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Improve Virtual Sales Close Rates Focusing 5 on Sales Skills

“How do we improve our virtual sales close rates?”… Is a common question I have been hearing from business owners and sales leaders?

They have spent the time and investments to bring in opportunities and their sales teams’ quote customers but they have low sales close rates. They want and need more sales opportunities and they want to improve their close rates so more revenue flows to the bottom-line.

If you couple low sales close rates and teams that do not have a continuous prospecting cadence your sales results will be a roller-coaster ride and very frustrating for business owners and sales leaders alike.

In my no smoke and mirrors process working with sales teams we reach out your customers and prospects to understand how they buy. Then we assess the sales team’s skills in 21 competencies then prescribe training and coaching to close any sales skills gaps we discover.

Improving sales closing skills is often #1 or in the top 3 of sales skills that consistently needs improvement.

Would it shock you to learn just over 50% of salespeople have never received sales skills training? (No wonder they struggle with selling based on value and closing!)

In this post we will share five sales skills to improve your virtual sales close rates.

Since April of 2020 I have helped a number of sales teams adapt and become stronger in virtual selling skills.

Five skills your sales team will want to improve for virtual sales include:

Building Rapport

Since moving to a virtual sales model and Zoom video meetings becoming the norm I have experienced salespeople skipping key steps like building rapport at the beginning of the call. Make sure and take the time to build rapport. Focus on people first products and solutions second. Every engagement is an opportunity to build your relationship with your customers.

Build Virtual Relationships

Approximately 60% of once outside salespeople are now struggling with virtual sales. They are finding it particularly difficult to build virtual relationships as easy as they once did face to face. I often speak at events and co-host training with best selling author Ed Wallace. Ed’s book: Business Relationships That Last provides five clear steps to strategically build relationships and they can be applied to building virtual relationships as well.

Discovery Questions

Create a list of great discovery questions you feel comfortable asking. Your goal is to ask great questions to discover if your customer or prospects has unresolved problems your product or service solves. Include industry terminology and make the questions open-ended so the customer shares their current challenges. Your team can have a list of questions they all need to ask but again make sure each person uses words and phrases they commonly use and ideally your buyer’s use.

Active Listening

To clearly understand the needs of your customers and prospects your sales team must develop active listening skills. From helping salespeople improve their sales effectiveness for over 35 years I have found most salespeople listen to reply not listen to learn. Building active listening skills is key in any consultative sale and is particularly important in virtual sales.

Qualifying questions

Once you have actively listened to your customer and clearly identified challenges your product or service solves we need to qualify.

An old school system I suggest teams use that still provides salespeople a great deal of value today called BANT.

B- do they have a budget or will you be helping them create a business case to win budget?

A – Authority, does the person, team, you are speaking with have the authority to make the purchase and if not who does?

N- Do you clearly understand the need and how they will measure success? What is the economic impact of not solving this need?

T– Timing, when do they need this problem solved, how long has this been a problems?

“By the nature of your question you can demonstrate industry experience, competence and build trust”
Mark Roberts

If you need to significantly improve your close rate on profitable sales:

  1. Improve Rapport building
  2. Building Virtual relationships
  3. Create Strong Discovery Questions
  4. Active Listening Skills
  5. Equip your sales team with BANT Qualifying Questions

I plan to unpack each of the above five skills in the weeks to come so stay tuned.

I recently shared a short video to help teams adapt to virtual sales and you can access here. What many teams have discovered is once successful outside sales producers are now struggling to meet quota selling virtually. The good news is this is a sales problem we can solve with training, coaching and sales tools.

If your team needs to improve your virtual sales close rates, let’s schedule a call.

How To UP Skill Face-to-Face Salespeople for Virtual Sales?

Sales teams are adapting to the new normal and many once face-to-face meetings are being replaced with virtual meetings.

What challenges are sales teams experiencing and how do we coach and train salespeople to be effective in a virtual sales environment?

Prior to Covid-19 salespeople achieving quota has declined each year since 2016 and I predict less than 50% of salespeople will achieve their sales goals in 2020 if they do not adapt quickly.

If you have not trained your once F2F salespeople how to sell virtually it is very likely 60% of your sales team are struggling today.

We recently conducted customer research for a distributor and just over 60% of their customers shared they preferred virtual selling to face-to-face meetings.

What are the top sales skills virtual sales teams must improve?

#1 Sales Mindset

The first place we need to start to gain any sales velocity is to understand your sales team’s mindset and reframe any limiting beliefs.

You are helping your customers solve problems and overcome challenges not selling them something they do not need!

#2 Sales Skills

Sadly less than 50% of sales teams have received sales skills training.

I suggest you assess your salespeople and pay particular attention to skills needed in virtual selling like: Qualifying, Active Listening, Comfort using various online meeting tools and the ability to deliver a concise business case based on value.

#3 Value propositions

Do your salespeople have a current value proposition designed for their ideal customer profile today?

Does your sales team have messaging for each buyer persona?

Sadly most Sales teams I find are using a dated value proposition and are growing frustrated and often not engaged when what has always worked no longer resonates with customers.

#4 Industry Knowledge

What buyer’s want and value today are insights and advice not found on most company websites.

Buyers value the salesperson’s market experience and learning how others in the industry have solved problems they are facing now.

Have you equipped your salespeople with success stories that highlight the value your products and services provide?

#5 Know How Your Customers Make Money

Buyers share on win loss calls how they want and need sales reps to become trusted advisors connecting what they are selling to the impact it has on the buyers bottom line…but sadly only 15% of salespeople have mastered this skill today.

The current market challenges have made serving your customers more difficult.

Sales teams must adapt and understand how their customers want and need to be served. If your sales team would like some help up skilling your team please contact me and let’s schedule a call.

What Sales “Broken Windows” Does Your Sales Team Have Since Adapting to Virtual Sales?

Is your sales team prepared to win and achieve their sales goals today? Do salespeople consistently exhibit the discipline to drive profitable sales growth? Do your salespeople clearly understand your expectations and they are accountable to them? Are your salespeople training in product and sales skills?

One way to ensure your sales team breaks the growing global trend of sales teams not achieving sales growth goals is to fix broken windows in your sales organization. In this post we will discuss where to look for broken windows that are hurting your sales performance.

Having disciple and being accountable is not about doing 1,000’s of things perfectly. Being accountable and having discipline is about is having clear goals and expectations on how you will achieve those goals. As the sales leader it is about inspecting what you expect and understanding the behaviors and attitudes to support key goals.

Some time ago I wrote a post to improve sales effectiveness inspired by my son who is a police officer. It was titled: Increase Sales” Fix Broken Windows in how your team sells.

My son who is a police officer shared something called “Broken Window Theory” and I thought it was fascinating. Broken window theory suggests that visible signs of crime like cars stripped and up on blocks in the street, street signs missing, traffic lights not working, people consuming alcohol in public and other anti- social behaviors create an environment for more crime and more serious crimes.

The theory suggests that policing methods that target minor crimes such as vandalism, public drinking and others create an atmosphere of order and lawfulness, thereby preventing more serious crimes.

It made me think about how I have seen poor sales behaviors if not checked early can hurt a sales teams’ performace

In the 1969 a psychologist named Philip Zinbardo from Stanford ran an experiment.

The findings from the study?

Unintended behavior leads to a breakdown of community controls

One broken window leads to many if left unaddressed

Disorders drives fear and withdraw from community laws and norms

Even the best citizens in a community can start bad behaviors if the behaviors are left unchecked

“Ok Mark, this is all interesting … but how does this apply to driving profitable sales increases year over year?”

I thought you would never ask!

How many broken windows exist in your company’s sales organization?

Do you know where to look?

Are there new “Broken Windows” since the challenges of Covid-19?

Does your team have a formal sales process?

Is your sales team using it?

Are your sales managers coaching?

Many broken windows have been broken for years and they became “ how we do things around here”. New team members will see them immediately but if they want to survive they learn to look the other way.

Instead of repairing the broken windows teams try to just cover them up. However when we experience a market disruption we can become aware of broken windows if we know how and where to look.

Let me share the broken windows that I have seen since Covid- 19 has impacted our customers and how many of us sell today.

Majority of salesperson’s time spent in non-sales activities

Salespeople starting each day without a plan

Salespeople not trained in virtual sales technology so customer experience online is poor on Zoom calls

Salespeople not using cameras on Zoom calls

Sales people are listening to pitch and not listening to learn

Salespeople using Zoom for all calls when a phone call or email would have been a better mode

No pre-call plans 

No CRM entry for future meetings or past meeting notes

Outdated company content and value propositions used in calls that no longer resonate with buyers today

Poor or no customer follow up

Not following up on leads provided, QDD disorder ( assuming they are bad leads)

Customer email not responded to in 24 hours

Out-dated sales process

No plan to achieve their sales goals

Showing up late to weekly meetings

Salespeople playing feature and benefit bingo in Zoom meetings and not asking questions

Not being prepared for customer meetings with data

No cadence for how often they visit with each key customer

Not completing expense reports timely

Poor interpersonal exchanges with team members from other business groups

Talking too much in meetings with customers

Salespeople who have never been trained in sales (product-yes, sales skills-no) 

Not understanding their customers’ businesses

Not understanding their market or market language

Not understanding how your product or service impacts your customers’ bottom line

Not qualifying potential customers

Not updating sales stage in CRM

Asking poor discovery and qualifying questions in meetings

Poor listening, talking over customers in Zoom calls

Selling on price not value

No ideal customer profile so everyone could be a customer 

Poor to no relationship building plans at key customers

Key account budgets/goals… but no strategic growth plans on how to achieve them

Only knowing the buyers at key accounts no relationship with other influencers 

Sales pipeline bucket not a funnel 

No formal sales process for virtual sales

If you see some of the above you have broken windows in your sales skills that need to be repaired before your team can experience profitable sales growth.

The above are some broken windows I have observed but there are plenty more I am sure.

How about you…

What broken windows have you observed in your sales teams that are negatively impacting your profitable growth plans?

Do you have associates in key sales leadership roles that have not been trained to lead salespeople?

If we allow sales broken windows in how we sell they hurt our ability to drive profitable sales growth and increase shareholder value.

We are not recommending everyone has to be perfect at 1,000’s of things.

What we are saying is we need discipline and accountability in our sales teams with the right sales skills and behaviors today.

As the leader you need to set the expectation and ensure compliance. If you observe a behavior that is not consistent with what your team has identified as your core values you must be safe to address it and correct it. If not the little broken windows become chaos and good team members in your sales community will start behaving in ways counter to driving profitable growth.

If you would like to find your sales broken windows in less than 7 days and create a plan to fix them let’s schedule a call.

Need to Make Strategic Sales Structure Decisions?

By Mark Allen Roberts

Business owners, CEO’s and Sales Leaders are working to determine the best strategic sales organizational adjustments they need to make now and post Covid-19.

Some leaders talk about surviving right now, keeping their head above water, not needing to close locations and so on. Many share it is difficult to develop a strategic plan with so much uncertainty and chaos.

A select few leaders however are focused on not just surviving now but thriving after Covid-19. They have decided to stop waiting and start strategically planning the best sales structure for today and the future.

This post is for leaders who have decided to play offense and not just survive but thrive.

If you who wish to use this current time to retool and reorganize your sales team to meet buyer needs today and in the future, Harvard Business Review published an excellent article: Right Personnel Decisions Now to Thrive After the Crisis.

In this post I will share some of the insights from the Harvard Business article and discuss how to design your sales structure now to thrive after Covid-19.

The article starts (as it should) reminding us cash is king in such challenging and turbulent times. Leaders must review the data they have today, conduct scenario simulations and make strategic decisions to improve their cash position now.

This topic of improving your cash position is a topic I am many thought leaders are writing about and Bain’s post on 5 ways to protect cash provides great advice.

Why this timely Harvard Business article captured my attention is the author does an excellent job of sharing how to make strategic decisions about your people.

The author shares there are basically 4 categories of people decisions:

Repurposing

Engagement

Learning and up skilling

Right Sizing

Lets take a closer look at each.

Repurposing

Identify what parts of your business are slow or have stopped completely and how can you repurpose the people that support those areas to new areas to add value today.

If you find yourself having outside salespeople working virtually you may wish to assess their virtual selling skills and provide training for any skills gaps you discover.

My prediction is many sales teams will reorganize to leverage the productivity of an inside sales and virtual sales model during and when we emerge from Covid-19.

Engagement

Prior to Covid -19 many teams had concerns with employee engagement. Some studies shared as much as 65% of employees are not engaged and doing just enough to get by. This was costing organizations billions before Covid-19.

The author shares a key part of getting through a crisis is bringing your top performing team members with you and keeping them engaged.

Has your organization done an employee engagement research study?

What % of your team was not engaged?

What % of your team is not engaged today?

I have seen as high as 30% of the current team lack the will to sell in some sales organizations. In other words they are in a sales role but lack the commitment, motivation and often sales skills to drive revenue growth.

When needing to change the sales organization I would first seek those on the sales team without a will and desire to sell and try to find other non quota carrying roles where they can add value.

Learning, Retooling, Up skilling

As teams prepare to become more buyer centric they will often need additional training and up skilling for new roles. Many teams are currently assessing if they have the right salespeople in the right roles and if not what changes will need to be made.

As teams strategically use assessments, customer surveys and transaction data to identify the right person for the right roles, there will be a need for training by role.

The author reinforces the need to identify skills gaps now and use this time to close these gaps now.

How do you assess sales skills today?

What common sales skills gaps have you identified by sales role?

How do you plan to improve sales skills today?

Right Sizing

The hardest part of adjusting your organization to a shift of this magnitude is letting people go. Downsizing, furloughing, laying people off, eliminating their positions…whatever you call it is tough and very emotional.

It is a leaders job to make the tough calls based on the best information they have today.

My recommendation is take a data driven approach to making these tough decisions.

How do your buyers want and need to be served today?

What new skills will your sales team require?

What sales skills do your top performers have in each sales role?

Do you have the right person in the right role today?

What is my suggestion to solving this complex sales team right sizing, re tooling problem?

Consider many data points and leverage data to make decisions not just use your gut and intuition.

You need to answer the questions:

Who are my most and least profitable customers?

What do my buyers want and need from salespeople today?

Do I have the right salespeople in the right roles based on their skills and beliefs?

What are the sales competencies of my top performers?

The author suggests you make sure and understand the unit economics before you lay anyone off or terminate their employment.

She suggests a thorough evaluation by solution, market, and customer segment.

Sales assessments that measures sales skills, motivations and beliefs coupled with sales transaction data and past performance data is the best method to make these hard decisions.

I use a data driven tool that considers the following when restructuring and rightsizing sales teams when necessary:

Revenue

Pipeline health

Sales skills

Sales beliefs

Sales motivation

Performance to KPI’s last 12 months

Compensation

Consultative sales skills

Ability to work remotely, virtually

Value based sales verse selling on price

As Rebecca Hones shares in this excellent and timely article we have 4 categories of people decisions when we face a crisis like we are in today as we discussed above.

I suggest this is a good time for you to assess the skills, beliefs and motivations of your top sales performers by role. Strategically use data to reorganize your sales team by role and recruit new salespeople that match the sales DNA of your top performers.

If you find yourself and your team needing to make the tough decisions and want help with a data driven tools that helps you explore various sales organization structure scenarios, please contact me.

What Sales Skills Can We Develop That Makes Salespeople Automation Proof in a Digital World?

By Mark Roberts

Your mindset is critical to your success in sales. (Any job really) I work with a many sales teams and there is a fear just beneath the surface with many salespeople negatively impacting their performance today: 

“Will my job be eliminated with automation?” 

Will e-commerce and digitalization be the end of salespeople?

Will virtual sales be the final death blow to face to face selling?”

The reality is some transactional sales roles that involve order entry and or order verification and communicating ship dates will be replaced by automation, it’s just a matter of when. However, there are skills our sales teams need to develop that the Bots cannot replace.

 In this post we will share skills that will help your salespeople become “automation proof”.

The future of work looks grim for many people from a recent Harvard Article asking if you are developing skills that won’t be automated. The author predicts 10% of jobs will be automated this year. 

A recent study from Forrester estimated that 10% of U.S. jobs would be automated this year. Deploying automation is reshaping the jobs of human employees. In 2019, Forrester predicted that automation will become the tip of the digital transformation spear, impacting everything from infrastructure to customers to business models.

In another report from McKinsey estimates that close to half of all US jobs may be automated in the next decade. Automation technologies including AI and robotics will generate significant benefits for users, businesses, and economies. About half of all work activates globally have a technical potential to be automated by adapting current technologies. 

No wonder some sales teams are fear filled.

The trouble with fear is it does not motivate but cripples’ salespeople. When you are afraid the creative problem-solving part of the brain that is strategic and delivers key insights shuts off and blood is rerouted to the oldest part of the brain that is about survival. 

Buyers today are sharing what they want from salespeople and it is product and market insights they cannot find in online searches today.

Buyers are hungry to meet with salespeople who can connect the dots between what they are selling and how it will impact the buyers’ bottom line.

The trouble is many sales teams are not organized to meet the needs of buyers today and the sales value pyramid. 

This leads us to the question:

What skills can we develop in our sales teams that are automation proof?

In a previous post I shared what author Anita Neilson’s new book: Beat the Bots, How your humanity can future proof your tech sales career offers as excellent insights on how sales must adapt. Salespeople today must develop their skills in human to human (HTH) skills not only survive and thrive, and they will be in high demand for years to come.

The author shares a great deal of advice you can apply. 

Some of my favorites are:

·     The critical importance of personalization

·     Understand and be able to communicate your value is critical

·     Active listening and understanding your buyers, their challenges and the business of their business so you can provide valuable insights to add value is imperative

·     3 types of value (General, Company, and Personalized)

·     How psychology is at the heart of all sales

·     If you capture rational and emotional forces at work in your buyers’ minds you develop messages that resonate with them.

One big takeaway I will always remember from this book is the metaphor the author uses of how driving behavior change is like the story of the rider, the elephant and the path.

The rider relies on evidence, data, and analysis to pick the direction. (Senior leaders)

The elephant’s behavior is influenced by experiences and feelings. The fear of risk, loss and pain are huge in how the elephant makes decisions. Elephants hate change and like sameness. (Salespeople)

We quickly see the conflict that goes on in most of our brains and based on the elephants’ size and power who do you think wins most of the time?

Is it any surprise the status quo costs sellers more sales than competitors?

Why this metaphor is so powerful is every B2B sale I have ever made involved change.

·     Change the vendor partner

·     Change in process

·     Change in relationships

·     Change in pricing and terms

Our job today as modern sales leaders are to shape and coach the path strategically understanding both the rider and the elephant.

In an article by Global Banking and Finance the author shares 10 “automation proof” skills. Below are some from that article that apply to salespeople.

Judgement

More specifically, automation won’t be able to mimic our innate ability to tell what’s right from wrong.

Conflict negotiation and resolution are two other skills that will remain intact in the face of AI and robotics. 

Communication Skills

According to Statista, an average adult American spends nearly 12 hours consuming media. That’s lots of information, implying that communication skills will form an integral part of our everyday life in the future. 

The truth of the matter, however, is that people still prefer their news and information to be written in a compelling and sensible way. 

Content Creation Skills

The ability to create original and captivating content will still be in high demand. In fact, it’ll be hard to automate original content creation – the art of being able to communicate about a given topic in a succinct and refreshingly unique way. As such, if you have a combination of the skills and expertise to deliver new knowledge, you will be able to keep robots at bay.

Creative Skills

Having great imagination and a knack for creativity means that you will be able to invent new solutions and create new concepts that don’t already exist. Bots cannot beat human creativity.

The good news is that creativity can always keep you a step ahead of the pack, including robots. Whether you have a way with words or a knack for creating innovative products, your skills and crafts are in safe hands.

Empathy

If there’s something that makes us human, it’s empathy. True, robots can carry out simple human interactions like reply to an email or offer customer support via an automated answering machine. Even with top-level AI, they cannot empathize with someone. In other words, robots cannot truly understand nor connect with people on an emotional level.

Planning Skill

Being able to plan ahead fast and accurately is an incredible skill that can come in handy in just about any business or career. But that’s not something robots can do. Yes, they can schedule appointments, but they cannot anticipate shifts in priorities, unknown outcomes, and missing information.

Tech Management Skills

It might seem counterintuitive, but it’s true. It is somewhat laughable because most at-risk skills are those associated with technology. But when all’s said and done, we still need someone with the skills required to manage and stay on top of the automation tech itself.

Teaching Skills

Proliferation of technology has made it possible for millions to access information and educational materials in an instant. However, teaching as a skill calls for understanding the context. That’s why talented tutors, coaches, and teachers will remain the cornerstone of our education system despite automation.

Leadership and Social Skills

Nothing will change the fact that machines/robots are soulless. That’s why their interaction and connection with us will always feel “fake” and cold. As such, they’ll not cultivate or exercise leadership. Good leaders, as they say, have an affinity for caring, empathizing, and connecting with others on a personal level. Nothing of the same can be said of robots.

What sales skills and competencies is your training program focused on today?

What sales skills do your salespeople have and what skills do they need to develop for today?

Do you need to restructure and up skill your sales team?

Are your salespeople “automation proof”?

We have shared skills that automation won’t replace in the foreseeable future. These are the “human to human skills” author Anita Neilson discusses.

They all have a foundational emotional element in one-way or the other. AI and robots might actually help us sharpen these skills but won’t replace them.

From my experience buyers’ value trusted advisors who listen authentically and deliver value in every interaction.

Buyers want and need powerful market and business insights that will impact their bottom line.

My advice to those salespeople and some sales managers that fear their jobs may be eliminated is focus on developing skills that are automation proof.

If you are curious about your sales team, the skills they have and the skills they may need in the future please contact me and let’s discuss how we can quickly answer those questions and help your team become automation proof.

Need to Improve Revenue? Run a MRI on Your Business Today

By Mark Allen Roberts

When I ask CEO’s and Sales leaders: “how do you plan to end 2020 strong and hit the ground running in 2021?”…I receive a variety of responses. Some have plans and specific strategies and tactics but the majority are more focused on this month and this quarter.

I spoke at the NAW event in Washington DC last year before the pandemic and asked a room of CEO’s and business leaders to raise your hand if you felt with 100% certainty your sales organization has the skills to hit your sales and profit objectives in 2020…. not one hand was raised. This was concerning but not surprising.

I have helped organization improve their sales and deliver more shareholder value for over 30 years.

CEO’s and CFO’s have always expressed a concern that sales are more of a dark art than a science.

For years I have heard: Why can’t sales run more like my plant with systems, processes and deliver predictable results?

In this post we will discuss how to run an MRI for your business now and strategically pivot and lean into the data to structure, train and coach your sales team to drive the outcomes leaders desire.

You have a smart team and with good, up to date data you can build strategies that deliver the results you want and need.

There was an interesting article in the Wall street Journal some time ago about a reporter who wrote about healthy lifestyles discovering he had a blocked Carotid artery although he was not currently showing any symptoms.

As I read this article it reminded me of how many teams I have served were experiencing small symptoms of problems but needed to dive deeper to find the root causes and heal them.

Many CEO’s and sales leaders I speak with have issues just below the surface in their businesses that need a business health MRI to identify them.

Let me ask you a few questions:

What if we could provide a data driven scan for the health of your business today?

What if this scan could predict your business’s future health if things remained the same?

What if we used a scan of your businesses health today that could help us prevent your business having a stroke and or going out of business in the future?

What if we had a Business MRI and we could scan your business and share specific areas that need to improve before they become fatal?

For over 35 years of my career I was hired to “fix sales problems”. The first thing I would do with each client is gathering and assessing data from various parts of the business and your markets and determines the organizations’ overall health.

Organizations have strong leaders and senior leaderships teams who if they had unbiased, unfiltered data can and will create short term and long term plans to adjust to current market constraints.

 This process has been the same with each team I have served and I believe it is more critical now than ever given the change so many of us have experienced.

Could common sales clots be forming in your pipeline today that will cause a sales and or profit stroke in your business or worse?

If we could run a diagnostic scan of your sales and your overall business health what would we look for?

I would suggest seven areas of your organization to scan to give your leadership the data they need.

Voice of your customers

Here we capture things like how your buyers buy and why they buy from you and why they don’t. What is your net promoter score? Capture how your buyers are buying today and what criteria they need to make a buying decision. We spend time understanding your customer’s business and their economic drivers as well as whom their customers are.

Systems and Processes

Does the team have a Sales Plan?  Do you have a formal Sales Process that is buyer centric? Are the systems in place to support profitable growth that provide salespeople valuable insights to prescriptively growing their business? Do you have a CRM and why or why not are sales using it? Do you have a strong sales support focus to ensure customers have a strong buying experience?

Marketing

Does the team have a strong digital marketing competence? (If not you must accelerate this now) I suggest running a value proposition audit to ensure you clearly understand what your buyer’s value after the last 90 days of disruption. Do you clearly understand the various buyer personas of your customers and decision makers and have you equipped sales with the right tools and messaging for each? How active is your website? Is your website found and does your site speak in the language of the channels you serve?

Sales support

Here we look at all the sales support tools ,systems and processes to ensure they are aligned to drive profitable sales growth while making it easy for customers to buy from you. Do you have a sales enablement function? If not who is responsible for helping sales improve their success? Does sales have the right tools for each stage of the sales process? Does your sales process mirror your buyers buying process today or is it out-dated? When we look at sales support we also look at the skills of sales management and sales leaders. Have they been trained in the new skills to grow from rep to manager? Do sales managers know how to coach? Do they want to coach and more importantly how effective is their sales coaching?

Sales Mindset

We want to determine things like what do your salespeople believe about things like: pricing, quality, selling, business outlook, accountability and motivation? Ultimately we are determining if your sales team knows how to sell and will they sell? Do they have a high emotional intelligence and empathy? Is their focus to produce value for their customers as trusted advisors or are they commission junkies just focused on their goals?

Sales Skills

The main focus here is to determine by salesperson and sales manager if they have been trained and do they have the sales skills needed in your market of today? Do they understand how to sell based on value and not just price? Do they feel comfortable asking strong qualifying and discovery questions to get to the root of the buyer problems? Do the sales people know how to negotiate and close? Can they shape their conversation style based on the personality of the buyer? Are they comfortable creating a business case and talking about money? Do they know how to have insightful conversations with various influencers all the way up to the CEO? Are the right people based on skills and mindset in the right roles?

Metrics and Data

Here we dive into the data often buried deep in your servers and CRM. We look at things like on boarding new sales associates and time to revenue. We review KPI’s (leading and lagging indicators) and are they the right ones for the business today and in the future, by sales role. Naturally we look at sales, profits by salesperson, by customer and by channel. What is the cost of sales? Cost per lead? What is your net profit by customer today? What is our close rate average and by team member? What is our market share and share of each key customers’ wallet? What were our planned and unplanned sales associate turnover in the last 24 months? Does your team have a strategic pricing system or just a common margin for all products and services?

Once we scanned your organization for all of the above, we diagnose the overall health of your business today and predict the future success of your organization. We are establishing a data driven current state for your business health.

Most of the teams I have served have a much clearer vision of their future state they desire than the current state they are working in today.

We look at your business and customers today then create a plan and connect the dots between your current state today and where your team desires to be in the future.

I hear some of you saying: Wow Mark that’s a lot of work, I am already buried in work and so is my team how will we find the time to gather this information? “

Or another common concern: ” This sounds like a pretty big change and we are not typically strong at change management.”

My challenge is if not now when?

If you have been following any of my articles or attending my webinars there is a powerful sales effectiveness instrument and data gathering process to gather the above.

We leverage technology to gain the insights we need to shape a healthy strategic business plan for the future.

If you want to DIY your business health assessment have at it. Many teams will try to gather everything they need but find themselves distracted by today’s challenges and the flaming trashcan of today.

Another challenge to doing this data gathering yourself is with the rate of change we are experiencing in this VUCA economy by the time you gathered everything yourself it may not be relevant anymore.

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The other consideration you must assess is the organizations culture if you want to DIY your sales and profit health project.

Your organization culture is like the blood flowing throughout your body. It touches every organ or as in this case every person, process and system.

Culture 

When we assess a culture we look for things like: Is the culture innovative or are they defensive and protecting the fort? What is the team’s comfort with change? Do the senior leaders have a fixed mindset…” the way we have always done things around here”…or open to new ideas and a growth mindset? How is the organization structured? Do they have business silos? What is their decision making process? Do they have a continuous learning culture? We need to understand any deep biases early and introduce data before we begin developing our business health plan. 

My recommendation is you want a 3rd party to give your business a BMRI so the data is not biased.

There is a tremendous value of hiring an outside heretic when it comes to adding value to your bottom line. They gather the data and share it without a filter and politically correct biases.

“Smart experienced teams when presented unfiltered data make strong strategic sales and profit plans.”

– Mark Allen Roberts

If you want help running an MRI for your business now and have the data to make strategic pivots let’s chat.

Healthy businesses will survive now and thrive in the years to come!

Are Your Salespeople Selling Naked Today?

By Mark Roberts

As companies adjust and learn to sell in the midst of a pandemic we need to clearly understand our buyers and the problems they have now and the skills our salespeople need to be effective. Unfortunately many salespeople are using dated value propositions, sales processes, sales tools and lack sales skills training …they are selling naked.

One of my favorite children’s is a book: The Emperor’s New Clothes. If you are not familiar with the story: there once was an emperor who spent a great deal on money on clothes. One day two swindlers came to town and said they would make the emperor clothes the most beautiful he has ever seen, but if anyone could not see the clothes they were unfit for their positions.

The deception begins and the emperor does not want to admit he can’t see the clothes so he pretends to put on this invisible garment. His minister does not want to admit they do not see it in fear of being judged unfit so they pretend to see it and they compliment the emperor.

The emperor proceeds to walk around town naked and no one tells him until he comes across a little boy who is our heretic in this story and shares the emperor is naked.

I was recently asked to be a guest on the popular podcast MFG Out loud and the hosts were intrigued by this idea of salespeople being forced to sell naked and they asked I unpack this topic a bit. In this post we will discuss the 7 signs your sales team is selling naked.

1.) If your sales team cannot quickly share your repeatable sales process…they are selling Naked!

Let’s start with the sales process itself.

The process of sales does not need to be as difficult as we make it.

Market leading organizations understand it all starts with understanding your market, buyers, and the process and criteria they use to make buying decisions.

Once you have a clear understanding of your buyers you position your product or service in your market with a value proposition that resonates with your buyers and you are on a path to a sale.

When I work with sales teams we discover with our skills assessment they do not have a formal repeatable sales process and this is an interruption for most CEO’s. Their salespeople are basically winging it each day, with each customer and on each call.

I refer to winging it as “random acts of sales.

(no wonder CEO’s are frustrated that sales seems like more of a dark art than a science)

As businesses reset and retool we can’s afford random acts of sales and must give sales teams a system to follow that drives the profitable outcomes we expect.

This can quickly be corrected with voice of the customer research and conducting a sales skills assessment.

Once you develop a sales process based on how your buyers are buying you must train your sales team and coach them to use each step..

2.) If your sales team cannot share your value proposition …they are selling Naked!

If your sales team is using a dated value proposition it will no longer resonate with your buyers and will damage the buyers perception of your salesperson’s competency and their ability to trust them.

When your sales team lacks a current value proposition and distinction from competitors they are being asked to sell naked.

We can create a value proposition that connects with your top buyer personas and train your salespeople when and how to use them as we develop their selling skills.

3.) If your sales team has not received sales skills training…they are selling Naked!

With as high as 50% of salespeople not receiving any sales skills training we should not be surprised when we observe clogged or non existent sales pipelines.

We should not become angry when salespeople sell on price and not value.

We should not become disappointed when salespeople lack the ability to strategically grow their current customers.

The good news is this is easily corrected with sales skills training and prescriptive analytics.

4.) If your sales team has not received business acumen training …they are selling Naked!

Today’s buyers want and value salespeople who deliver ways to add more value to their bottom-line.

How can your salespeople sell based on value if they do not have business acumen training?

Are your salespeople speaking the language of business and able to create a compelling business case?

5.) If your website has not been updated in the last year…they are selling Naked!

With as high as 70% of the sales process being over before a buyer speaks with your salesperson your website is more critical than ever.

The difficulty arises when companies have a website that is more of a virtual brochure about them and not the problems that they solve for their customers and not leveraging digital marketing best practices.

Buyers are searching for solutions to their problems. They are looking for companies and salespeople who can provide more than a transaction.

Does your website share the problems you solve?

Do you offer e-commerce for buyers who know what they want and can quickly and easily buy?

In the last 90 days have you adjusted your value proposition and messaging on your website based on the needs of your buyers today?

6.) If you have not provided virtual sales skills training…they are selling Naked!

 Covid-19 has impacted the way we serve our customers.

Many states implemented constraints that caused salespeople to sell virtually.

A big issue we need to unpack is almost 60% of salespeople will have difficulty working remotely without training and coaching. (This statistic comes from the sales skills assessment tool I use that has assessed over 2 million salespeople globally.)

Have you provided your salespeople virtual sales skills training and the technical tools to be effective and efficient in virtual sales?

Have you trained and coached your salespeople how to build meaningful business relationships virtually?

Are your salespeople calling all your current customers and implementing a retention strategy?

7.) If you have not assessed your sales teams’ skills by role…they are selling Naked!

How effective is your sales team today?

How much more effective could they be?

How long would it take to improve their sales effectiveness?

What impact would improving your sales team’s effectiveness have on your bottom line?

Are your salespeople selling based on value or just price?

All of the above and much more can be answered by conducting a sales skills assessment. With this valuable information you can quickly make sure you have the right people in the right roles and develop sales skills training to close any skills gaps you discover.

With all the changes we have seen in the last 90 days it’s imperative you have the right salesperson in the right role with the right skills.

As I shared in a recent podcast, Warren Buffet’s quote is particularly relevant in today’s business climate

“ When the tide goes out you can tell who has been swimming naked”

90 days ago the biggest challenge most businesses had was finding and retaining employees to support their growth

Business was good and growing.

Many leaders had plans to invest in sales skills training, digital marketing and exploring inside sales models. But sales were coming in and they did not want to rock the boat. They were so busy in the business they did not have time to work on the business.

As the revenue tide went out for many businesses, it became very apparent their sales teams needed training and coaching.

With as high as 50% of salespeople not receiving any formal sales skills training in skills like: qualifying, discovery, up selling, cross selling, consultative sales, how to build strategic business relationships, negotiations skills, value based sales skills, closing skills we should not be surprised many sales people are struggling and selling naked today.

Unlike the king in our story the sad reality is your salespeople in many cases know they are selling naked.

They may not call it “selling naked” but what they have always done is no longer working today

The sales team and sales managers know something is wrong but they do not know what it is

Some are just trying harder and working longer hours making more phone calls and growing more stressed, frustrated and fearful each day.

Are your salespeople selling naked today?

If any one of the 7 signs I shared is happening in your organization your team is selling naked and losing sales they could have won.

Spend time assessing your sales teams skills and the voice of your customers and provide your salespeople the training tools and coaching to help them stop feeling naked and afraid when calling buyers today.

If you would like my help assessing your sales skills, net profit by customer and understanding the current voice of your customers let’s schedule a call.

To learn more about selling naked you can visit this post titled: Stop Asking your Salespeople to Sell Naked

Top 7 Signs your Sales Team is Selling Naked

By Mark Roberts

 

As companies adjust and learn to sell in the midst of a pandemic we need to clearly understand our buyers and the problems they have now and the skills our salespeople need to be effective. Unfortunately many salespeople are using dated value propositions, sales processes, sales tools and lack sales skills training …they are selling naked.

 

One of my favorite children’s is a book: The Emperor’s New Clothes. If you are not familiar with the story: there once was an emperor who spent a great deal on money on clothes. One day two swindlers came to town and said they would make the emperor clothes the most beautiful he has ever seen, but if anyone could not see the clothes they were unfit for their positions.

 

The deception begins and the emperor does not want to admit he can’t see the clothes so he pretends to put on this invisible garment. His minister does not want to admit they do not see it in fear of being judged unfit so they pretend to see it and they compliment the emperor.

The emperor proceeds to walk around town naked and no one tells him until he comes across a little boy who is our heretic in this story and shares the emperor is naked.

I was recently asked to be a guest on the popular podcast MFG Out loud and the hosts were intrigued by this idea of salespeople being forced to sell naked and they asked I unpack this topic a bit. In this post we will discuss the 7 signs your sales team is selling naked.

 

1.) If your sales team cannot quickly share your repeatable sales process…they are selling Naked!

Let’s start with the sales process itself.

The process of sales does not need to be as difficult as we make it.

Market leading organizations understand it all starts with understanding your market, buyers, and the process and criteria they use to make buying decisions.

Once you have a clear understanding of your buyers you position your product or service in your market with a value proposition that resonates with your buyers and you are on a path to a sale.

When I work with sales teams we discover with our skills assessment they do not have a formal repeatable sales process and this is an interruption for most CEO’s. Their salespeople are basically winging it each day, with each customer and on each call.

I refer to winging it as “random acts of sales.

(no wonder CEO’s are frustrated that sales seems like more of a dark art than a science)

As businesses reset and retool we can’s afford random acts of sales and must give sales teams a system to follow that drives the profitable outcomes we expect.

This can quickly be corrected with voice of the customer research and conducting a sales skills assessment.

Once you develop a sales process based on how your buyers are buying you must train your sales team and coach them to use each step..

2.) If your sales team cannot share your value proposition …they are selling Naked!

If your sales team is using a dated value proposition it will no longer resonate with your buyers and will damage the buyers perception of your salesperson’s competency and their ability to trust them.

When your sales team lacks a current value proposition and distinction from competitors they are being asked to sell naked.

We can create a value proposition that connects with your top buyer personas and train your salespeople when and how to use them as we develop their selling skills.

3.) If your sales team has not received sales skills training…they are selling Naked!

With as high as 50% of salespeople not receiving any sales skills training we should not be surprised when we observe clogged or non existent sales pipelines.

We should not become angry when salespeople sell on price and not value.

We should not become disappointed when salespeople lack the ability to strategically grow their current customers.

The good news is this is easily corrected with sales skills training and prescriptive analytics.

4.) If your sales team has not received business acumen training …they are selling Naked!

Today’s buyers want and value salespeople who deliver ways to add more value to their bottom-line.

How can your salespeople sell based on value if they do not have business acumen training?

Are your salespeople speaking the language of business and able to create a compelling business case?

5.) If your website has not been updated in the last year…they are selling Naked!

With as high as 70% of the sales process being over before a buyer speaks with your salesperson your website is more critical than ever.

The difficulty arises when companies have a website that is more of a virtual brochure about them and not the problems that they solve for their customers and not leveraging digital marketing best practices.

Buyers are searching for solutions to their problems. They are looking for companies and salespeople who can provide more than a transaction.

Does your website share the problems you solve?

Do you offer e-commerce for buyers who know what they want and can quickly and easily buy?

In the last 90 days have you adjusted your value proposition and messaging on your website based on the needs of your buyers today?

6.) If you have not provided virtual sales skills training…they are selling Naked!

 Covid-19 has impacted the way we serve our customers.

Many states implemented constraints that caused salespeople to sell virtually.

A big issue we need to unpack is almost 60% of salespeople will have difficulty working remotely without training and coaching. (This statistic comes from the sales skills assessment tool I use that has assessed over 2 million salespeople globally.)

Have you provided your salespeople virtual sales skills training and the technical tools to be effective and efficient in virtual sales?

Have you trained and coached your salespeople how to build meaningful business relationships virtually?

Are your salespeople calling all your current customers and implementing a retention strategy?

7.) If you have not assessed your sales teams’ skills by role…they are selling Naked!

How effective is your sales team today?

How much more effective could they be?

How long would it take to improve their sales effectiveness?

What impact would improving your sales team’s effectiveness have on your bottom line?

Are your salespeople selling based on value or just price?

All of the above and much more can be answered by conducting a sales skills assessment. With this valuable information you can quickly make sure you have the right people in the right roles and develop sales skills training to close any skills gaps you discover.

With all the changes we have seen in the last 90 days it’s imperative you have the right salesperson in the right role with the right skills.

As I shared in a recent podcast, Warren Buffet’s quote is particularly relevant in today’s business climate

“ When the tide goes out you can tell who has been swimming naked”

90 days ago the biggest challenge most businesses had was finding and retaining employees to support their growth

Business was good and growing.

Many leaders had plans to invest in sales skills training, digital marketing and exploring inside sales models. But sales were coming in and they did not want to rock the boat. They were so busy in the business they did not have time to work on the business.

As the revenue tide went out for many businesses, it became very apparent their sales teams needed training and coaching.

With as high as 50% of salespeople not receiving any formal sales skills training in skills like: qualifying, discovery, up selling, cross selling, consultative sales, how to build strategic business relationships, negotiations skills, value based sales skills, closing skills we should not be surprised many sales people are struggling and selling naked today.

Unlike the king in our story the sad reality is your salespeople in many cases know they are selling naked.

They may not call it “selling naked” but what they have always done is no longer working today

The sales team and sales managers know something is wrong but they do not know what it is

Some are just trying harder and working longer hours making more phone calls and growing more stressed, frustrated and fearful each day.

Are your salespeople selling naked today?

If any one of the 7 signs I shared is happening in your organization your team is selling naked and losing sales they could have won.

Spend time assessing your sales teams skills and the voice of your customers and provide your salespeople the training tools and coaching to help them stop feeling naked and afraid when calling buyers today.

If you would like my help assessing your sales skills, net profit by customer and understanding the current voice of your customers let’s schedule a call.

To learn more about selling naked you can visit this post titled: Stop Asking your Salespeople to Sell Naked

 

 

One Data Point Most Sales Teams Miss When Restructuring the Sales Organization

By Mark Roberts

 

In my last post I shared insights from an excellent article published in Harvard Business Publications. Why this article was timely and needed is several CEO’s and CFO’s as well as business owners, Private Equity firms and Venture Capital firms are all having discussions on how to reduce costs but not hurt future performance. How do I save the business today and not set it up to fail in the future?  I shared a tool to help business leaders consider much more than revenue by salesperson when rightsizing and retooling their sales teams in my last post. There is one critical Data point everyone must consider in addition when reorganizing and restructuring sales organizations but sadly most will not.

In this post I will share what this last piece of critical information is you must capture to strategically pivot, reset, retool and reorganize your sales organization to survive today and thrive post Covid-19.

 

As I work with business leaders they are frustrated and often anxious about the future of their business. If you have been in business for a while like me, you have lived through economic disruption and challenges. You adjusted and survived in 2008 and the stock market volatility. You may have seen some revenue disruption after 911 but your team adjusted and grew through those challenges.

Many businesses have seen disruption since the growth of Internet shopping and quickly pivoted and now offer ecommerce on their websites. Many B2B businesses have been forced to reset and adjust their go to market strategy as Amazon is quickly becoming a dominant force in B2B product sales and is disrupting traditional channel partner relationships. If any one of these disruptions were to hit again, we know what to do. We know what we learned before, remember what worked and what failed and have a playbook of sorts to dust off, maybe update a bit and then implement.

Covid -19 is nothing like what we have ever experienced before and therefore many teams are struggling to develop a strategic plan to not only survive but also thrive after Covid-19.

What makes this current disruption so unique and hard to navigate?

Covid -19 was not a single event we experienced and worked through. It is an on going event with new information daily. Not all businesses have been impacted the same. Some businesses have seen little disruption, some have experienced an increase in revenue and many have seen orders drop off 30% or more. Many businesses are dealing with canceled orders they built product for, customers having difficulty paying their bills on time not to mention the emotional toll this crisis has had on employees, their families and coworkers.

We are adapting with virtual selling, and Zoom calls are becoming the norm for many once outside sales professionals. Salespeople are using this time to up skill and adjust how they serve their customers by leading with empathy and improving our active listening skills to truly understand how our customers are dealing with this crisis, how have their businesses been impacted and how can we best serve them today?

Sadly, some organizations are making knee jerk reactions to this challenge without looking at data and taking a broader view. They are downsizing their workforce, implementing mandatory furloughs and pay cuts until they have more information to develop a more strategic plan. I see many distributors for example significantly reducing inventory and counting on their manufacturer partners for drop shipping orders. It’s easy to get caught up in the whirlwind of anxiety, concern and even fear.

The good news is you have a strong leadership team with experienced people. They have proven time and time again if given unfiltered data that is prescriptive they can develop strategic plans to survive now and thrive when we come out of this crisis many of us are experiencing.

As I shared in my last post teams are gathering data as fast as they can and searching for trends to develop scenarios and identifying specific trigger events that will activate their future plans. Teams are pouring over KPI data hungry for insights to develop plans and lead their teams through this disruptive market condition. The trouble is many leaders have tunnel vision looking at lagging indicators and need to have a much broader and creative view of this situation to develop the right strategic plans.

As I eluded to in my last post there is one major data point I always consider when retooling and reorganizing sales most teams most leaders are not considering that would add tremendous insight to not only survive today but be one of the few organizations that makes strategic pivots now and thrives post Covid-19.

 

What is this illusive data point most teams are failing to consider?

 

Your customers!

 

Now is the time to intimately understand your customers and be able to answer questions like:

 

Why do customers buy from you?

 

Why don’t customers buy from you?

 

What do your customers consider your value proposition to be today?

 

How are your buyers buying?

 

Have your buyers’ buying journey changed in the last 30 days?

 

Do your buyers have new buying criteria they did not have 30 days ago?

 

What do your buyers want and expect today?

 

What are you doing today they no longer value but is adding to your cost to serve?

 

In a Harvard article recently released titled: The Most Important Metric You are not Tracking Yet, the author shares how most organizations consider themselves to be customer centric, but they are failing to take into consideration how their customers’ needs and expectations have changed since Covid.

 

Many teams again are pouring over inward facing KPI’s looking for insights, but they are failing to understand CPI’s.

 

What’s a CPI?

 

A CPI is Customer Performance Indicators.

 

The author shares there are two elements for something to be a CPI:

  1. Outcomes customers say are important to them
  2. Outcomes are measures in increments important to the customer

 

What are some increments that are important to customers?

Time

Convenience

Options

Dollars Saved

Value Delivered

 

Many people think CPI’s are the same as your Net Promotor Score. Your NPS is one of your KPI’s and measures if someone would recommend, refer others to do business with you. NPS unlike a CPI however does not provide the connection to single intended customer outcomes.

Who in your organization might value a current CPI?

  • Marketing – how customers are buying, where are they shopping. how they are making buying decisions and what is their exit criteria today?
  • Sales– what do buyers want and need from salespeople today? What are their expectations on services like speed of quote, minimum order quantities, terms, returns…?
  • Product Management– understanding product use cases and identifying if product requirements have changed
  • Customer Service – customer expectations on metrics like first time issue resolution, ease of accessing someone, ability to resolve issues quickly and completely
  • Operations – customer expectations with regards to order accuracy, turnaround time, shipping orders complete
  • Finance – tracking and reporting the value you have provided the customer with your product or solution

To make strategic decisions in such a volatile and uncertain  business climate we need to consider various sets data not emotion.

We not only need to gather internal data and customer voice insights but we also need to do so quickly because in many cases if it takes you months to gather information it will be to late by the time you try to use it.

 

Companies who will survive and thrive post Covid -19 will gather data quickly, capture the voice of their customers and establish current CPI’s then assess their sales and other teams on their ability to deliver to the customer stated needs and expectations. Sales organizations that will not only survive but become market leaders post Covid-19 will gather data quickly accessing many data points and develop strategic plans for today and post Covid -19. They will be Agile and adapt and often pivot long before their competitors in fear mode making decisions based on emotion.

 

It’s time to gather your internal and customer voice data to help your team develop your strategic plans to weather the Covid-19 storm and come out stronger and more effective when it passes. I my goal in this post was to coach everyone to find the voice of their customers today when shaping their sales and service organizations for today and the future.

Leveraging data coupled with voice of your customer feedback is a proven no smoke and mirrors process I have used for over 30 years to help organizations experience explosive sales and profit growth.

If you would prefer my help providing unfiltered, unbiased data in 7-10 business days lets schedule a call and I would be honored to serve your team and position your team to become stronger today and a market leader in the future.

 

 

 

 

How to Make Tough Sales Structure Decisions?

By Mark Allen Roberts

 

Many business owners and CEO’s are trying to determine the best strategic adjustments they need to make now and post Covid-19. Some leaders talk about surviving right now, keeping their head above water, not needing to close locations and so on. Many share it is difficult to develop a plan with so much uncertainty and chaos.

 

A select few leaders however are focused on not just surviving but thriving after Covid-19. For those of you who wish to use this current time to retool and reorganize your sales team to meet buyer needs today and in the future, Harvard Business Review published an excellent article: Right Personnel Decisions Now to Thrive After the Crisis.

 

In this post I will share some of the insights from the article and discuss how to position your business now to thrive after Covid-19.

 

The article starts, and rightfully so, reminding us cash is king in such challenging and turbulent times. Leaders must review the data they have today, conduct scenario simulations and make strategic decisions to improve your cash position. This topic of improving your cash position is a topic I am confident many thought leaders are writing about and I will not discuss this in this post.

 

Why this timely article captured my attention is the author does an excellent job of sharing how to make strategic decisions about your people.

 

The author shares there are basically 4 categories of people decisions

 

Repurposing

 

Identify what parts of your business are slow or have stopped completely and how can you repurpose the people that support those areas to new areas to add value today.

 

For example most sales teams have salespeople who are outside salespeople. Their typical week involves traveling and meeting with their customers and helping them solve problems. In many states these salespeople are being repurposed to inside virtual sales roles. The difficulty some teams are experiencing is we have found only 41% of salespeople today have the skills, discipline and mindset to work remotely.

 

If you find yourself having outside salespeople working virtually you may wish to assess their virtual selling skills and provide training for any skills gaps you discover.

 

My prediction is many sales teams will reorganize to leverage the productivity of an inside sales model once we emerge from Covid-19. Many the CFO’s I speak with are sharing they are seeing a drop in top line sales but an even more significant drop in sales expense. They will be challenging sales leaders to ensure the sales organization of the future maximizes the return on sales expense and explore more virtual sales in the future.

 

Engagement

 

Prior to Covid -19 many teams had concerns with employee engagement. Some studies shared as much as 65% of employees are not engaged and doing just enough to get by. This was costing organizations billions before Covid-19.

 

The author shares a key part of getting through a crisis is bringing your top performing team members with you and keeping them engaged.

 

Has your organization done an employee engagement research study?

 

What % of your team was not engaged?

 

What % of your team is not engaged today?

 

When it comes to salespeople we look for their engagement in their Sales DNA. This part of the assessment helps us discover their sales beliefs and motivations. On some teams I have worked with as high as 30% of the current team lack the will to sell. In other words they joined the sales team but lack the commitment, motivation and often sales skills to drive revenue growth. We need to consider engagement as we reorganize and retool our sales organizations for the future.

 

Learning, Retooling, Up skilling

 

As teams prepare to become more buyer centric they will often need additional training and up skilling for new roles. Many teams are currently assessing if they have the right salespeople in the right roles and if not what changes will need to be made.

 

As teams strategically use assessments, performance reviews and transaction data to identify the right person for the right roles, there will be a need for training.

 

One of the biggest pushback’s I have received from salespeople about training is: I don’t have the time. When we look at how salespeople spend their time, the average outside salesperson spending 15% of there sellable time traveling, and since they are not traveling now…they have the time. Let’s use this time wisely and prepare our salespeople with individualized learning plans that equip them to be successful in their current and or new roles.

 

The author reinforces the need to identify skills gaps now and use this time to close these gaps now.

 

Right Sizing

 

The hardest part of adjusting your organization to a shift of this magnitude is letting people go. Downsizing, furloughing, laying people off, eliminating their positions…whatever you call it is tough and very emotional. It is a leaders job to make the tough calls based on the best information they have today and very emotionally draining.

 

However as a leader its something we must do after exhausting all other strategies to protect our balance sheet today and in the future. Your mission is to make decisions to survive now and thrive when we come out of Covid-19.

 

Having been through market downturns over my past 36 years leading sales teams I know how difficult these decisions can be. Admittedly I have never led a team though something like Covid-19 with so much uncertainty.

 

My recommendation is take a data driven approach to making these tough decisions.

 

I can tell you how I’ve seen teams reorganize their sales teams the wrong way. I have seen some teams look strictly at their forced ranking performance reviews. They identify those associates who scored the lowest and target them for downsizing.

 

The trouble with this strategy alone is you may be letting some people go you should be saving or could save with additional training and sales coaching. What I have observed is forced ranking performance systems often give you the wrong data.

 

The leading problem I have observed is many performance systems are subjective based on opinion and not data. They become popularity contests and sales managers protect salespeople like them. They keep the easy sales reps who act and think like the manager and often these are not top performers when you study transaction data metrics like profit per sale, new business, and return on sales expense.

 

With 50% of salespeople today receiving no sales skills training it should not shock us to learn most sales managers have not been trained. Without training in how to motivate, lead and coach salespeople all they can do is compare how this salesperson behaves compared to the behaviors they did when they are a salesperson. Add that many sales managers today came up through the sales ranks before the internet, before social selling and even before cell phones in some cases, they are often judging your salespeople’s sales competencies based on an outdated sales process.

 

What is my suggestion to solving this complex sales team right sizing, re tooling problem?

 

Consider many data points and leverage data to make decisions not gut and intuition.

 

You need to answer the question: Do I have the right salespeople in the right roles? 

 

The author suggests you make sure and understand the unit economics before you lay anyone off or terminate their employment. She suggests a thorough evaluation by solution, market, and customer segment.

 

Another mistake I see teams’ make when the CEO tells the CFO I need $XXX, XXX in cuts. The CFO runs sales by salesperson descending report. The CFO and Sales VP look at the Excel spread sheet and draw the line. Everyone above the line stays and everyone below the line is laid off or let go permanently.

 

Although they are using data to make difficult decisions, this process is often not the best for the long-term health of your sales teams’ results.

 

Many times I have seen the top salesperson by revenue is not the most skilled salesperson on the sales team. Often this person is someone who has been on the team the longest and or manages some of the largest accounts they were given years ago. Although they may carry some of the largest revenue numbers they often have poor farming or hunting skills. They often lack business acumen to have business discussions with buyers to help them build a business case to fund the purchase investment.

 

If you are sold on just running an Excel report and drawing the line…let me ask you a question to consider.

 

Of the salespeople above the line, if you were asked to open and grow a new sales territory would you choose them?

 

When I have asked sales leaders and sometimes CFO’s this question I receive an uncomfortable…No.

 

This method of restructuring and retooling your sales team does not identify team and individual skills gaps and therefore does not help you close gaps to help your sales team become more efficient and effective after Covid-19.

 

Again a sales assessment that measures sales skills competencies, motivations and beliefs coupled with sales transaction data and past performance data is the best method to make these hard decisions.

 

I use a tool called a smart sizing tool that considers the following when restructuring and rightsizing sales teams when necessary :

 

Revenue

Pipeline health

Sales skills

Sales beliefs

Sales motivation

Performance to KPI’s last 12 months

Compensation

Consultative sales skills

Ability to work remotely, virtually

Value based sales verse selling on price

 

As Rebecca Hones shares in this excellent and timely article we have 4 categories of people decisions when we face a crisis like we are in today as we discussed above.

 

Some of the leaders I speak with that serve the food industry and medical supplies and safety products industries have not seen a decrease and some have experienced a slight sales increase in the last 30 days.

 

If your business has not been disrupted and or is actually increasing consider yourself blessed.

 

I suggest this is a good time for you to assess the skills, beliefs and motivations of your top sales performers and strategically use this data to recruit new salespeople that match the sales DNA of your top performers.

 

If you find yourself and your team needing to make the tough decisions and wantt help with a data driven tool that helps you explore various sales organization structure scenarios, please contact me. Leveraging the smart sizing tool we can get you the insights to make current and future sales structure decisions within one week.

 

There is one other critical data point market leading organizations need to consider when reorganizing and retooling their sales organization and most teams do not even have it on the list right now.

 

In my next post I will share this additional information to ensure your sales reorganization drives the maximum value for your team.

 

 

 

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