June 2006 What’s the secret of a great sales performer?

I am usually called in because sales performance is not all that it should be.

My first task is usually to explore the sales strategy. Often, it seems to be solid enough. They seem to be using their resources wisely and applying them in the right place.

The marketing is good. Not perhaps best, but certainly good enough to let them through the door and get selling.

Their process is OK. Perhaps a few tweaks here and there, but nothing that will be contributing much to the current dearth of sales.

The management is competent. They have set appropriate targets, created a motivating sales framework and use coaching and development well.

As I listen to them speak, I am able to assess their skills. They seem to be using questions wisely, their targeting is focused, and they have market led solutions that are well presented and priced.

SO WHAT IS THEIR PROBLEM??????

Sometimes the only way to find out is to roll up my sleeves and work alongside them in the trenches to find out what is really going on. So what have I found? Well some pretty horrendous situations actually.

For example: I was out with a client, talking to a prospective customer about the offer in question. I was flabbergasted when, whilst dealing with an objection, his mobile phone rang…and HE ANSWERED IT! He then proceeded to renegotiate an existing deal (which had involved him delivering some product below specification and late) while his prospect sat listening and waiting for him to finish. When he had sorted it out, he hung up and then tried to pick up where he left off. He simply couldn’t understand, when we discussed it later, that by his actions he had lost a perfectly good customer. “Stupid”, I hear you say; but can you honestly say that you ALWAYS turn off your mobile when with a client? Do you really concentrate on your customer’s real needs by active listening and using questions effectively? My guess is that most of us could do better.

For example: I went out with a partner in a major professional services firm to a meeting that had been set up as a result of a cold call. It was apparent from our pre-call planning meeting that it was unlikely that he would be personally instructed as a result of the call; there could be opportunities for the wider firm. Sure enough, within two minutes, the client had made it clear that he was not interested in the partner’s service line but there could be interest in some of the firm's other services. The partner switched off. Several times he tried to steer the conversation back to his service line, ignoring the obvious signals from the client that he was just not interested. He showed absolutely no interest in the very real problems that the client was describing and made it quite clear that he wanted the meeting (that we had asked for!) to end as soon as possible. It was only due to some very fancy footwork that we were able to set up a second meeting at which specialists in the identified areas could be fielded. Unusual? Not really. Most of us, especially in larger enterprises look to the work that will go against our own tab. We can be enthusiastic about our own specialism but are we interested in the wider issues? Do our clients see us as an ambassador or a process server?

For example: I was giving some sales training to a very talented group of chartered surveyors. They were bemoaning the fact that everyone regarded them as “boring” and that it was very difficult to differentiate their practice from the many others against whom they compete. Yet when I asked them about some of the big “surveying” issues of the day they were silent. They hadn’t considered the implications of the new Wembley Stadium on local property prices. They were unaware of the implications of and lessons learned from, the recent disaster at Charles de Gaulle airport. “How” I asked “are clients going to see you as a competent professional on whose advice they can rely, if you work so hard to look ordinary?”

Sometimes, you need to look, not at the process but at the attitude. Are you behaving in a way that inspires, trust, respect and confidence in you, your company and your product?

Are you taking responsibility for making things happen? Are you controlling the outcome of your meetings and making sure that the next steps have been mapped out?

In short, could it be that your sales are suffering because you are not approaching opportunities in the right frame of mind?

If everything else is in place, then an attitude adjustment may be just what you need.