and zero infrastructure costs.

From Small to Large It’s suitable for any size business, from SMEs to multinationals. Large companies with billions of records use QlikView to provide data and analysis across multiple departments. Workgroups use it for comprehensive insight into their unit-specific needs. Hanan says that QlikView empowers users to create and drive their own applications with minimal IT involvement. “Its unique architecture automatically optimises performance to ensure a consistent, highlyresponsive user experience – freeing IT to focus on other activities.”

them a better understanding of their information. SAB is the second-largest listed company “We suddenly had reporting and on the JSE Securities Exchange, South analysis at the click of a button,” says Africa’s leading producer-distributor of business analyst Sonja Deyzel. “I now use alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages, QlikView for all my reporting and analysis. and one of the nation’s largest It associates all the information and lets manufacturing firms. The group runs SAP us get into the key issues very quickly.” across its operations to manage sales, finance, marketing and supply chain functions, Payback producing high data QlikView enhances Within a year, SAB reported volumes across multiple SAB’s performance an exceptionally high return systems in a complex IT management on investment, due to users’ structure. culture. improved ability to control In this milieu, SAB Integrated reporting and manage information and struggled to measure and analysis tool provide their own reporting and manage output and delivers outstanding and analysis. perform data analysis. ROI. “Our intention when Business users employed purchasing QlikView was to various reporting tools provide superior customer to extract and analyse data, but these service and productivity in the business,” solutions proved complex and ineffective. says operations excellence manager Sean The company set out 18 months ago Milne. “We have achieved that as well to find a solution that would allow it to as an exceptional ROI through superior combine and analyse multiple data sets execution.” across different systems. The solution had to be easy to use, fast and insightful Beyond Operations in SAB’s ongoing quest to measure and QlikView has been accepted enterpriseimprove operational efficiency. It also had wide in SAB, with various other units to handle vast amounts of data. leveraging the experience of operations to launch their own BI projects. A random sample of depot managers responded as The Solution follows to the new tool: SAB evaluated QlikView and SAB’s “It has allowed us immediate access operations department did a proof of to data and analysis of our processes. concept (PoC) against the requirements Accountability is now much more defined.” and found that the solution outperformed “It gives us more in-depth analysis on the corporate IT alternative in terms a daily basis, and it is easier to trend KPIs of fit for purpose. After the PoC and detect potential problems early on.” demonstrations, test users indicated their “QlikView has been a massive time satisfaction with QlikView on all counts. saver, allowing us to be more responsive, SAB purchased 500 licences together flexible and strategic in our operation. It with the QlikView SAP Connector and has levelled the playing field by applying a proceeded to roll it out countrywide. single methodology across the business.”

User Reaction Users were impressed with the speed of implementation, saying the tool facilitated fast and accurate decisions and enabled root cause analyses on business issues. QlikView proved to be an excellent complement to SAB’s performance management culture and empowered users to develop and grow in their respective business areas by giving

The Future Through progressive planning and a vision on where they wanted their business to be, SAB was able to use the unique and powerful technology that exists within QlikView to give their users actionable intelligence. QlikView has found a quick adoption in other functional areas including planning and sales.

For more information, go to www.qlikview.co.za o c to b e r 2 010 t h i n k s a l e s . c o . z a

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ag e n da productivity

Put An End to Pointless Sales Meetings

Follow these pointers and transform your sales meetings into powerful strengths instead of ineffective team killers. By Paul McCord

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“P

aul,” said one of my coaching clients the other day, “I swear if I have to sit through another Monday morning sales meeting I’ll quit. They’re supposed to be an hour; they always last at least an hour and a half and often two hours. It’s nothing but a management bitch session and a bunch of side conversations with sales people about how crappy their performance is. I either quit or go on a rampage, and even though going on a rampage would be the more satisfying course of action, I’m not ready to go to prison – yet.” Richard has obviously sat through a great many of the same sales meetings I’ve sat through – and I’m sure that you’ve sat

through. In fact, I’m willing to bet a number of people who read this have never sat through a sales meeting that wasn’t as pointless, obnoxious, and downright insulting as the ones Richard has been sitting through. I’m also willing to bet that somewhere in the neighbourhood of 95% of all weekly sales meetings are absolutely, positively, without a doubt a waste of time. They don’t have to be. In fact, regular (regular does not necessarily mean weekly) sales meetings can be the backbone of creating a thriving, high production sales team. Most often, however, they are the ruination of the sales team. Weekly sales meetings have killed more


talent manager authority and respect than probably any other activity a manager engages in with the possible exception of the ride along. They have also driven a great number of high performers to the competition.

7 Rules for Creating Productive Sales Meetings

Sales Meeting Hell

1. No purpose, no meeting.

Sales people generally hate this weekly meandering through sales meeting hell and the accompanying glimpse into the hollow caverns of the sales management brain in stupefying inaction. Why? I believe there are four primary reasons sales meetings are such a waste of time and effort:

1. No Purpose A great many sales meetings are held for no reason other than that it’s Monday (or Friday, or whatever day of the week they are normally held on). Consequently, the meeting is destined to be a time waster. One time wasting meeting is bad enough, but I know of some companies that have three or even five of these meetings every week.

2. No Preparation Whoever is in charge of the meeting (generally the immediate manager of the assembled team) has invested not a single minute in preparing for the meeting. As they’re sitting down for the meeting, they take out a pen and jot down two or three things to talk about. The perfect setting for a waste of time.

3. Too Many Tangents Without having prepared for the meeting and knowing exactly what to deal with, it is easy for the manager to veer off onto tangents that ultimately have nothing to do with anything.

4. A Haven of Negativity Especially during times like the present when business is tough, unprepared managers tend to focus on trying to cajole numbers out of their team. People are put up for ridicule in front of peers because of poor numbers, they are forced to justify their performance, and the rest sit in silence, knowing their turn is next once the manager has finished “coaching” their current prey. Now not only is the meeting a waste of time, it is a real morale killer too.

What can managers do to make sales meetings valuable? Follow these simple rules:

Only hold meetings when there is a reason to hold a meeting. That may be once a month, once every two weeks, once a week, or as needed. The fact that the company has decided to no longer pay for coffee is not a reason for a meeting; that’s a memo. Reviewing the pre-call planning steps is a reason for a meeting.

2. No preparation, no meeting. If for any reason the person managing the meeting has not had time to thoroughly prepare, the meeting is cancelled. There is no excuse for wasting the team members’ time because the manager didn’t get their job done.

3. A sales meeting is not the place for individual coaching. A sales meeting is a group activity. Address the group’s needs and issues, not individual salespeople’s. There is no excuse for denigrating anyone in front of the group or for wasting the group’s time on individual coaching. Each team member should have coaching time scheduled outside the sales meeting. The rule is, if a meeting degenerates into individual coaching, the team members are free to leave (note, however, that answering a specific issue a team member has with the subject matter being discussed is not individual coaching).

4. Set a time limit, stick to it. Sales people need to be selling, not attending meetings. Under normal circumstances, sales meetings should be kept to an hour or less. Only under extraordinary circumstances should a meeting exceed an hour.

5. Objectives and structure. Your sales meetings should concentrate on helping team members sell. Reviewing market conditions; presenting new products or services; reviewing sales skills such as prospecting, making presentations, asking questions, precall planning, and the other aspects of selling and the sales process; role playing activities; and other core content should be at the heart of the meeting. Seller recognition and reinforcement should also be an integral aspect of your meetings. Leave the meeting on a high note, not a downer.

6. Don't waffle. Housekeeping notes and announcements should kept at a minimum – discarded completely and put into memos if at all possible.

7. Cull unnecessary meetings. Meetings are important, but too many meetings or too much wasted time turns what could be a valuable tool into a wrecking ball plowing through your team, leaving lifeless, dispirited bodies in its wake. If your meetings are disorganised, are designed to do little more than keep control of your sales people, or drag on incessantly, you’re killing your team, not building it. Soon you’ll actually see some smiles and enthusiasm on a Monday morning instead of the deadwood that drags itself into the meeting room.

Paul McCord is the author of two bestselling sales books: Creating a Million Dollar a Year Sales Income and SuperStar Selling. He has over 25 years of experience in sales and management experience across the sales world. His experience in training and consulting with companies of all sizes in a range of industries has given him a unique understanding of the problems, issues, and opportunities sales people, sales leaders and companies face. His client list includes General Electric, Microsoft, Siemens and Wells Fargo.

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ag e n da managing

Why Great Sales People Aren't Often Great Managers The single most common mistake that organisations make is promoting their number one sales person into the role of sales manager, thereby depriving themselves in a single stroke of their best producer and hamstringing their salesforce with an ineffective manager. By John Farrington

T

he skills required for managing, mentoring and developing a sales team are totally different from those required for selling. As a result, it’s not uncommon to find newly promoted sales managers who regret having taken a management position and may even leave to get back into sales.

Insufficient Time for Development The majority of sales managers – new and experienced alike – say they do not have sufficient time to train and develop their sales teams. They are so focused on sales results – and so accustomed to achieving success through their personal pursuit of those results – that they overlook their greatest potential

source of power, the power to increase sales performance by developing their people.

Developing Sales Managers Successful sales directors ensure that some sort of training and development programme is in place to help sales managers continually improve the way they coach and develop their teams. Equally important, top-performing sales directors look for ways to provide sales managers with the resources they need to perform effectively. This may mean, for example, giving managers tools with which to identify each individual sales person’s strengths and development areas, providing them with an easy-to-use framework to address development areas and, putting a


talent 8 reasons for failure 1. I ncorrect or no selection process results in the wrong person being appointed for the position 2. I ncorrect or no process for training results in an insufficiently developed sales manager 3. I ncorrect or no process for planning results in the expectation that sales managers do all of their own planning 4. I ncorrect or no process for supervision results in the sales manager being left without competent supervision 5. I ncorrect or no process for motivation results in the sales manager not being properly motivated to meet the objectives 6. I ncorrect or no process for stimulation results in inadequate incentives to stimulate results 7. Incorrect or no process for evaluation results in a lack of regular evaluation against agreed objectives 8. Incorrect or no process for executive action results in inadequate support by a competent manager

hiring

Fill Your Talent Pipeline Companies developing their talent pipeline are gaining momentum and are poised to come out on top. Will you be ready? By Les Gore For businesses and their hiring managers, the dent in the economy could mean finding top-notch talent who may have otherwise been unavailable. Here are five strong reasons why companies that want to come out on top will continue to develop their candidate pipeline. 1. Pipeline development is part of their growth strategy. You don’t wait until it snows to gather firewood, and these companies don’t wait until they need to hire to start identifying candidates who are equipped to be a part of their company’s success. 2. They know that long-term hiring success requires a process. It is a lot easier to keep a fire going than it is to start one, so these companies will start an ongoing dialogue with candidates with the intention of making an offer when the time is right. 3. A developed candidate pipeline removes major competition from the equation. When the time to hire arrives, these companies either have their offer prepared or they are at the top of the candidate’s mind. This reduces the chances of a salary war.

process in place that helps their team to implement new skills.

4. Having qualified candidates on hand minimises delays in production.

Opportunity to Make a Difference

managed candidate pipeline allows companies to rebound quickly and efficiently.

Every sales manager has a powerful role to play in developing and supporting their team members’ potential so that an increasing emphasis is placed on performance management to enable more sales people to achieve more of their potential. The attached sidebar illustrates eight key areas in which a sales manager has to identify, develop and motivate their sales team. A sales manager not 100% correctly profiled for a position and most importantly, not fully trained for the position, is doomed to fail. On the other hand, a competent sales manager has control over all of the factors outlined in the accompanying table, including the final one! Jonathan Farrington is a globally recognised business coach, author, consultant, and sales strategist, who has guided hundreds of companies and thousands of individuals towards optimum performance levels. He is the CEO of Top Sales Associates, Chairman of The JF Corporation and Senior Partner at the JF Consultancy based in London and Paris.

Sometimes unforeseen events can cause the ball to be dropped. A developed and

5. A company that is actively recruiting is considered a strong company. By continuing to engage prospective candidates, these companies strengthen their own company brand among others in their industry and remain aware of other trends within their market segment. Prepare your business for a talented future even as you take care of the hiring requirements of here and now. Building a successful team requires talent at multiple levels at multiple times including contingent labour. You may not be hiring all the "A" performers today, you just need to know where they are – have the tools in place to "call them up" when the time comes – and have an employer brand that will attract them to your roles instead of those of the competition. And while these five reasons may not cover everything, remember them the next time you hear “the economy” as the excuse for why people are not moving forward.

Les Gore is the Managing Partner of Executive Search International. He has over 25 years expereince in executive search and recruiting. Prior to forming Executive Search International in 1992, Gore spent 10 years as group vice president at the USA's largest search and recruiting organisation. His previous experience includes management positions with J. Walter Thompson Co. and General Electric.

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ag e n da results

measurable statistic. Needless to say, gut instinct does not belong in a sales metric management system. There needs to be a way to track the data easily and efficiently. For example, if you wanted to track the number of outbound calls made by your sales team, but that data was not tracked anywhere, you would not be able to measure it. Thus, outbound calls would not be part of your sales metric management system as it is not measurable. Identify other data points that reflect performance that is measurable. If you find that many of the areas you want to measure are not measurable, you may need to address your CRM. It may need to be reconfigured or replaced altogether.

Sales Metric Management System Every sales manager is searching for revenue from their salesforce, but the recipe to achieving the revenue target comes from the development of their unique sales metric management system. By Lee Salz

T

hinking back to one of the great cult films of the 1980s‌ Caddyshack. There is a conversation between Ty Webb (Chevy Chase) and Judge Smails (Ted Knight) in the locker room after Ty has just finished a round of golf. Judge Smails asks Ty what he shot that day and Ty responds by telling the Judge that he doesn't keep score. Puzzled, Judge Smails says, "How do you measure yourself with other golfers?" Ty responds by saying, "By height." Obviously, height doesn't tell you anything about a golfer's performance which is what makes the dialogue humorous. Yet, there is nothing funny about a sales organisation that is using meaningless, arbitrary data to assess the performance of their sales team. Even worse is if the only number tracked, measured, and monitored is revenue quota attainment. When I conduct workshops on building a sales metric management system, the first metric that the group usually mentions 4 2  t h i n k s a l e s . c o . z a o c to b e r 2 010

for inclusion is revenue. Revenue is not a metric. It is a result. There is nothing that sales managers can do to address revenue. They can, however, work with a sales person on specific activity levels that lead to quota attainment. In essence, the statistical components of your sales metric management system create a success roadmap for your sales people. If they are achieving the metrics in the system, they will be blowing out their revenue targets.

Design Your System There are four steps to identifying the metrics for your sales metric management system.

1. Measurable If the area of the business you want to affect cannot be measured statistically, then how will you know whether or not it is working? This seems like circular logic, but I often hear about "trusting your gut" as a

When I conduct workshops on building a sales metric management system, the first metric that the group usually mentions for inclusion is revenue. Revenue is not a metric. It is a result. There is nothing that sales managers can do to address revenue. They can, however, work with a sales person on specific activity levels that lead to quota attainment.

2. Meaningful Just because you can measure a data point, it doesn't mean that it belongs in your sales metric management system. Like sports, there is no end to the data that can be measured in a sales organisation. I recall my time as a sales management executive where on any given day I could put together a series of data that would support promoting or firing any member of the sales team... including myself. The key is to select the most critical activities that drive the sales person's success and include those in your sales metric management system. For each metric, ask yourself what that data tells you relative to the sales person achieving their revenue goal. The meaningful ones go in your system while the others are cast aside.


talent 3. Goal-oriented Statistics without goals tell you very little about performance. Each statistical component of your sales metric management system needs to have a corresponding goal. When performance discussions take place with the sales person, their performance versus goal achievement serves as the focus of the agenda. This is a significant change from the typical discussions that are focused on whether or not sales quota was attained. When setting the goal levels for your sales metric management system, there is an important consideration. Remembering back to report cards from school, students achieved a letter grade based on their performance. A few kids received an "A" which meant they had delivered a stellar performance. However, average performance reflected a "C" on the report card. If your sales person achieved the goal for a particular metric, what does that mean? Was their performance exceptional? Or did they perform at the mere minimum acceptable level to keep their job? If you set your goal levels so that they mean A-level performance, you should expect few of your sales people to hit them. If you set them at the C-level, you are establishing the baseline for minimum acceptable performance. There isn't a right or wrong approach between the "A" and "C" philosophies. The key is to select one, understand its meaning relative to performance and handle achievement accordingly.

4. Trainable The final component is to identify the mentoring that can be provided to a sales person who is not achieving a defined metric in the system. Since the metrics that you are managing are critical to a sales person's success (meaningful), deficiencies cannot be left unaddressed. When you identify each metric for the system, if a sales person is not achieving it, what potential weaknesses does it expose in their arsenal? As a sales manager, you can then begin digging to determine the root cause and help the sales person improve. Just as many think that revenue is a metric, many think that if a sales person is failing to achieve their revenue quota that they cannot close. It's possible that closing is the issue. However, if you have your sales metric management system in place, you may find that closing isn't the issue at all. Perhaps the sales person doesn't have enough activity in their pipeline. Or, that they struggle to move prospects through the buying process. Or, any of countless other possible deficiencies. Managers who have their sales metric management system in place can quickly identify the problem area and address it.

Where to Invest Selling Time Designing your sales metric management system well positions you to create an effective sales compensation plan. Remember, your sales compensation plan tells your sales people where to invest their selling time. Thus the compensation plan reinforces your sales metric management system. Lee Salz is a sales management strategist. He is the President of Sales Architects and author of the award-winning book Soar Despite Your Dodo Sales Manager. Coming soon is Salz's new book The Sales Marriage... How to Hire and On-Board the Right Sales People. He is a results-driven sales management consultant and a passionate, dynamic speaker.

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ag e n da motivation

Creating Inventive Incentives Among the many elements of sales management, incentives are fundamental. They can serve many useful purposes by motivating the salesforce, improving performance in specific product or service areas, or even moving the business in a new direction. By Ivor Jones

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hen I was appointed national sales manager of business credit information company Dun & Bradstreet South Africa, the company won the Hemispheric Sales Competition (a worldwide sales competition) for three consecutive years from 1976 to 1978. I put that victory down to what was probably the best sales incentive scheme that had ever been run in that industry. What’s fascinating is that the rules that applied then continue to this day. The environment at the time was extremely competitive. Sales people in their late 20s were earning almost as much as the MD in incentives and commission. As they reached their targets, the escalating commission structure ensured that they earned even more. The company conducted ongoing incentive programmes. Depending on what outcome we were looking for we would use various structures to encourage our sales people to deliver the desired results. The appropriate type and structure of each incentive programme was dictated entirely by business strategy and objectives.

Finding the Big Idea The competition had countries and regions competing against each other. Determined to win, we devised a scheme that was exciting and practically unheard of in South Africa. We asked our salespeople what they believed would be a truly exotic holiday destination, and they decided on Hong Kong. We agreed that the best sales performers against budget would win an all-expenses paid trip for two to the city. At that time, 4 4 » t h i n k s a l e s . c o . z a o c to b e r 2 010

travel was not common, the destination was completely out of the ordinary, and the rand value of the trip was high.

Keeping the Dream Alive The entire competition was Chinese-themed and comprised several components. Monthly “sprints” were targeted at the sales of a particular product. Winners were announced at the office – the walls decorated with posters of all the sights in Hong Kong – and Chinese take-aways and fortune cookies were ordered. The qualifiers and their partners were taken to a Chinese restaurant. These dinners were festive and added to the creation of a wonderful vibe in the company. Creating ongoing interest was key. There had to be smaller incentives along the way, from the time the programme launched to its conclusion. We also targeted spouses, boyfriends and girlfriends. Beautifully wrapped, elaborate parcels were delivered to them, each containing one chopstick or one silk slipper. The other would be sent to our salesperson. That worked exceptionally well because we were encouraging the partners to egg on our sales people. They’d go home and say: “Are we winning? You’d better get out there and sell!”

Setting Achievable Goals The top performers reached their budgets and then exceeded them by massive margins, closing so many new deals that the cost of the prizes was liquidated. In an annuity business, with an 85% renewal rate, we were prepared to give away the profits achieved in the first year, writing that off to the cost of acquiring the customer.


talent

The best move we made was to open the incentive up and put the goals within reach of the entire team. Give away more money, create more spirit, close more deals. That’s how it works. The greatest mistake companies make is that most set the bar too high. Set realistic targets and then stretch them slightly, so that even the juniors can achieve them. This is critical. The budgets we set were attainable. If no-one can achieve targets, instead of trying to, they just become demoralised and your sales figures may actually drop. We knew we were growing by about 25% per year, so that’s the margin we added.

Be Clear in Determining and Communicating Your Goals You have to be clear and realistic about what you want to achieve. Goals cannot be vague, and the goalposts must never be changed once they have been set. This will demotivate top performers and set a precedent indicating that the company does not live up to its word. Once you are clear about your objectives, decide how much you are prepared to spend to achieve them. That’s how you define the budget.

Applying the Lesson Ongoing incentives drive sales. It’s even more critical in tough times to ensure that targets are met. There are many things that can be done on a limited budget. Start by identifying what would wow the sales team. Depending on what’s going on in their lives, some people may prefer money to prizes. Always be prepared to give them the cash value of the incentive. It does not always have to be about huge prizes. We used to give our top performer a Kruger rand. This was presented at a gala dinner, where the top sales person shared a raised table with the non-executive directors and was feted for the evening. The top sales person had already made thousands on commission. Yet, the event and the handing over of this small prize gave him/her the recognition they craved Ivor Jones, Chairman of ThinkSales Corporation, was employed by Dun & Bradstreet from 1972 to 1981. In 1982 he launched KreditInform, building it into South Africa’s largest business-to-business credit management solutions company. It was sold to Experian in 2008. He is passionate about sales and is also a true entrepreneur who has invested in, bought and sold a number of successful companies.

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ag e n da connect

Six Principles for Cold Calling Learn how to differentiate yourself as a value creator rather than a time waster. By Anthony Iannarino 1. You are going to hear no. Don’t believe it means anything. Your dream clients and prospects get hundreds of calls from sales people. They have no way of knowing who is worth spending time with and who is not worth spending their time with. When faced with this dilemma, they make the easiest choice: they say no. They don’t just tell you no. They don’t just give you an objection. They give almost everyone the same no and the same objection because it works. The objection prevents them from having to spend their time with sales people who are wholly unprepared to create any value for them. Those who are great at cold calling and telemarketing do not attach any meaning to the word no or to the objection that they receive. They do not feel as if they have been rejected. They don’t believe that the word no or the dream client’s objection is some insurmountable obstacle to making 4 6 » t h i n k s a l e s . c o . z a o c to b e r 2 010

an appointment. They don’t believe that it means that they have failed. They attach no meaning to it at all. To succeed at cold calling you have to know that the first answer to a request is going to be no and that it doesn’t mean anything about you, about their need for you or your service, or about your chance of gaining an appointment. It is simply part of the dance.

2. Your prospect receives lots of calls. You have to differentiate yourself. Your dream client cannot tell from a telemarketing cold call who is worth seeing and who isn’t worth seeing. In order to gain their attention, you have to differentiate yourself from your many competitors. A lot of companies treat all of their providers and partners as commodities, which means one of us is as good as the next – even when this is not true!

During your call, you only have two tools that you can use to differentiate yourself from your competitors: the language choices that you make and what you personally bring to the call. If your language choices are the same as all of your competitors, you are not going to be perceived as being different. If the way you say what you say makes you sound like you are not passionate, excited, interesting, or that you do not have the ability to make a difference, you will not differentiate yourself. Your competitors are trying to sound professional. You need to sound different. Being real, being conversational, and being authentic will help you differentiate yourself. If you do not sound like you are passionate about meeting with them and helping them, how do you expect them to be passionate about meeting with you and giving you their time? You still need to have the business acumen to talk about your dream client’s challenges in a meaningful way, but authenticity and professionalism are not mutually exclusive. Authenticity is enabled by confidence. Be yourself (and be a confident you).

3. You have to prove you are a value creator. Not a time waster. Your dream client has allowed her time to be wasted by sales people in the past. Your call is already suspect; your dream clients believe that you will waste their time and that you are not a value creator. You have one chance to make a first impression, and you have to say something that proves that you know that it is your job to help them achieve a better outcome than they are presently achieving. You have to say something that indicates that you know that you own that better outcome. If you say: “I’d like to stop by and introduce myself and my service,” you have said nothing that indicates that you intend to create value. If instead you say: “I’d like to sit down with you for fifteen minutes to see how we might be able to help reduce your overall cost of _______ and improve your ___ ____ results,” you sound like a value creator.

4. You are already using a script. Write a better one. Even if you don’t use a written script, chances


TECHNIQUE are you are saying about the same thing on every call that you make. Improving your script improves your results. It is tremendously helpful to go through the act of writing down what you intend to say before you say it. It helps build the language into your nervous system; it makes the language part of you. Writing down what you intend to say also prevents you from having to read it from a piece of paper. By writing your script, utilising it in practice, discerning what works and what doesn’t, and then re-writing your script, you build greater confidence and competency. You should also write down all of the common objections and concerns you hear from your dream clients so that you can have prepared, effective language choices.

You have to know that the first answer to a request is going to be no and that it doesn’t mean anything about you, about their need for you or your service, or about your chance of gaining an appointment. It is simply part of the dance.

5. Your goal is an appointment. Nothing else. Your goal is not a conversation. Your goal is not a needs analysis. Your goal is not a presentation. Your goal is simply an appointment, nothing else. All questions that would lead to a conversation need to be responded to in a way that instead leads to an appointment. You hear: “What makes you different?” You say: “We have six fundamental things that make us different and that make a difference for our clients, including proprietary service offerings that only we have. I’ll make

factors to consider 1. What meaning do you attach the word no? 2. How do you differentiate your call from the hundreds or more calls your dream client receives every year? 3. What do you say to ensure that the recipient of your call knows for certain that you are a value creator and not a time waster? 4. Could your cold calling be improved by taking the time to choose more effective language? Could it be more effective if you spent, say, two hours writing out what you really want to convey? 5. Are your cold calls really long conversations that would be more powerful if held face to face? Are you trying to create the value of a needs analysis on the telephone instead of scheduling an appointment? 6. Are you willing to push in order to get the appointment that you need? Is a quarterly phone message really indicative of your strong desire to perform for your dream client?

sure I am prepared to show you how we put these six ideas to work for our clients. What does next Thursday afternoon at 2:00 pm look like?” If you answer the questions without leading the conversation towards committing to an appointment, you are arming your dream client with the information they need to say no. You are giving them enough to say that your answer isn’t enough for them to want to change right now. You cannot sell without first understanding your client’s needs and their dissatisfaction. However, the cold call is not the place to conduct that needs analysis. The more questions you ask, and the deeper you get into a conversation, the less it becomes necessary for your dream client to meet with you. In B2B sales, to always be closing is problematic; especially when not enough time, trust, or value has been created to deserve the close. But when it comes to cold calling, to always be closing is the rule. In order to create an opportunity, you have to first get in.

If you really want the appointment, you are going to have to push. You are going to have to call more frequently than feels comfortable to you. You are going to have to ask for the appointment more times than feels comfortable to you. You are going to have to be persistent and resilient. Persistence means that you don’t accept no for an answer and you keep trying. Resilient means that you bounce back from the no to try again, without allowing the answer no to discourage you in any way. You are going to have to push. You are going to have to ask for the appointment more than once each time you connect with your decision-maker or decision-influencer. If you really want the appointment, you have to behave as if you really want the appointment.

Conclusion Many sales people are challenged by having to make cold calls. But there are some principles that, if taken to heart and adopted into your practice, can make your cold calling a lot more effective.

6. You are going to have to push if you want an appointment. It will not be often that you reach the contact you need on your first call, or that you get an appointment the first time you reach your decision-maker or decision-influencer. It will not be often that you get an appointment the first time you ask for one.

Anthony Iannarino is the President and Chief Sales Officer for SOLUTIONS Staffing, and the MD of B2B Sales Coach & Consultancy, a boutique sales coaching and consulting company. He is also an adjunct faculty member at Capital University’s School of Management and Leadership where he teaches Persuasive Marketing and Social Media Marketing in the MBA programme.

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concerns are and what I’m trying to get at. A really good rep can actually help you understand what you’re looking for. People who run businesses don’t always know where their market is. A good rep can actually say: ‘How about going in this direction?’ They see a lot of different businesses in my industry. They might have a better understanding than I do of what motivates my customers to buy. I need them to help me understand these things.”

From Sales Rep to Solutions Provider Customers want sales people to realise they are not just selling products or services, they are selling solutions to problems. Customers appreciate sales people who are creative and innovative, and who can think “outside the box.” By Barry Farber

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here’s no better judge of a sales person’s performance than his or her customers. These tips and tools from my book Sales Secrets From Your Customers, emanate from hundreds of interviews conducted with customers – to find out what sales people were doing right and wrong.

Customer Interview 1 “The best sales rep I know is a woman who’s become a resource for me in a variety of areas. I use her on a consultative basis, almost. She helps me evaluate opportunities. Not only with her product – she’s a constant fountain of information in trying to find different ways to portray my point of view to the market. I never get the feeling that she’s just selling me something; she’s interested in my success.”

Customer Interview 2 “Our company feels that we are partners with our customers. The better we work as partners, the longer-term we’re going to do business and the more business we’re going to do. If a sales person approaches me in that fashion, I can be a very loyal guy. I know I can use a rep as a consultant when I’m sitting 4 8 » t h i n k s a l e s . c o . z a o c to b e r 2 010

Customer Interview 4 “With some reps, it’s obvious that they’re only interested in the rand amount of the sale. They’re not interested in trying to promote your business. A good rep approaches the sales from what you need to get your business going. They’ll often help you by showing you examples of what other people have done to be successful. They’re not after the quick sale, they want a long-term relationship. They help you come up with the ideas that are outside of their product or service. Unfortunately, with most reps you get the feeling they’re more self-serving than customer-serving.”

Key Points From Customer Interviews: across the desk from him and I ask him a question, and I don’t get a chapter and verse about his product – I get a chapter and verse on what’s in my best interest based on his experience in the marketplace.”

Customer Interview 3 “I need a rep who understands what my

1. Create Customer Partnerships There’s a saying that, if customers were just buying price and product, we could just hire brochures as sales people and send them out. One of the most valuable assets a sales person has is the ability to create partnerships with their customers. That means keeping the

Solutions action steps Dive in with enthusiasm and effort. Dive into your own products and services and what they have to offer. With equal energy, explore the customer’s business so that between the two you can come up with innovative, exciting solutions that will benefit your company and his. Keep your mind open. “The way things have always been done” may not be the best way to solve your customers’ problems. Instead of saying: “It can’t be done,” ask yourself, “why not?” Ask yourself: “What resources do I have available to influence the customer’s bottom line?” Start thinking outside the confines of your own product or service. Who do you know who might be able to help? How can you put the customer in touch with another supplier who might have the solution – even if it’s the competition? What would be the ideal solution to this problem, and how close can you come to making that happen?


technique performing

customers’ overall business goals in mind and helping them find new resources whenever necessary. It may mean recommending a competitor on occasion if your company or product can’t do the job. It means knowing your product so well that you know every conceivable application and adaptation possible. It means using your imagination to come up with ways to improve your customers’ bottom lines (and thereby improve your own.)

2. Create Added Value

5 Steps for Successful Role Playing Role playing: love it or hate it, it’s a part of sales, a part of acting and a part of life! By Julie Hansen Results-oriented role playing turns this dreaded practice into a successful tool that produces results – as opposed to just an exercise to please your sales manager. Take a look at the following examples of results-oriented role playing in Hollywood and in business:

Role Playing in Hollywood

When I’m setting up a sales training programme for a company, I usually have contact with several different people in the organisation. At one of my accounts, I had the opportunity to talk to the person who books the seminars for this company. Her job is to find space for the seminars, book hotels, arrange transportation, etc. I remember I once spent an hour on the phone with her teaching her how to negotiate with hotels to get better room rates. This was helpful to her, because when the time came for her review she could show her supervisor documented evidence of how she saved the company thousands of rands; it was good for the company and it was good for me because she told her supervisors what I had done which then provided added value beyond the training.

During rehearsals for Kiss of the Spider Woman, the lead actors, William Hurt and

3. Exceed Your Customers’ Expectations

being with real feelings, thoughts and goals, not some Avatar sent to make your

Sales training expert Tony Parinello recommends that sales people help their customers in three areas. He suggests that sales people should offer ideas on: 1. How to help the customer drive revenue 2. How the customer can maintain their customer base. If you have some ideas on how to help a customer hold on to their hard-earned market share, you’re going to earn your right to stay there. 3. How to add business from their existing customers. “As a sales rep,” says Parinello, “you need to be able to out-deliver, out-perform and exceed your customers’ expectations in these three basic areas.” Barry Farber consults with a variety of industries helping them break through the sales clutter and land more deals. He is the best-selling author of 11 books, translated into 25 languages, with over one million copies sold – including Superstar Sales Manager’s Secrets. Farber has trained over 300 000 sales people and his clients include AT&T, American Express, ESPN/ABC Sports, Merck, UPS and Verizon.

Raul Julia, were having trouble establishing a relationship; Hurt’s character, a sensitive, flamboyant homosexual, shared little common ground with Raul Julia’s homophobic revolutionary. To better understand each other’s character, Hurt suggested they rehearse by switching roles. The performance resulted in an Oscar for both Hurt and the film.

Role Playing in Business Bob finds his client Cynthia’s demands irrational and unachievable. Using the five steps below, Bob prepares to role play the part of Cynthia with a colleague and discovers what may be the real motivation behind her demands. Armed with a newfound understanding of Cynthia’s point-of-view, Bob is able to address his client’s concerns and close the sale.

5 Steps for Results-Oriented Role Playing 1. Throw out preconceived ideas about your client. Remember, they are a human job more difficult. 2. Make a list of your client’s goals. Are they extremely value conscious? Trying to please a superior, avoid a mistake or save their job? 3. Personally identify with your client. Take everything you know about your client and find intersecting areas. Do you share strong family values? A good sense of humor? A need to be right? 4. Forget what you know about your product/service. That’s right. Forget it. Put aside all the numbers, the percentages, the market shares and create an open slate. Even if your client knows more than nothing, it will be closer to reality than you think. 5. Use the magic “If” to step into your client’s shoes. This valuable acting technique will change the way you role play. With all the preparation you’ve done in the prior steps, you are now ready to jump into your client’s role by asking yourself: “What would I do if I were really in this situation?” Julie Hansen is a dynamic consultant, speaker and author. She trains sales people how to communicate more persuasively and effectively using strategic acting techniques. Julie is the author of ACT Like a Sales Pro: How to Command the Business Stage and Dramatically Increase Sales Using Proven Acting Techniques. Prior to founding Acting for Sales, she was an award-winning sales producer in media, publishing and real estate, as well as director of sales for The National Enquirer and STAR Magazine.

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The Seven-Question Prospect Interview Master the art of effective probing. By Landy Chase

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ecause, in the competitive sale, the prospect has initiated an inquiry, your decision-maker has a built-in reason to cooperate with your need for information. While they rarely volunteer details, they are almost always cooperative when asked for them. In fact, the opening situation – where they, by contacting you, have demonstrated interest in a discussion – provides you a gilded invitation to collect information for your initial meeting. This is a huge opportunity if it is handled properly. The key here, given that we have limited time on the phone, is to ask the right questions – in the right order – to learn as much as possible about the current state of the buyer. Most formal requests for proposals (RFPs) provide a contact person for questions. Whether responding to a RFP or handling an incoming phone call, the request should be as follows: “To make the best use of your time, do you have a moment to answer a few questions for me?” Because of the pre-established interest of the prospect, the response you will get is, “sure, what would you like to know?” Once you get this response, follow this seven-question sequence to lay the foundation for your strategy.

1. How did you hear about us? Predators always keep close tabs on where their leads are coming from. Enough said.

3. What else can you tell me about what you are looking for? This is often the most important question of the initial interview; this additional “dig” for more information can provide crucial 50 » t h i n k s a l e s . c o . z a o c to b e r 2 010

As we will discuss later, there is almost never a single person who buys without the input of others. It is critical that you identify this “inner circle” as quickly as possible. Don’t be afraid to press for detail – “and what role does _____ have?” – and take notes!

6. What is your role in this process? This will usually clarify the level of influence that your initial contact has in the buying process. The most common response is “my job is to gather information for them.”

7. What is your time-frame for making a decision?

details. In most cases, it will provide you with secondary data about the desired outcomes of the prospect – details that your competitors will usually miss.

4. What other options are you considering? This is a subtle and non-threatening way of asking “who is my competition?” Granted, they may refuse to share this with you – but that rarely happens. Worst case, they will not mind your asking. If you learn that competitors are being considered, immediately add the two “bonus” questions below:

4a. Where are you in your meetings with them? This establishes pecking order. You will usually learn where you fall in the sequence of evaluating options, as well as how far along the prospect is in the decision process. If they have already met with your competition, add the question below:

2. What prompted you to contact us? This will provide you with the dominant buying motive – the primary reason for the action taken in contacting you. Let them talk – and take notes.

5. What is your decision process, and who else will be involved?

4b. What have you liked, and not liked, about what you’ve seen so far? Again, they don’t have to tell you this information – but what is the harm in asking? You might hit the jackpot. I once asked a prospect this question about one of my competitors and his response was, “I disliked his presentation, and his pricing was out of line.” Would you find this information useful? I did – and it helped me to easily land the account.

This is an excellent question to establish the interest level of the buyer, and, incidentally, the quality of the lead. “We have to make a decision by __” indicates a high-quality opportunity. “We are in no hurry” obviously indicates otherwise. “I’m not sure” translates to “I’m not high enough in our organisation to know.” As the result of this brief fact-finding mission, you now know: n What marketing channel brought the prospect to you n What the buyer’s dominant buying motive is n Secondary details regarding what they are looking for n Who your competition is n Where the prospect is in terms of their buying timeline, as well as your location as you enter the opportunity n Their initial assessment of your competitors n Their sense of urgency regarding the decision process By asking these questions, you come across as being well organised, knowledgeable, and professional. Most people will be impressed with the way you conduct this interview. First impressions are important – and following this sequence allows you to put your best foot forward. Also, be aware that it is highly unlikely that your competition will ask for this information. Because you did, you will begin the selling process armed with information that they simply do not initially have. And by the time they get it – if they do at all – it is often too late. Landy Chase is a sales consultant, trainer and author. Chase has formal experience as a National Sales Trainer for a two-billion-dollar service provider. His latest book is Competitive Selling. He is ranked as one of the top sales trainers in the USA.


technique Coach

Close the Gaps in Performance Coaching provides the opportunity to build the sales person’s competence and their situational knowledge. By Anthony Iannarino

greater likelihood of closing. It moves their attention to deals where real value can be created.

3. Closing the Value Creation Gap.

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o sales process is perfect. In fact, they aren’t supposed to be. The sales process is a road map that can be followed, marking the milestones that need to be accomplished on the way to a deal. Regardless of the process, the sales organisation still needs to be passionately engaged in advancing the sale. This means coaching the individual sales opportunities. The first step to improving performance is to identify the gaps. Coaching opportunities allows the sales person and her sales manager to identify gaps. These gaps fall into two categories, sales process gaps and sales performance gaps. Is it a process gap? Sales processes, like any other business process, need an expiration date. You need to take a look at your process, identify areas that are not effective, work to understand why they are no longer effective, and make changes that will allow your sales process to generate better results. Coaching the opportunities in the sales pipeline can help reveal these gaps in the sales process. Looking at the individual opportunities can help discover the sticking points that exist for multiple reps, regardless of their performance. If the best performing reps are struggling to move opportunities from one specific stage to the next, it may indicate a process problem. But more often than not, the gaps in performance are not process gaps. Most of the time, the gaps are in our performance as sales people.

1. Closing the Performance Gap. Coaching the individual opportunities in the pipeline often reveals gaps in our performance as sales people. Most of the time, these gaps occur because we simply fail to execute the fundamentals required to sell successfully, regardless of the process.

Coaching provides an opportunity to When coaching the salesperson on identify ways to move from one stage to their opportunities in real time, it is easy to the next when the outcome doesn’t meet discover that they are calling on prospects the prospect’s needs and when insufficient that are not qualified, that they haven’t value has been created. Sometimes the developed the right team to form the client’s situation is unique enough that what consensus necessary to move is normally effective in creating a deal forward, that they value isn’t enough for the client Practical have failed to do an effective to justify moving forward in Training Worksheet needs-analysis that reveals the process. Coaching to the Overleaf the dissatisfaction necessary opportunity allows the coach to change, that they haven’t and the sales person to exercise created enough value on each call to justify the creative resourcefulness (that all sales a commitment to move forward, and that organisations need to succeed) by creating they have failed to ask for or obtain the interactions with their clients that create commitments necessary to move forward. enough value to move the deal forward. Coaching on the sales performance builds the salesperson’s competency, as Moving The Deal Forward well as their situational knowledge. It builds The role of leadership in any organisation is to a framework around how and what to think remove the obstacles and barriers to success. about their performance. In more cases than not, the resources, the ideas, the customisations, and the changes that create enough value to move the deal 2. Closing the Qualification Gap. forward can be discovered and modifications Coaching the sales person’s opportunities can be made. provides a way to review the previous stages of the deal, and in some cases to disqualify Anthony Iannarino is the President and the prospect when it is clear that you cannot Chief Sales Officer for SOLUTIONS Staffing, create the value necessary to win the deal, and the MD of B2B Sales Coach & Consultancy, or when the prospect doesn’t meet your a boutique sales coaching and consulting company. He is also an adjunct faculty member at qualifying conditions. Eliminating these Capital University’s School of Management and prospects allows the sales person to focus Leadership where he teaches Persuasive Marketing and Social Media their time and attention on deals with a Marketing in the MBA programme.

points to consider 1. What are the differences between managing and coaching? 2. Are the gaps in your sales performance sales process gaps, or sales performance gaps? 3. Can you identify the gaps as a certain failure of a fundamental of sales performance? 4. When coaching, can you develop new ways to create value for your prospects on every call and, by doing so, make it easier to obtain commitments? 5. How can you use coaching to improve your ability to master the sales process, the sales fundamentals, and to build your (or your team’s) situational knowledge?

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training worksheet

Coaching Sessions: Close the Gaps in Performance These coaching worksheets prepared by the ThinkSales team are based on the article on page 51 written by Anthony Iannarino. • Outcome: • Number Sessions: • Key:

Improved pipeline opportunity analysis Minimum two sessions of 1-1,5 hours each SD: Sales Director; SM: Sales Manager; SE: Sales Executive

The Challenge Ensuring the SE calls on (1) prospects who are qualified, (2) that they have developed the right team needed to move a deal forward, (3) that they have conducted an effective needs-analysis that reveals the dissatisfaction necessary to change, (4) that they have created enough value to justify a commitment to move forward and (5) that they have obtained the commitments necessary to move the deal forward.

The Coaching Session Session Requirements 1. A copy of Worksheet 1 (Download from www.thinksales.co.za) 2. A copy of Worksheet 2 (Download from www.thinksales.co.za) Note: Must not be handed to SE until Worksheet 1 is completed 3. A note book 4. SE current top five prospects – defined by the SE (no influence by the SD/SM)

Coaching Worksheet 1 STEP 1 The answers to the questions below must be written down by the sales executives before they are exposed to Worksheet 2 1. How many prospects were seen during the past 10 working days? 2. How many were pre-qualified before the meeting took place? 3. How many do they believe they will close? 4. Closing prediction percentage (Point 3 answer relative to Point 1's answer)

______ ______ ______ ______

STEP 2 The SE selects their 5 top prospects and lists them with a likelihood of closing percentage prediction Prospect _______________________ _______________________ _______________________ _______________________ _______________________

Deal likelihood ____________% ____________% ____________% ____________% ____________%

Likelihood of Closing Prediction Scale • 10% - 30%

Highly unlikely to close. No need (pain) at all

• 40% - 50%

Very early on in cycle. Some need (pain) created and identified

• 70% - 80%

Pain (need) created and prospect has asked for more information/proposal

• 90%

The prospect has requested an order. Just awaiting signature.

• 100%

Paperwork completed. The deal was signed

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technique

Coaching Worksheet 2 Notes to Worksheet 2: 1. The SD or SM needs to have completed Worksheet 2 with their answers to Steps 1-5 below prior to the training session 2. The SE has to complete a Worksheet 2 per top 5 prospects identified in Worksheet 1

STEP1 What did the SE do to pre-qualify this prospect? Minimum 3 points • Coaching Session: The SD/SM & SE team discuss the various points and gain consensus on what ‘good pre-qualification’ looks like. The SE re-evaluates their own answers.

STEP 2 What did the SE do to ensure they have the right team assembled to potentially move the deal forward? Minimum 3 points • Coaching Session: The SD/SM & SE team discuss the various points and gain consensus on what is meant by ‘assembling the right team’. The SE re-evaluates their own answers.

STEP 3 How did the SE conduct an effective needs-analysis that reveals the dissatisfaction necessary to change? Minimum 3 points • Coaching Session: The SD/SM & SE team discuss the various points and gain consensus on what is meant by ‘conducting an effective needs-analysis’. The SE re-evaluates their own answers.

STEP 4 How did the SE create enough value to justify a commitment to move forward? Minimum 3 points • Coaching Session: The SD/SM & SE team re-confirm the value proposition of their product/service. What are the 1-2 ‘silver bullets’ of your selling proposition? How does it stand unique against the competitors? Based on this discussion, did the SE clearly identify the prospect’s need and then illustrate your company's solution value to make the prospect want to move forward? • Idea: Break the SE team into groups to list the competitors and identify their strengths and weaknesses. Bring the groups together to compare notes and document the analysis

STEP 5 What necessary commitments has the SE obtained to move the deal forward? Minimum 3 points • Coaching Session: The SD/SM & SE team discuss what is meant by ‘commitment to move the deal forward’. The SE re-evaluates their own answers. • Role Play: The SE team work in pairs to assess each other’s point/s.

STEP 6 Based on the answers to each of the previous five steps, the SE re-evaluates their ‘closure prediction’ percentage. • Coaching Session: The SE re-evaluates the ‘likely to close prediction’ percentages from pre-coaching to post-coaching. The exercise is completed for each of the five prospects selected by the SE.

Outcome Summary These 2-3 coaching sessions (depending on the speed of your sessions) programme will assist in building the sales executive’s competence. In particular their ability to qualify prospects, develop the right team needed to move a deal forward, conduct an effective needs-analysis that reveals the dissatisfaction necessary for the prospect to change, ensure they create enough value to justify a commitment to move forward and that they have obtained the commitments necessary to move the deal forward.

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The ultimately accountable job Leading Today’s Sales Organisation

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New demands from customers, rivals, the CEO, and the sales organisation itself are changing what it takes to succeed as head of sales. By Jerome Colletti & Mary Fiss

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hese days, when it comes to thinking about sales leadership, most executives just don’t get it. Even chief executive officers who recognise that the sales organisation drives top-line growth often have an incomplete notion of the sales director’s job. Sure, they understand that leading the modern sales organisation takes much more than motivating and managing sales people. In recent years, sales directors and in many cases sales managers have had to devote considerable time and energy to establishing and maintaining disciplined sales processes, including everything from customer segmentation to sales staff compensation. Given the complexity of those processes, even well-run sales departments have to work hard to get them all operating smoothly. But many sales leaders stop there – and they can’t afford to. The heightened expectations of customers, peer executives in other functions, and the salesforce itself require the head of sales to shoulder new responsibilities, ones that have changed the job almost beyond recognition from what it was 20 years ago. In this article, which is based on our work with a wide range of sales organisations in more than 20 industries, plus more than a dozen indepth interviews with sales directors, executives who manage sales directors and sales leadership consultants, we first look at the ways in which the business environment has changed the sales leader’s job. We then describe the new roles that sales leaders increasingly must play. This expanded job profile can be used as a template by those who want to excel in the position and by the CEOs responsible for hiring the best people to fill it.

New Environment

Examine the calendar of any successful chief sales officer, and you’ll see how complex the job has become. (For an example, see the exhibit “A Week in the Life of Ben Bulkley.”) That complexity stems from the following changes, which have affected sales activities at most major companies.

Customers have gained power. It’s no secret that in many industries, supply outstrips demand. Customers have more choices and more information, thanks largely to the Internet, about what they can buy and how they can buy it. The shift in power from sellers to buyers has made customers demand more of their suppliers and the buying experience.

Customers have gone global. The globalisation of business has made the structure of many sales organisations (those with a regional or national focus) outdated. Suppliers have to be sure their organisations mesh with their customers’ global orientation and sourcing processes. This is particularly true of global organisations; a corporate customer making a purchase decision in Johannesburg or Cape Town* is doing so on behalf of their global organisation.

Channels have proliferated. At one time the direct sales force was the sales organisation. Today, most companies, regardless of size, go to market through multiple channels. The sales organisation may comprise not only people employed by the company such as field sales, telesales and online sales people but also those outside the company, including partners and resellers.

More product companies sell services. Whether wrapped around or embedded in products, complementary services have become a way to enhance or simply maintain a product’s competitive edge. Selling these services calls for a special mindset. “The holistic approach required to seamlessly package products and services together is very different from the traditional selling of product,” explains Greg Shortell, the president and CEO of Network Engines and until recently, a senior vice president of global sales and marketing for enterprise solutions at Nokia. The reason for the difference, he says, is that “after a certain period of time, a customer stops buying your product and starts buying your strategy.”

Suppliers have adopted a “one company” organisational structure. Business-to-business marketers selling products and solutions across many categories have moved away from a structure in which multiple business units sell separately to the same customer. Instead, sales resources company-wide work together to sell all products to the customer through a single point of contact. In this newer model, sales specialists, focusing on, for example, product features or applications or technical requirements, typically support account managers, who are responsible for individual customers. The single corporate face makes life simpler for the customer. It can also boost sales results through cross selling and improved focus on providing integrated solutions that meet customer needs. But this approach increases sales expenses and can create confusion about accountability for results, presenting yet another challenge for the sales leader.

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New Roles

These changes in the business environment have made running a sales organisation more demanding than it’s ever been. Sales will always be the ultimately accountable job. No other function bears such exposed responsibility for delivering on the numbers. These days that is just the starting point. The successful Chief Sales Leader (CSL) also needs to oversee sophisticated processes for such tasks as customer segmentation, processes that not long ago represented state-of-the-art practice but today are considered sales essentials. As if that were not enough, the sales leader must take on five new distinct, but related, roles.

Company leader. The CSL must hit targets while ensuring that the sales organisation’s actions – at all levels and across all channels – support the company’s strategy. Striking that balance means communicating broader goals to the rank and file, so sales people can connect their dayto-day responsibilities with the big picture; it also calls for effective collaboration with other functions. Sales leaders can no longer think of themselves as working in a tight little box responsible only for revenue generation and relationship management. Every CSL faces similar general objectives: achieving revenue growth, launching new products, acquiring customers, expanding business with current customers, improving sales productivity, and containing or reducing selling expenses. Only through strong leadership can the CSL make it clear how these goals can be achieved in support of corporate strategy. In fact, at least 15% of a CSL’s time should be spent establishing and communicating a clear course for accomplishing the current year’s business plan. “Without an articulation of the company’s strategic direction to the salesforce, and incidentally, to customers and channel partners, you run the risk of less-than-optimal performance,” says Greg Shortell. In large part, that’s because disagreements about priorities arise. For example, a multinational software company found that sales people were consistently giving away the time of its billable professional services staff to secure new sales contracts. On the surface, this wasn’t a bad idea. However, it ran against the corporate strategy of focusing on top-line growth at a time when there were few opportunities to increase profitability through cost cutting. The CSL believed that discretion (based on defined criteria) would be a simple fix to the problem. The hypothesis was that if the concession were reserved for strategically important existing customers willing to experiment with new applications, complementary professional services might lead to substantial add-on revenue. After orienting its sales people to this approach and indicating what criteria should be used to determine which customers should receive the concession, results did improve. New applications revenue from existing customers grew 35%, about three times the previous rate of growth. The best CSLs are, along with the rest of the senior executive team, leaders of the company as a whole. They actively participate

in formulating company strategy as well as executing it. No enlightened CEO considers entering a new market, expanding the company’s product portfolio, or taking on a new channel without seeking the advice of the CSL, particularly if the CSL has won his respect and trust. For instance, a CSL can offer valuable insights about the company’s customers: which ones plan to grow, where their growth will come from, and what their particular needs will be. “My CEO expects that I will bring him market intelligence about what our customers require from us so they can be successful in their business,” says Mary Delaney, who leads a 600-person salesforce for the online job broker CareerBuilder. As an integral part of the senior executive team, sales leaders are also expected to collaborate with all functions of the business in delivering value to customers. Indeed, they should lead the creation of an environment in which people across the organisation see themselves as members of a customer-facing team. A sales leader can take on an even higher profile role in a company where the sales function hasn’t traditionally been a priority, such as in a professional services firm or a real estate investment trust. In such a case, the CSL must lead a cultural revolution, building a sales organisation that promotes the firm’s commitment to growth in partnership with its customers. Consider the following example. The partners in a major regional accounting firm were concerned that their business was not growing as fast as others in the industry. After several failed attempts to spur growth through a part-time approach to sales, they decided to appoint a fulltime partner in charge of sales. According to Ford Harding, president of the sales and marketing consulting firm Harding & Company, professional services firms need “A formal process to provide sales leadership both in acquiring clients and in managing the relationships in those accounts.” Bringing a previously unheard-of focus and consistency to the sales process did, in fact, yield faster growth for the accounting firm. Before this investment in the sales leader role, fees grew at a rate of 5% a year. Two years after the change, fees grew more than 10% year-on-year and this trend has continued. The partners believe that this is the result of the shift to a formal sales process with its own leadership, as well as improved business conditions.

The successful sales leader spends more time with customers today not only because they have valuable things to say but also because they demand to be heard by their suppliers’ most senior people.

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Customer champion. If the customer is king these days, who lives within his inner circle? Of all the functions, the sales organisation comes closest, and the CSL is thus the most effective conduit for funnelling customer-related insights to the rest of the senior executive team. The successful sales leader spends more time with customers today not only because they have valuable things to say but also because they demand to be heard by their suppliers’ most senior people. As other, non-sales senior executives throughout the company respond to such demands, the CSL can serve as a role model for his peers in interacting with customers. Customers want close contact with their suppliers’ senior executives in order to understand product strategy, look at new offerings in advance and help with decisions about how future products will meet


COVER FEATURE

A Week in the Life of Ben Buckley An evolving business world has forced chief sales officers to take on a variety of new roles. Here's a look at how these responsibilities help shape a typical week for Ben Buckley who heads the worldwide sales organisation at Invitrogen, a provider of life science products and services in Africa.* As a process guru, Buckley ensures that sales process changes are integrated into daily sales activities.

Monday

AM PM

• Monthly global business review, North Africa (conference call) • Company Pricing Council meeting • Salesforce Effectiveness projects update • eBusiness update • Monthly global business review, SADC

Tuesday

AM PM

• Product business unit marketing meeting • Preparation for next week's industry association board meeting and company analyst meeting • Flight to Kenya

Wednesday

AM

• Meetings with customer X (in Nairobi): • General discussion with top executives about customer's business strategy • Workshop on latest developments in intellectual property protection • Meetings with Customer X: • Tour of company manufacturing plant • Flight to Johannesburg • Dinner with SADC field office staff; discussion of particular customer challenges

PM

Thursday

Friday

AM PM

AM

PM

Saturday

AM

• Flight to Cape Town • Meetings with Customer Y: • General discussion with top executives about customer's business strategy • Meetings with Customer Y: • Workshop on latest trends in health research funding • Flight to Johannesburg

• Sales Managers' leadership development workshop • One-on-one coaching of high-potential sales manager • Interview candidates for top sales positions • Review detailed weekly sales update by region and product • Cross-functional meeting on new business development initiatives • Review Customer Z account plan with executives from product development and customer service in preparation for next week's meeting with Customer Z (Nigeria)

As an organisation architect, he determines whether the online ordering system may require a redesign of direct sales strategies.

As a customer champion, he strengthens the company's C-level relationship with the customer by providing information about the latest developments on industry issues (rather than merely giving product information).

As a course corrector, he watches for subtle signs that sales strategy needs to be retooled.

As a company leader, he collaborates with other functions to align product development and sales strategies.

• Strategic planning meeting with project team in preparation for Monday's presentation to CEO and rest of executive management team

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COVER FEATURE

Selling to Solve It’s the byword of modern marketing: Instead of selling simple products or services, companies sell “solutions.” That presents particular challenges for sales leaders to manage. Instead of simply getting a customer to choose their products over rivals’, they draw on an array of corporate and external capabilities to design an integrated offering meant to solve a customer-specific problem.

their particular needs. They also want top-level contact so they will have someone to call when something goes wrong; an inevitability in even the best of customer-supplier relationships. Through frequent conversations with its major customers many organisations find that they want contact with a senior person so if issues arise, relationships are already in place. Such a relationship clearly benefits suppliers as well. It provides an invaluable window into a customer’s growth plans – a window that otherwise might not exist. Greg Shortell says that most customers, regardless of the product, have a buying cycle. “During that time,” he adds, “they will work with you, giving you the luxury of guiding their future. At the end of that period, if you have done your job well, you’re likely to be in an advantageous position to supply their needs.” The head of sales is both the natural person to establish this sort of relationship and the one best positioned to translate the needs of important customers into useful strategic information for senior executives in their company. Unfortunately it isn’t always easy for suppliers to forge these highlevel relationships, especially since customers’ purchasing managers (who are growing more sophisticated and aggressive and are charged mainly with getting the best price) may view such relationships warily. What’s more, the use of the Internet to secure and filter initial bids takes some personal contact out of the process. So CSLs need to find opportunities to share their business insights with senior executives at client companies as a way of keeping the conversation alive.

Process guru. As we have seen, CSLs increasingly must have a dual perspective, looking outward toward customers and inward at their own organisations. Over the past decade, they have honed their processes for selling products and services and managing customer relationships. In fact, a CSL may spend 10% to 20% of their time defining, creating, managing, and improving such processes; or sifting through stacks of proposals from consultants and sales-training companies offering database applications, customer relationship management tools, process maps, and other approaches. This focus on process has become particularly important as many organisations have moved beyond selling discrete products or services and toward “solutions selling,” putting together bundled offerings of products and services designed to meet important customers’ individual needs. (For a look at the challenges involved, see the sidebar “Selling to Solve.”) Careful reinvention and oversight of the sales proc58 » t h i n k s a l e s . c o . z a o c to b e r 2 010

Companies view solutions selling as a way to build strong relationships with customers and earn price premiums for the value they deliver. Because it can be incredibly inefficient and expensive, however, suppliers must identify their most strategic customers and offer solutions packages only to them. Even after doing this, suppliers may learn that some of those customers aren’t interested in making the investment on their end. Customers might want to do things the old way, simply completing a transaction to buy a product or service. Too often companies commit to solutions selling without completely understanding what they need to do to be successful. The sales leader considering this approach must not only understand the process but also structure the organisation to support it. That includes having the competencies, somewhere in the organisation, if not in sales, to negotiate with external partners who will be needed to help craft solutions. It also means that the field organisation must be trained in solutions selling. Whereas the traditional sales relationship involves a series of transactions, selling solutions calls for a consultative relationship in which those who do the selling add value. Finally, the CSL needs to confirm that the delivery organisation has been trained in solutions implementation, since the customer is going to hold the supplier accountable for a single point of delivery. If the solutions-selling processes – from start to finish – are not right, then profit margins are likely to suffer because of redos or givebacks such as partial refunds or future concessions.

ess are critical also in the case of a merger, an acquisition, or a new product introduction. Adopting a true sales leadership role may mean delegating some of the process-related tasks that currently occupy so much of a CSL’s time. Directly managing the continual upgrading of foundational processes – customer segmentation, sales channel management, and technology support – can be a dangerous distraction from more important leadership challenges. “Best practices are a constantly moving target and there really is no silver bullet,” says Alan Cervasio, vice president for global sales strategy at Marriott Vacation Club International in Orlando, Florida. The dogged pursuit of world-class performance in these processes, while essential, can be handled by others.


COVER FEATURE

Organisation architect. A good CSL should also spend a significant amount of time evaluating and occasionally redesigning the sales organisation’s structure to ensure that it supports the company’s strategic goals. Often, this involves finding the right balance between specialised and generalised sales roles. In a generalist sales organisation, each representative or account manager sells a company’s entire, but usually limited, product line to customers who typically are all in the same industry, thus providing a single point of business contact to customers. As a supplier’s product portfolio grows larger and more complex, or if the customers are numerous and from different industries, some sales specialisation is usually required. Indeed, the broader the portfolio and the greater the number of markets in which the customers operate, the greater the need for specialisation. That need can be met by a salesforce of generalist sales executives supported by product sales specialists, or by separate specialty forces dedicated to a single product or market. Many business-to-business marketers have adopted the generalists-supportedby-specialists model as their product portfolios or solution sets have broadened. The result has been a shift in the focus of sales activity from the business unit, which had separate sales and service functions, to a single company-wide sales unit comprising account managers and sales specialists who cover all customers and markets. Because this approach offers customers “one-face, one bag” as they make their purchases, it has caught on with suppliers. Given the potential for increased sales costs and confusion about accountability for results, it is becoming clear that some CSLs have over-specialised their organisations. A recent study of 12 technology companies – conducted by the consulting firm Growth Solutions – showed that senior management in each company was actively looking for ways to simplify the sales model, which may require dismantling or at least streamlining some of these specialised organisations. The trend toward specialisation can be attributed to a combination of factors: revenue growth, product line expansion and mergers that aren’t followed with careful product line rationalisation. After a merger, for example, integration team leaders often add sales specialists for the sake of politics and appeasement instead of designing sales coverage in response to a rigorous customer segmentation exercise. Whatever the mix of generalists and specialists, it will always elicit protest. Product managers complain, “Without specialists, my product line will not receive the necessary sales support to achieve budget plan.” The sales leaders’ reply is, “We have the relationships with the customers. If you blow up our account management organisation, the value of this acquisition will go south!” Because sales specialisation is so common today in companies selling multiple product lines, the CSL needs to determine whether it costs more than the resulting sales and margins justify. They should be looking at financial measures (the cost of generating revenue growth, assessed by channel, new market segment, and new product); customer measures (account revenue retention, the number of

new accounts acquired at or above a defined revenue threshold, and the proportion of business derived from new and existing customers); and sales productivity measures (quotas, the average size of sales transactions, and the balance of sales across multiple products in target accounts). A detailed assessment of the salesforce’s structure will need to be repeated after any number of corporate developments, for example, the introduction of a new product.

Course corrector. A sales leader always needs to be looking at some point on the horizon, then designing and redesigning the sales organisation to help the company get there. But the CSL can’t take his/her hands off the levers or forget about the dials, or he/she might fail to respond to signs that a quick adjustment in sales priorities is needed. The best CSLs will tell you that missing annual revenue and margin goals is simply not an option in their companies. Consistent, predictable performance is expected, so they have to manage their organisations for results, using short-cycle data and analysis. Investments in staff, CRM technology, tools for account planning, forecasting, and quota allocation have made sales performance data – organised by segment, channel, and sales process, more readily available to sales executives. Of course, that information has little value unless it is put to intelligent use. Nokia has assembled a back-office staff (what the company calls a sales operations team) that includes a sales controller and sales analysts who monitor, measure, and chart sales results. Greg Shortell says that when he was with Nokia this team allowed him to relinquish basic navigational duties and spend more time with customers. But when alerted to a problem – he received sales performance data twice a day – he had to be ready to rapidly change course. Salespeople in the field are sometimes reluctant to respond to requests from senior management for such detailed information. Managed properly, though, the information exchange can be very productive for both sides.

“CSLs must hold the view that sales, as a function, is continuously evolving. There is no constant state, only a state in which you are clear about what you need to be changing to in order to succeed.”

In Closing

The pressures on a CSL come from without and within, from above and below. We’ve laid out a daunting portfolio of roles that a sales leader must embrace if his/her organisation is going to provide the profitable top-line growth the company expects. Over time, the job description is likely to become even more demanding. As Alan Cervasio of Marriott Vacation Club International says, “CSLs must hold the view that sales, as a function, is continuously evolving. There is no constant state, only a state in which you are clear about what you need to be changing to in order to succeed.” * Editor's note: Geographic locations have been changed. Jerome Colletti is the managing partner and Mary Fiss is a partner at Colletti-Fiss, a management consulting firm specialising in sales effectiveness. © Harvard Business School Publishing Corporation. All rights reserved.

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PROUDLY PRESENTS THE FIRST ANNUAL

Sales Leadership Conference 2010 • 3-4 November 2010 • Johannesburg, Emperors Palace

Finally. A conference for Sales Leaders. 6 0 » t h i n k s a l e s . c o . z a o c to b e r 2 010


Advertor ial

Why You Should Attend 2010 Conference Theme

Join ThinkSales for a two-day sales leadership conference where you will be exposed to cuttingedge sales and sales leadership strategies; also network with over 150 of your peers.

SAVE R1 000 Early Bird Discount Book by 19 Oct 2010 Max. 200 Seats

Book Online Now

The 2010 theme, Strategies for Superior Sales Management, is geared around assisting sales leaders with strategic planning for 2011.

Conference Highlights The 2010 ThinkSales Sales Leadership Conference features the most dynamic group of sales experts ever assembled in South Africa for a two-day conference. You will be exposed to thought leadership principles and tools and will be able to add chapters to your sales manual from the presentations and workshops.

Who Should Attend • Leaders who are directly or indirectly responsible for delivering high sales volumes in competitive market spaces • Executives who play a key role in defining the sales strategies of their respective companies or organisations They include: CEOs, MDs, GMs, Sales Directors, Sales Managers and Owner-Managers

Benefits of Attending • Experience this in-depth, sales leadership conference, a first-of-its-kind to be held in South Africa • Learn sales leadership lessons from best-practice, tested and proven principles and strategies for building high-growth sales teams • Build a sales manual on important sales management topics from the presentations and workshops of the internationally acclaimed speakers • Witness two further informative and inspirational addresses from sales experts • Network with over 150 of South Africa’s top company executives and sales leaders

www.thinksales.co.za o c to b e r 2 010 t h i n k s a l e s . c o . z a

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Advertor ial

“Are you concerned that your sales team is not performing at optimum capacity and that you or your sales manager are unable to conclusively resolve the shortcomings?”

ER UTAEF REVOC

Sales Leadership Conference 2010 Expert Speaker Barry Farber (USA) Farber consults with a variety of industries helping them break through the sales clutter and land more deals. Rated as the ‘hottest speaker of the year’ by Successful Meetings Magazine, he is the best-selling author of 11 books, translated into 25 languages, with over one million copies sold – including Superstar Sales Manager’s Secrets. Farber has trained over 300 000 salespeople and his clients include AT&T, American Express, ESPN/ABC Sports, Merck, UPS and Verizon.

“Barry Farber is one of the most authentic, passionate and action-oriented authors I have ever met – a true original. His NightingaleConant programme, State-Of-The-Art Selling is our best-selling Business-to-Consumer programme of all time and delivers proven sales strategies that have been ‘battle-tested’ in the marketplace. Whenever Barry talks, I listen!” – Dan Strutzel, VP of Publishing, Nightingale Conant

Presentation

Seven Traits of Great Sales Leaders This session highlights what today’s sales leaders have to do for themselves and their teams to deliver world-class results, give them a winning edge and to outperform competitors. Workshop

Barry Farber has devoted the past 20 years to finding answers to these questions. He has trained blue-chip companies across the USA and written 11 best-selling books on ways to cultivate superior sales leadership and results. On 3 November, for the first time in South Africa, he will be sharing his knowledge and learnings with you. 6 2 » t h i n k s a l e s . c o . z a o c to b e r 2 010

Leadership Strategies for Building a High Performance Sales Organisation • How to motivate your sales team with constant coaching and training • How to create a customer-focused organisation • Strategies for living in the trenches with the sales team and customers


COVER FEATURE

Sales Leadership Conference 2010 Expert Speaker Douglas Kruger (SA) Kruger is a well known and respected speaker, author and trainer with ten years experience in his field. He secured second place in the Public Speaking World Championships in Nevada, USA and also secured first place at the SA Championship of Public Speaking five times. Kruger has published 50 Ways to Become a Better Speaker and his second book, 50 Ways to Position Yourself as an Expert, is due for release in October 2010.

“Douglas has all the qualities of a superb speaker: credibility, integrity, and obviously a very good presentation.” 
 – Clem Sunter, Chairman, Anglo American Chairman’s Fund

“Douglas is a fantastic speaker. He held the audience riveted. Not only was his presentation highly entertaining, but the business message was sound. I would highly recommend him to any business interested in teaching their staff to use initiative.”

Advertor ial

“Have you struggled to position your company as the indisputable thought leader in its industry and thereby grow its trust with prospects and customers?”

– Deon Nel, Provincial Head, Standard Bank Financial Services

Presentation

The Power of Expert Positioning In this presentation Kruger illustrates that true experts exist at the intersection of knowledge, personality and sustained publicity. He also highlights how intentionally positioning yourself and your organisation as the thought leader in your industry will change your earning potential. Kruger will provide a humorous and highly entertaining, yet insightful and content-rich guide to the practical things you can do to position yourself as the guru, the go-to-guy, the greatest in your industry. Because when you are known as the best, customers will come to you.

Douglas Kruger’s second book 50 Ways to Position Yourself as an Expert explores the tactics employed by individuals and companies to position themselves as the experts of their field. On 3 November he will be sharing how your business can benefit by establishing itself as the leader of its industry. o c to b e r 2 010 t h i n k s a l e s . c o . z a

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Advertor ial

“Is your sales team struggling to drive revenue growth and win new business in a highly competitive market due to inadequate differentiation and a unique positioning for sales success?”

ER UTAEF REVOC

Sales Leadership Conference 2010 Expert Speaker Greg Fisher (USA & SA) Fisher has an MBA cum laude and is a qualified Chartered Accountant. He is currently a Research Associate and Lecturer at the University of Washington in Seattle, USA, where he is completing his PhD in Technology Entrepreneurship and Strategy. Fisher is also a visiting lecturer at the Gordon Institute of Business Science. He was responsible for designing, developing and implementing the Standard Bank Group’s Senior Leadership Programme. Currently in its fourth-consecutive year, around 5 000 executives from across the globe have gone through the programme. Fisher is an expert on business modelling for a competitive advantage through positioning and differentiation.

Presentation

Differentiation for a Competitive Advantage What is true differentiation and what role can the sales leader play in defining it to the advantage of the sales organisation? By incisively and succinctly defining how all layers of your corporation are distinctly different from competitors, you will effectively empower your sales organisation to drive revenue growth. This session will provide you with the tools to assess whether your company is adequately differentiated for sales success. You will learn what you can do to differentiate your organisation with respect to your company values and culture, your brand, your product or service offering and the way you set up your sales team interactions. Workshop

Differentiate Your Organisation for Success

Greg Fisher’s studies have led him to develop a set of tools a business can deploy to successfully differentiate itself from the competition and stand out as the unique choice. On 3 November he will unpack how to identify your key differentiators and build a unique position in the market place. 6 4 » t h i n k s a l e s . c o . z a o c to b e r 2 010

The workshop offers delegates the opportunity to practically assess whether their organisation is adequately differentiated for sales success. Using this insight you will be empowered to identify drivers of differentiation in your organisation and you will have the opportunity to begin the process of building a unique position in the marketplace.


COVER FEATURE

Sales Leadership Conference 2010 Expert Speaker Dr Graeme Codrington (UK & SA) Codrington is an author, speaker and co-founder of TomorrowToday a global consulting firm that has helped thousands of leaders improve their organisations. He speaks internationally to over 100 000 people annually and was recently voted ‘Speaker of the Year” by the Academy for Chief Executives. His client list includes some of the world’s top companies.

“An excellent, interesting and insightful presentation that covered a part of team building and leadership theory we had not heard of before. He is in my mind one of the two best new speakers I have heard in the last couple of years. This guy is a must.” – B. Barrett: Academy of Chief Executives, UK

Presentation

Case Study: Increasing Sales Force Revenue & Productivity

COVER Advertor FEATURE ial

“Are you finding that your sales team is battling to influence, motivate and connect with prospects due to unclear or poor valuesbased sales messages?”

• The Client: Sportron, a leading preventative medicine, supplements and healthcare company operating in 13 countries and with multilevel marketing sales approaches had a number of sales problems. • The Result: Re-engineered sales processes and a re-trained sales force translated into a 300% increase in turnover over five years. Workshop

Values-Based Sales Messages – Your Key To Success In A Noisy World This session focuses on the important role of the sales leader in defining and ensuring the sales organisation delivers a values-based sales message, in particular how values-based selling is a key driver of exceptional sales performance.

Dr Graeme Codrington is an author, speaker and co-founder of TomorrowToday, a global company with a core skill of tracking trends and mapping the world of tomorrow. He believes organisations can dramatically increase their sales success by creating values-based messaging to their customers. On 4 November he will demonstrate how he improved one company’s sales revenue by 300% over a five year period by applying his leading-edge thinking. o c to b e r 2 010 t h i n k s a l e s . c o . z a

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Advertor ial

“Are you finding that in this economy your sales force is competing more and more on price against competitors with greater suss than ever before?”

ER UTAEF REVOC

Sales Leadership Conference 2010 Expert Speaker Landy Chase (USA) Chase is a sales expert who specialises in increasing the effectiveness of sales organisations. Since founding his company in 1993 he has given nearly two thousand paid presentations to corporate and association clients in over sixty different industries and has a client re-hire rate in excess of 90%. He is rated as one of the top sales trainers in the USA.

“Landy brought our sales training to a new level; very specific sales strategies and tactics which were put to use straight away and with outstanding results.” – Joe Bailey, VP of Sales, Martin Foods

Presentation

Become the “Dominant Predator” – Out-Plan, Out-Think & Out-Sell to Win This presentation draws on concepts from his acclaimed new book, Competitive Selling. He highlights how in today’s business environment, top sales organisations recognise that the game of selling has changed. He illustrates how customers know they can benefit from pitting different suppliers against each other and, as a result, almost all new sales opportunities in this economy require the sales person to compete for the business against other options. Workshop

Creating Organisational Strategies for Winning Competitive Sales Landy Chase has spent the past 17 years training businesses across the USA to overcome these challenges, earning him the reputation as one of the the country’s top sales trainers. In his latest book Competitive Selling he unpacks killer tactics on out-witting and out-smarting your competitors. On 4 November, for the first time in South Africa, he will be sharing his knowledge and learnings with you. 6 6 » t h i n k s a l e s . c o . z a o c to b e r 2 010

In this workshop delegates will gain practical advice and ideas on creating organisational strategies for winning competitive sales. Learn how to structure and formulate competitive selling strategies that deliver results. See how today’s highest achievers win every battle and obtain a blueprint for replicating this success.


ER UTAEF REVOC

Advertor ial

Sales Leadership Conference 2010 Agenda Highlights Day 1

Day 2

-- Welcome --

-- Welcome --

Session 1

Session 6

Keynote Address

Keynote Address

Barry Farber

Dr Graeme Codrington

Seven Traits of Great Sales Leaders

Case Study: Increasing Productivity & Sales Force Revenue

Session 2

Workshop Barry Farber

Leadership Strategies for Building a High Performance Sales Team -- Coffee Break -Session 3

Keynote Address Douglas Kruger

The Power of Expert Positioning

Booking Rates Early Bird Rate

Book 1-3 delegates by 19 October and pay only R6 980 excl. VAT (R7 957,20 incl. VAT) per delegate

-- Coffee Break --

Standard Rate

Session 6

Workshop Dr Graeme Codrington

Values-Based Sales Messages – Your Key to Success in a Noisy World

Group Discounts

-- Lunch -Session 7

Keynote Address

-- Lunch --

Landy Chase

Session 4

Become the Dominant Predator: Out-Plan, Out-Think and Out-Sell to Win

Keynote Address Greg Fisher

Session 8

Distinct or Extinct: Differentiation for a Competitive Advantage

Workshop

-- Coffee Break --

Landy Chase

Creating Organisational Strategies for Winning Competitive Sales

Session 5

Workshop Greg Fisher

Differentiating Your Organisation for Sales Success

Book 1-3 delegates after 19 October and pay only R7 980 excl. VAT (R9 097,20 incl. VAT) per delegate

• Groups of 4-9 delegates: Pay R6 280 excl. VAT (R7 159,20 incl. VAT) per delegate • Groups of 10+ delegates: R5 650 excl. VAT (R6 441 incl. VAT) per delegate • Call Janine Lombard on +27 (0)11 886 6880 for assistance with group registrations of 10+ delegates

-- Cocktails -Drinks & Entertainment

Open Bar with Comedian Trevor Noah

Visit www.thinksales.co.za for full details & to book online

SAVE R1 000 Early Bird Discount Book by 19 Oct 2010 Max. 200 Seats

Events Coordinator: Janine Lombard • Email: events@thinksales.co.za • Tel: +27 (0)11 886 6880 o c to b e r 2 010 t h i n k s a l e s . c o . z a

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Exotic escape

Business or Pleasure? You don’t always need to make a distinction between the two. Incentivise your top sales performers with the promise of an island getaway for them and their partners in 2011, rent the entire island for a team building experience or reward yourself after a year of hard work.

6 8 Âť t h i n k s a l e s . c o . z a o c to b e r 2 010


rewards » Reward yourself, incentivise your team

club med Kani

Paradise Calling Imagine a luxury hotel suite built on stilts over crystal clear waters and offering a panoramic view of the Indian Ocean. Imagine you could snorkel off your very own balcony. Make it a reality.

TERMS & CONDITIONS: Applicable to new bookings of a minimum of 7 nights. All rates are per person sharing, subject to availability, seasonality, airfare increases and currency fluctuations. Savings already included in price and based on selected departure dates. Bookings valid from 01Nov 2010. Bookings to be secured with deposit within 7 days of confirmation and reservation. E&OE

The Package Includes: • Return airfare, transfers and taxes • Accommodation • Breakfast, lunch and dinner • Open bar, day & night and snacking • Range of sports and leisure activities • Evening entertainment • Comprehensive insurance cover

Rates: 7 Nights from R40 385 per person. Valid for travel: 08 Jan - 05 Feb 2011. Plus approx taxes of R505

S

et in the magical archipelago of the Maldives in the Indian Ocean, Club Med Kani will make you feel like you’ve stepped into a dream, complete with clear blue ocean, resplendent white beaches and unparalleled opportunities to relax and take pleasure in the island’s tranquillity or enjoying any one of the resort's exciting activities. Two bars and two restaurants offer gourmet dining experiences and island cocktails throughout the day, while a choice of lagoon suites, beach villas and superior rooms mean you are truly in the lap of luxury throughout your stay. For the adventurous and sporty, activities include beach golf, deep-sea fishing, scuba diving, soccer, water aerobics, catamaran sailing, kayaking, snorkelling, beach volleyball, basketball and even table tennis. Emirates airline will fly you via Dubai, the shopping capital of the world, to the Malé international airport, where a 35 minute speedboat ride will transport you to the private island of Kani. It’s that simple to step out of your world and into paradise.

Contact Call 0860 109 428 or visit www.clubmed.co.za for more information or to book a holiday to remember.

Terms and conditions apply.

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» rewards

local getaways

Nature Calling Reward yourself or your team with a trip to one of South Africa’s most prestigious game lodges. Whether you are looking for a unique incentives package, breathtaking conference facilities or a break from your busy schedule, these lodges will deliver the perfect getaway.

Madikwe River Lodge

An Oasis of Luxury

S

et in the Madikwe Game reserve bordering Botswana, Madikwe River Lodge promises an unforgettable experience. Sixteen luxury chalets surround the main lodge, all with en-suite bathrooms and outside showers. Each room is uniquely decorated and rich in African themes, textures and colours, while the main lodge provides 5-star luxury and dining for when guests are not in their rooms. Team building and conferencing activities include interactive game drives, games at the lodge, group activities and group meals. Clients can book out the entire lodge for team building and Madikwe will do the rest. For incentive weekends, there are a range of different experiences at the lodge, from breakfasting at the river with hippos, dinner under the stars, a night in the island Boma with traditional singing and dancing, as well as specialised outings such as fauna and flora drives, birding drives and small five drives. Its convenient location – three and half hours from Johannesburg or a mere 45 minutes by aircraft – means that you can be out of the big city and surrounded by untamed Africa without too much fuss or hassle.

Rates R4 650 per night or R3 080 per person sharing. Contact Email ceres@threecities.co.za or call +27 31 310 6900

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Shishangeni Private Game Lodge

Where Dreams Come True

N

estled between towering mountains and high-lying grassland in the heart of the Kruger National Park, Shishangeni Private Game Lodge blends the African wild with 5-star modern luxury. 22 chalets accommodate 44 guests, while the main lodge is well equipped and includes a lounge area with plasma TV, a library, intimate bar, wine cellar, compact fitness centre, beauty and wellness spa and a sparkling swimming pool. But it’s the conference facilities that set this private lodge apart. Whether business associates are conferencing or enjoy an incentive package or team building weekend away, Shishangeni offers the most unusual team building activities available. The conference facility can accommodate between 15 and 30 people, with all basic conferencing equipment supplied by the lodge.


rewards «

Enjoy the Finer Things in Life.

Rates: Rates R4 650 per night or R3 080 per person sharing. Group discounts available on application.

Shishangeni Private Game Lodge is the perfect balance between Africa’s wild side and all the modern luxuries of a 5-star lodge.

Contact: Email ceres@threecities.co.za or call +27 31 310 6900 for more information.

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Big Deal Honesty Rules

What kind of leader are you? My role is to guide and influence. It’s our people and talent which make us strong as a team, not me. I employ individuals who have the drive to run their job as if it was their own business. In return, their remuneration is structured according to the same principle. As a result, we have an extremely strong sales team who treasure and nurture their jobs. This is because they practically write their own pay cheques.

How do you retain your sales talent? There’s depth in the sales team because few people leave. Why would they when they have independence, as well as a really attractive income? They have to have stamina because they start from a zero base every month. But they love it. You won’t believe how many times they get a standing ovation at the end of a presentation.

What makes your team so successful? They close deals because they have been coached to find out what the customer wants. As a customer myself, I see people who do an excellent job of describing what they have to offer. Sadly, they have no idea of what I want, because they don’t ask. We talk to clients about their business. By finding out what their goals are, we can take a packaged solution and tailor-make it so that it fits their business like a glove. There’s a huge amount of satisfaction to be had from providing something worthwhile and not just ripping out an existing piece of software and replacing it with our own. The customer must be better off once our solution has been rolled out.

What happens when the customer says no? I want to know why. That is what helps our people to close the deal next time round. I insist that we relentlessly pursue the prospect until we know their reasons for turning us down. What’s interesting is that we have often been able to turn a situation around by doing that because it shows the customer how committed we really are to getting it right.

What’s the most important lesson you've learnt? Always act with integrity. We had several meetings once with a massive organisation that employs more than 20 000 people. We did a feasibility test and saw that their processes would have to change to fit in with our solution, which would cause too much of an upset. They were shocked that I would not sell them a product they wanted to buy. But that honesty meant so much to them, that today we do business on a completely different level. – Monique Verduyn

Vital Stats Name Age Designation Company Sales team size & distribution Products/Services Career Summary

Sandra Swanepoel 50 Sales Director Softline VIP 50 people. She oversees head office in Pretoria, seven branches and three satellites in South Africa. Softline VIP is used by more than 24 000 companies. Sandra joined Softline VIP 23 years ago in sales. She was appointed to her current position in 1998.

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