Are “Politically Incorrect Market Secrets” (PIMS) Stalling Your Sales Growth? Six Quick Questions to Find Out….
We are at the half way point of your sales plan. How is your team doing to plan? I have heard statistics that state 70% of salespeople will miss their sales plans this year. Why? Can your team afford to let this happen?…I did not think so. In this post I am challenging you, right here in the privacy of your computer. If this post pertains to you and you are a driven, dominant type leader that is so focused on the vision you believe to be true, (that may have actually been true 10 years ago) this post is going to make you feel uncomfortable. If you are market leader it will reinforce the importance of why you must wake up each day humble seeking current market truth and create a culture where it’s safe to tell you what your asking the team to do or say is nuts.
One of the reasons sales plans fail to create sales velocity is “Politically Incorrect Market Secrets” salespeople are afraid to share with you. Trust me, every business, (even yours) can do better. In the dynamic markets we serve today changes are occurring every day and sales teams that have a culture where it’s safe to share current truths, are agile, and they adapt and thrive. Sales teams with culture built in the shadow of a dominant leader(s) that lack the emotional intelligence to consider their vision may be wrong or dated fail. They fail because one of the key components of having an agile sales process is “stand up meetings”. The value of this process is shut down before it begins when your team is only sharing the politically correct answers and not what is really occurring. It’s that simple.
The role of sales is a tough job. Each day you will be rejected more than accepted and you need the internal strength to pick yourself up, dust yourself off and make another sales call. However when that fear of rejection is both external in the market and internal within your own team, sales people shut down. They stop looking, listening, sensing and communicating shifts in how their buyers are buying. They stop sharing customer complaints and problems and what they need to achieve their sales goals. When salespeople feel it is internally politically incorrect to share real current market secrets…you have already lost.
In a recent blog post that listed 10 reasons why great business plans fail to deliver the top reason was the plan itself was not a good plan. How can this be? You are smart enough…your did your three day get a way of strategic planning…you did not get to the position of senior management by creating plans that do not work. If your culture is one of Hippo’s (highest paid people in the room) leading by intimidation and making it very clear to you sales team what the “right” answers are before the questions are asked…you will fail to achieve your sales plan. As this post goes on to share; great plans count on a deep understanding of your customer’s needs and problems and not gut instinct and the tribal knowledge of your senior management team. I addressed this common problem in a blog post years ago titled; Attention leaders: Don’t look now but your lack of market knowledge is showing…
In another post in the Harvard Business Review discussing “40 ways to crash a new product launch” the number one reason why your new product launch will fail, and sales will miss the sales plan is; no market research was done. Why? I believe smart people make good decisions and can shape market leading strategies with current unfiltered market data. If your team does not feel it is safe to share current data, you have a big problem.
How can you quickly tell if your sales team has tuned out?
- Do your salespeople openly share shifts in how buyers are buying on a frequent basis?
- Do your salespeople share buying experience problems your customers are having?
- Is it “safe” in your organization to be a Heretic?
- Have you asked a question and the room full of typically vocal salespeople and everyone becomes silent?
- Do your salespeople communicate ways your buyers are asking for new and improved service?
- Are salespeople who share “politically incorrect market secrets” welcomed or chastised in your sales meetings?
If you can not say yes to the above five questions, I promise you a number of your salespeople are going through the motions. If you can not say yes to any of the above questions you have a BIG problem. If you honestly can not say yes to all of the above your salespeople have already shut down and like a robots are showing up and throwing up in front of customers what they hear from you and not listening to your customers. They have lost all accountability for their sales goals because you have emotionally beaten it out of them. Mentally they are saying; “screw it, nobody wants to here the truth, if I share the truth I am criticized in front of my peers and may risk my job security so I will do it ____’s way, I might not hit my goal but at least I will have a job”…and you have lost them. Is that who you want?…salespeople going through the motions or do you want and need sales super stars?
Ya, that’s what I thought….
The good news is you can change and adjust. The reality is there was a time you were tuned in to your market, your buyers, how your buyers bought and the criteria they used to make buying decisions. You did not achieve a senior leadership position based on luck but on hard work and achieving results. Let’s rekindle that spark that propelled your career and let’s position you to lead your team and blow your sales goals out of the water. Are you in? If so the quickest two ways I have used to help senior leaders clearly understand the markets they serve is booking what I call four legged sales calls. On these calls, working in the field with your salespeople your main goal is to seek to understand. You are to be a sponge listening and asking open ended questions. The second is from this day forward creating a sales culture that keeps and attracts sales super stars.
“Don’t ask, don’t tell sales leadership is not a proven method to achieve profitable sales growth.”
– Mark Allen Roberts
Are you a salesperson who feels it’s unsafe to share the truth? If so please comment…
Are you a leader who feels I am totally wrong and your team is to do what you tell them to do?…bring it, share your thoughts…
Do you have sales meetings where its very obvious politically incorrect market secrets are not safe to share?
Are you a sales performance consultant or a sales coach and you have seen this problem? Please share how you have helped the leader and team create a culture where it was safe to share market secrets.
As the leader what do you really want more? to win and achieve your objectives?…or have a team of robots scared to share market truths and fail? …
When I find myself personally struggling with this, I am reminded of Proverbs 16 and how we are instructed; Pride comes before destruction.
Why Can’t Salespeople Sell New Products?
The CEO said…” Why can’t my salespeople sell new products” ? I hear this frustration from business leaders often. The assumption is the salespeople are not capable, but the reality is they can sell new products if they are provided a strong value proposition and sales tools that guide potential buyers through their buying journey. If your new product or service clearly provides four yes’s then it will not feel like pushing mud uphill during launch. However far too often new products are thrown over the wall from engineering and product management and sales are told …”just make it happen”.
The reality is you do not want your salespeople spending time figuring out how to sell the new product.
Salespeople follow the path of least resistance to revenue.
If your new product lacks a clear value proposition, sales tools designed for specific buyer personas, and a history of poorly launched products your launch may be doomed.
Equip your sales team to gain new product sales velocity by clearly understanding the problem you are solving for your buyers and the buying process and criteria they use to solve their problems.
How successful is your team with new product sales launch?
Does your new product offer a quick path to revenue or does it feel like pushing mud up hill for your sales team?
Can you afford to have your salespeople figuring out how to sell a new product while your core product sales suffer?
Are new product sales an Art or Science in your organization?
The Great Disconnect…”Sales Execution”
Nothing frustrates CEO’s more than spending the time to develop a strategic plan and then find out six months into the plan sales is not executing the plan. What are the reasons sales fails to execute the plan?
In my experience, most businesses do a great job of explaining their strategic plans, but they fail to provide sales the proper sales tools, a value proposition that resonates with buyers and the “how-to” for salespeople.
Market leaders create tactical sales playbooks by territory.
Market losers tell salespeople to “just make it happen”.
It may be perceived as “old school” but I have found the best way to avoid the “great disconnect” is to provide each salesperson on your team a sales playbook. Working with the salesperson we develop a playbook that breaks the overall strategy down into meaningful how to tactics for the salesperson and identify key performance indicators.
Have you experienced the “Great Disconnect; Sales Execution” in your sales team?
Does your organization provide sales playbooks for each salesperson?
What are the key ingredients of a sales playbook?
"Leader, You Don’t Have to Go It Alone!"
When I asked CEO’s and business leaders where they turn when they face a problem in their business I heard two common answers and one that disturbed me. The common answers were;
- I call someone in my network
- I talk to my spouse
However the answer that also bubbled to the top frequently was;
- “nowhere,… that is what I am paid to do, solve problems so I figure it out”
The third response disturbed me… when did business leaders decide they need to go it alone? When was it decided we need to have all the answers? I tell my clients in fact I do not have all the answers,… but I do , based on my experience know what questions to ask.
So let me get this straight….
- if you want to improve your golf game you have no problem hiring a pro for a few lessons
- If you want to get fit you join a gym and hire a personal trainer
- If you sprain your back you see a doctor ,enter a rehab program with a physical therapist to get you back in shape and out of pain
But if your business has a problem…you feel you must go it alone based on your gut?
Market leaders have the emotional intelligence to know what they know as well as what they do not know. They seek help from experts that complement their gifts and realize faster and much more profitable growth.
So where do you turn when your business needs help? Why?
“Leader, You Don’t Have to Go It Alone!”
Two Reasons the CEO Should Not Run Sales
The role of CEO is hard enough, particularly in this shifting and changing economy. Balancing all the spinning plates you face each day is difficult without trying to lead and manage a sales team.
The quickest way to insure a sales decline is have your sales team report to the CEO.
I have seen sales decline when CEO’s take on the role of driving the sales team for two common reasons;
CEO’s fail to provide the sales team a Value Proposition that resonates with buyers
CEO’s communication preference and style
One of the best parts of my job helping a variety of businesses that have what they call a “sales problems”. I have served a number of CEO’s over the years and as a group (for the most part) they understand their most important role is the keeper of their brand promise and positioning .
To be effective as CEO you need to balance all those spinning plates while also focusing on those initiatives that result in the greatest impact on the business today and in the future. (not a job for the faint of heart) CEO’s are natural at problem solving and driving the execution of key performance indicators. They are process driven and have the tenacity of a pit bull once they lock into a vision.
Most CEO’s should never lead sales for two main reasons;
CEO’s fail to provide the sales team a value proposition that resonates with buyers
Salespeople require a market driven value proposition for the products and services they sell. This should explain the problems you solve for your buyers and not just what you do. It should help your sales team understand who they should target. To insure your value proposition resonates and continues to connect with buyers you must listen and observe the market on a continual basis. Focused CEO’s are flying at 45,000 feet above your market and often become frustrated when sales teams share new roadblocks to achieving their goals. What CEO’s want is sales velocity.
You can tell when your CEO is frustrated when he or she says;
“ just make it happen”,
… or my favorite ” I don’t pay you to tell me problems, I pay you to sell through objections and hit your numbers…” .
CEO’s have so many things already on their plates the last thing they need is to add more “to-do’s” to add to their never-ending list. Often buried deep in sales feedback you will find the need for new sales tools for ajusting the sales process based on a buying process that shifted.
A strong VP of Sales can work with salespeople and the CEO. The VP of sales understands the mission and objectives while also constantly assessing the market, buyer needs, buyer criteria, and equips the sales team with value propositions and sales tools.
CEO’s communication preference and personality style
CEO’s are focused on communicating in short bullet point bursts and salespeople speak in stories. ( can you see the train wreck about to happen?) Market leading salespeople incorporate what I teach that I call “story speak”. As opposed to speaking in feature and benefits, I teach salespeople to listen to the buyer problems and share how our product or service solves that problem in the form of a story. So we teach salespeople to speak in stories to communicate effectively, but we get frustrated when they can’t report results to us in bullet points?
I attended a sales conference once and the CEO brought me in to fix what he called a repeatable sales process problem. He asked his team to individually meet with me to share the common roadblocks they face in achieving their numbers each month. ( so far so good)
But then he said something that still makes me cringe…
And remember Mark is busy like me so…
Be brief…
Be brilliant….
Then Be Gone…
(When he got to this part three of the salespeople in the room also said “be gone”…they obviously have heard this before)
CEO’s often rise up through the accounting, technology, and finance channels and they are very process driven. They do not mange people, they develop and manage processes,systems, and or people to follow processes. If you follow DISC assessments, most CEO’s are high D, moderate to low S and low I and moderate to high C. Most salespeople have (very) high I, high D and low S and C. (Often very low C) So again, just based on how CEO’s and salespeople are naturally wired that light at the end of the tunnel is a train.
An experienced VP of sales is constantly listening for common market roadblocks shared among their sales team. They grew up through the sales ranks.Experienced sales leaders understand you need to lead each salesperson individually. A seasoned sales leader will observe and listen to changing buyer problems and processes to identify sales tools the team needs to help their teams continue conversations to a close. VP’s of sales earned long ago how to use their sales team’s natural styles and they provide back-end support for their shortfalls.
So how about your experience…..
Should sales report to the CEO? Why or why not?
Is there a benefit for CEO’s to have sales teams report to them?
What impact, if any, have you seen on the morale of the salespeople who report directly to the CEO?
As an Entrepreneur are you a “Pit Bull or a “Poodle” take the test…
As I discuss in my EBook: The 50 Ugly Truths about starting your own business …and why you should do it anyway,… the way of the entrepreneur is not for the faint of heart. Chances are you clearly see a problem in a market you know, and you set out to solve it with your product or service solution. One characteristic all entrepreneurs possess is the tenacity of a Pit Bull.
Some time ago I came across a test I often share with clients that asks the question:
Are you a “Pit Bull” or a “Poodle”?
Pit Bull Test
1. Do you have a definite purpose backed up by a burning desire to see it fulfilled?
2. Are you continuously in action working on your plan?
3. Is your mind closed towards all negative and discouraging influences from foes, “friends,” dysfunctional parents, music, books, tapes, T.V. etc?
4. Do you hang out with people who are greater than you in what they have accomplished and who utterly challenge you to excellence?
5. Are you self-reliant and independent?
6. Do you take responsibility for your life, both failures and successes?
7. Do you hate it when you waste time?
8. Do you look at life as a game to be played and played like a champion?
9. Have you become impervious to the criticisms of pusillanimous men and women?
10. Do you boldly face your fears with faith and move towards your goals?
Poodle Test
1. Do you often complain about your life?
2. Do you avoid association with people who have accomplished more than you?
3. Does your life seem futile and your future hopeless?
4. Do you often feel self-pity?
5. Are you envious of those who excel you?
6. Do you worry a lot?
7. Are you overly cautious and negative?
8. Are you indifferent and lacking in ambition and enthusiasm?
9. Do you constantly use excuses and alibis to explain why you haven’t accomplished anything?
10. Do you often fantasize about lying on the front passenger seat of a Cadillac with a pink ribbon in your hair with your favorite chew toy?
Ok, no one else is around….how did you answer the above? You must be real with yourself. Not everyone is cut out for the entrepreneurial game and that’s ok. Some people are much better as soldiers than generals leading the charge. Some people intentionally chose not to risk letting any of the key plates drop and they serve teams.
The above questions are a great filter to guide you to see if the entrepreneurial game is for you. As I recommend in my EBook make sure you enter this game with a clear understanding of what this role will entail and you have realistic expectations for performance and cash flow.
So how about you…are you a pit bull or a poodle?
In your current role what should you be?
If you are in a role that requires a pit bull and you find yourself a poodle, what should you do?
How Do We Create: Repeatable, Sustainable, Profitable Growth in our organizations?…Study Both Market Leaders and Market Losers
As leaders we are drawn to success stories. We study businesses teams that seem to defy the odds and win. Teams that realize profitable sustainable growth, even in the worst economic conditions, command our respect and admiration. However, for us as leaders to create teams that drive ; repeatable, sustainable, profitable growth we must study both the market leaders like Apple as well as those that were once leaders who fell from grace like Zenith.
I just finished another book that will definitely be on my must read list for business leaders; How the Mighty Fall; and why some companies never give in, by Jim Collins. As I page through the book once more I see page after page with highlights, underlining’s and notes in the margins. I have been a fan of Collin’s since Good to Great. I enjoy his non emotional, almost scientific approach to the dynamics of business.
Collins identifies the value business leaders can gain by studying companies who did not win and actually fell from grace.
I remember Zenith TV’s when I was a child growing up in Cleveland, Ohio in the 1960’s. They were the best TV’s. If you were to ask anyone who the leader in TV’s was they would have said Zenith back then. However today they are non existent. What happened?
How does this fall from grace occur?
What did they do wrong?
Is it something that was preventable or inevitable?
Are their common early warning signs we can watch for so our teams do not move from a position of “market leader” to “market loser”?
I particularly found his identifying the stages of decline brilliant as I have lived each with various clients over the past 25 years.
Stage 1: Hubris Born of Success
Stage 2: Undisciplined pursuit of More
Stage 3: Denial and Risk of Peril
Stage 4: Grasping for Salvation
Stage 5: Capitulates to irrelevance or Death
In addition to providing the common steps once market leaders often faced on their fall, he also provides what he calls; “markers” or early warning signs to see if your team is in one of the five stages of decline.
I highly recommend this book for business leaders who want to passionately serve their markets while increasing their shareholder value. In this book he draws on an analogy of how a “sick” business is like a sick person. On the outside they may look fine, but upon further investigation you find illness. If you find” Sickness” early enough you can take corrective action to cure the problem and avoid future pain. If arrogantly left unchecked, often due to the “hubris” of stage one, businesses become sick and it can be terminal.
How about your organization? Could your team be in one of the five stages of decline right now?
Does your business need a check up?
Does your team have a culture that would admit a problem?… or do you have Hubris? (Excessive pride that brings down a hero)
Are you battling an 800 pound gorilla in your market that is in denial? Is your team positioned to help your market when they fall?
I want to leave you with a couple of my favorite quotes from this book;
“The path out of darkness begins with those exasperatingly persistent individuals who are constitutionally incapable of capitalism”
“There is no law of nature that the most powerful will inevitably remain at the top. Anyone can fall and most eventually do”
“There are more ways to fall than become great…”
“Great companies can stubble badly and recover”
I think it was Lincoln who said; “those who do not study history are destined to repeat it” I recommend you and your leadership team read and discuss; How the mighty fall. I ask you humbly challenge yourself and your leaders to insure your team are destined for profitable growth and not a fall.
Start-up’s….Like Wiring a House With The Power On…and getting zapped
The start-up phase is often one of the most difficult phases for entrepreneur as they often try to gain market knowledge while trying to meet sales goals. You know you should gather market data, but you often have limited cash, you are the chief cook and bottle washer, and you need to make sales to fund your future growth.
Start-up leaders need a strong emotional intelligence as many days you feel like you are; wiring a house with the power on and you keep getting emotionally zapped.
A number of years ago my wife was redesigning our upstairs bathroom and asked I change the electrical outlets from a cream color to a solid white. So we turned the lights on in the bathroom and I went to the fuse box and flipped switches until the bathroom light went out. I started to remove the outlet and saw a small spark. I thought to myself…”That’s odd as I know the electric power was off…” (My perceived truth) so I continued removing the old outlet. Zap! Next thing I knew I received a shock that sent me up against the wall and I fell into the bathtub. I latter found a new truth…the lights were on a separate circuit than the outlets so I was trying to change the outlet with the power on.
One of the most exhilarating as well as frustrating things you can do is launch a start-up company. Like I discussed in a previous post you feel like a plate spinner with more to-do’s than hours in a day. I go on to discuss how we can’t let the most important plates drop. I have discussed in earlier blogs how 2/3 of start-ups fail within 18 months. The main reasons we are all aware of for start-up failure include;
-
run out of cash
-
lack of a market driven plan
-
if you have a plan, your sales expectation is too high, too soon
-
if you have a plan, you have an unrealistic understanding of the buying process and cycle
-
trying to sell the need for a product you launched because you could and not because you should
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market is not large enough
-
customers do not want to pay to solve the problem you solve
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stress
Assuming your product and or service solves an unmet need, and you have a large enough market who are willing to pay you to solve their problem, the real danger for entrepreneurs is getting zapped by stress during the start-up season of your business..
To keep you from getting emotionally zapped from stress during the often hectic start-up phase, there are five key Biblical lessons I learned from a sermon recently.
1. Don’t wear yourself out – build the discipline to determine what is important, urgent, and focus on what is :urgent and important
2. Don’t shut out others – the reality is you can’t do it alone. Now more than ever you need your network, family, and friends
3. Don’t just focus on Negatives – that’s what market losers do. Keep your eyes on the prize and look for bright lights of opportunity as you launch.
4. Focus on your physical and Spiritual health – far too often those mounting to-do’s make us drop or delay other key areas of our lives. If necessary put time on your calendar for your fitness and faith.
5. Anxiety and fear are the product of looking back or too far into the future , focus on what is in front of you now, and leverage what you have. The quickest way to stop creatively solving roadblocks is to become fearful.
What about you? Have you experienced stress during the start-up phase?
What advice do you recommend to entrepreneurs in the start-up phase of their business?
What zapped you most in your start-up?
Choose to be a Builder in 2010….not a Wrecker
I enjoyed a recent column in our Scottsdale Republic by Michael Ryan. He published a poem tiled; “Which am I? “ He was not sure who the author was but the message lives even stronger today than it did seven years ago when he first shared it.
When times get tough we usually see one of two behaviors in organizations;
Teams begin infighting and blame-storming
Teams unite, grow stronger, and emerge as market leaders
Ryan goes on to discuss how “Instead of working together to solve problems, some people seemed more willing to battle one another.” I see this far too often with large clients in which managers retreat to their silos and start shooting missiles at each other instead of competitors.
So I have to ask…
what kind of a team do you work for?….
A market leading team that discusses real issues and works together to solve them?
Or…
A market loosing team of managers so concerned with covering their own rear ends they wouldn’t know an unresolved market problem or a roadblock to providing a positive customer experience if it bit them?
No matter how others in your organization may be acting under the pressure you have a choice.
Chose to be a Builder.
( less than 10% of your team will choose to be builders)
I hope you enjoy this poem as much as I did.
Which am I?
I watched them tearing a building down.
A gang of men in a busy town.
With a ho-heave –ho and a lusty yell,
They swung a beam and the sidewall fell.
I asked the foreman, “Are those men skilled.
And the kind you would hire if you had to build?”
He gave me a laugh and said “No indeed,
Just common labor is all I need.
I can easily wreck in a day or two
What other builders have taken a year to do.”
I thought to myself as I went my way,
“Which of these roles have I tried to play?”
Am I a builder that works with care,
Measuring life by the rule and the square?
Am I shaping my deeds to a well-made plan,
Patiently doing the best I can?
Or am I a wrecker who walks the town,
Content with the labor of tearing down?”
– unknown author
I would like to add a few lines….
If you have played the role of wrecker you should not despair,
As wrecking is easy for those who do not care.
To add value, now that is the to pass through the camels eye,
It is there leaders are born solving problems that arise.
Having the courage to often stand alone, to be a part of the solution,
When their peers partake in political pollution.
Ok, so I wasn’t meant to be a poet. But I have worked within a number of organizations that lack leaders willing to be a part of the solution. When we focus on the problem and not attacking the person we are often called “heretics”.
The best way to add value to the team is to be a builder and not a wrecker.
( there are far too few builders these days)
Builders identify and solve problems. They flip what is perceived by most to be a problem and turn them into opportunities to add value.
Wreckers take the easy route quickly criticizing and tearing down creative new ideas and they often overlooking roadblocks and broken processes for perceived personal safety.
So who will you choose to be in 2010?
Thanks again to Michael Ryan for the above Poem.
