Author: Sienna Anderson

Product Focused Partner Solutions Team

Posted on | by Sienna Anderson

Initial situation

  • Sales teams below target.
  • Team of ‘product floggers’ rather than ‘business builders’.
  • Successful historically, yet needed to demonstrate to partners and suppliers the value that their proposition brought to their businesses.

What we did …

  • Refocused sales team.
  • Coached all sales team, in the field and in workshops, in ‘Hearts and Minds’ solution selling skills.
  • Implemented LSMFT Value Proposition.
  • Introduced Partner Business Development Programme to drive “sell through”, not just “sell to”.
  • Coached the whole leadership team.

Outcomes …

  • 12% increase in sales revenues.
  • Relationship with major distributor became a true ‘strategic partnership’.
  • Sales team worked closer with their Distribution Partners.
  • Wider range of products and solutions sold.

“Comfortable and Underachieving” Sales Team of an International Manufacturer & Distributor of Building Products

Posted on | by Sienna Anderson

Initial situation

  • Nearly all of the team conveyed a sense of ‘being quite comfortable’.
  • Sales force productivity, ROI and effectiveness was poor.
  • Spending too much time with the ‘wrong’ customers.
  • Greatest confidence was displayed in one-on-one interactions with ‘mates’.
  • ‘Solution Selling’ didn’t not come easily to most of the team – closing was avoided in many cases.
  • ‘Let me do a quote/estimation (and I’ll keep my fingers crossed that I can come up with a compelling story)’ is as close as they come to a ‘value proposition sell’.

What we did …

  • Introduced a National ‘solutions’ aligned sales process (Hearts and Minds).
  • Introduced a Sales Productivity and Pipeline system.
  • Realigned of selling time to high value customers and prospects.
  • Developed advanced sales skills to sell higher up the food chain.
  • Developed advanced merchandising/distributor development skills.
  • Trained managers to sustain the development programmes.

Outcomes …

  • Replaced 70% of the sales team.
  • Replaced 80% of the Sales Management team.
  • Grew market share by 5% in a declining market.
  • Measurement of sales force increased by 17% to ‘proactive & professional/consultative’ methodology.
  • Customers all along the food chain worked closer to them.

Sales Team Not Making Enough Appointments

Posted on | by Sienna Anderson

Initial Situation

  • Relying on TV and Radio lead generation campaign but not converting inbound leads
  • Under pressure from government to maintain funding as not achieving business KPIs
  • 2 teams of 19 telephone people in each team
  • Both teams making less than 1 telephone appointment a month!
  • Team complacent and making excuses
  • Managers not driving activity

KONA Solution and Action

  • Introduced a weekly ‘Power Hour’
  • Coached Managers on how to motivate and drive a Power Hour with their teams
  • Developed tools and processes and competitions to motivate the team
  • Developed skills to engage with clients, then rehearsed, before hitting the telephones!

Outcomes

  • In one Power Hour the whole sales team made 431 appointments with new prospects!!!
  • In Power Hour one team made 237 appointments!!!
  • In an Induction Power Hour a group of New Recruits made 157 appointments, after only 3 days on the job!
  • KPIs now being smashed
  • Results doubled in 8 months

Transport Organisation Consistently Missing Target

Posted on | by Sienna Anderson

Client’s Situation

  • No commitment to understanding clients business and individual requirements
  • No structured sales methodology in place
  • No management coaching in place
  • Declining staff motivation and morale due to being too busy
  • Increasing staff turnover
  • Lost business opportunities and ROI from Marketing/Leads

KONA Solution and Action

  • Implemented ACTC™ process
  • Developed and delivered 5 Customised modules
  • Introduced Train The Trainer program so Managers can run modules going forward
  • Restructured Sales Incentive scheme to reward performance and conversions/bookings

Outcomes

  • Increased customer bookings by 15% overnight!
  • International Business up by 7%
  • Domestic Business up by 16%
  • IP now retained in-house and being delivered to new recruits
  • Non performers being given the chance through personal coaching to perform, or ‘be made available to industry

National Retail Chain Consistently Underperforming

Posted on | by Sienna Anderson

Initial situation

  • Successful historically, yet mainly being driven through marketing and advertising dollars.
  • Sales people not converting leads and ‘walk-ins’ into sales.
  • Sales people focused totally on the latest greatest product innovation.
  • Consistently overwhelmed customers with technical specifications, without taking the time to understand the customers reasons to buy.
  • Managers not measuring or managing the performance of their people.

What we did …

  • Worked with selected stores to drive sales performance.
  • Taught the sales people to demonstrate to customers the value that their company brought other than just the lowest price, product and features.
  • Coached Managers in how to introduce Performance Measures to direct, acknowledge and reward achievement.

Outcomes…

“We used to have only 2 people out of 10 on target. Now, with their training we had 8 out of 10 on target last month.” “I am getting more customers coming back to me” “I am selling more add- ons” “My time with the customer is being better spent as I am building better relationships with them quicker” “I am now able to up-sell to more expensive products and am selling more accessories” “I am able to match products to the customer more effectively and the customers have been happier with their choice” “I am closing more sales” “The sales process is now a lot less intimidating” “The customers are more relaxed as my approach is more personal and in depth” “The customer came back & asked for me” because “You are the first store that has known what I want” “I was able to break down barriers quicker and we got down to business quicker” “We built rapport quicker as we were more conversational and both of us were more relaxed and less pressured” “They stay longer in store” “I am able to give better service to the customer as they trust you more”

5 Tips to Improve Your Sales Team’s Performance (Part 2)

Posted on | by Sienna Anderson
By Garret Norris, Sales Training & Negotiation Specialist. In last week’s part 1,  we stressed that no matter what business you are in, what has worked well in the past just isn’t good enough today Sales people and managers who put their head in the sand and say “We have always done it this way”, or “my customers are different” are going to be replaced by professional sales people who are always looking for ways to improve their client’s businesses, not just sell more product So here is Part 2 of some basic sales management steps you can take to improve your sales team’s performance and implement a solid Sales Training program that will ensure your growth (or survival) and reduce your costs of selling. antique.

It’s not only made well – but it’s just uncomfortable enough to become an antique.

6. Ask, listen, and act.  Better than any others, these three words summarise success in sales and your sales coaching must always reinforce them
  • Your questions must be creative, planned, relevant, and interesting.
  • Your listening skills must be highly developed and focused on your customer, rather than thinking about the next question you will ask
  • You must respond to key words in the customer’s sentences and take action that proves that you listened to the customer and want to help them.
7. Take the responsibility but not the credit.  Realise that as sales manager your people look to you for direction and coaching, not for you to claim the spotlight To build a strong team willing to go the extra mile when you need it, give your team the credit for everything that goes right, and take the blame when it goes wrong. Protect your people from above but hold them accountable for the performance. 8. Work on the basics.  Even the best of the best have room for improvement so make a decision to improve your weaknesses and set Sales Pipeline goals to force yourself to do the things you don’t like to do. Be creative in your prospecting, fact finding, and presentation skills and set new standards by imagine the perfect salesperson and comparing yourself to them. 9. Develop your attitude.  Your attitude is controllable so change the beliefs that limit your success. Your thought habits control your commitment, enthusiasm, persistence, resilience, happiness, and confidence. So be aware of them, decide which ones are unproductive, and then make a commitment to change. 10. Maximise your time.  Focus on your goals and set daily activity KPIs for short and long term importance and urgency. Create a weekly sales schedule and manage your time against it daily. If you are behind target introduce weekly Power Hours to drive activity that creates results Remember, just one hour a day used more productively adds up to more than six extra weeks of productive time a year. Going forward: Garret Norris is KONA Group’s Sales Training & Negotiation Specialist so to discuss how Garret can improve your sales results please contact him today on 1300 611 288 or info@KONA.com.au
For Tips 1 – 5 please read Part 1 of Garret’s blog at

5 Tips to Improve Your Sales Team’s Performance (Part 1)

Posted on | by Sienna Anderson

By Garret Norris, Sales Training & Negotiation Specialist.

In Australia a good Sales Management professional has to move faster every day.

Very quickly, competitors can pop up out of the blue with products similar to yours and before you know it, the race is ON to retain and grow existing accounts while winning new clients.

No matter what industry you’re in, what worked well a few years ago isn’t good enough today. (Just look at the politics in Australia if you need any proof!!).

cartoon

This is not the time for trial and error or order taking; this is a time to sell!

So here are some basic steps you can take to improve your sales performance, by implementing a robust and customised Sales Training and Sales Management Training program which will increase sales and reduce your cost of selling, to ensure your survival.

1. Clarify your Sales Strategy. 

Begin by understanding your business niche. What do you do best? Who needs what you do? How do you best approach these prospects? What are the consequences if they don’t buy? How much are they willing to pay? If these questions are not answered easily, discuss with your own management for clarity and vision.

2. Break the sale into specific goals to drive your Sales Pipeline. 

Write down the activity goals (calls per day, proposals per month, referrals per call, etc.) that you can control.

Set results goals (sales per month, amount per sale, profit per sale, etc.) to measure your progress, and track them closely. Increase your activity and measure the results as setting short term goals will focus your attention and energise your action.

3. Sell to customer needs. 

Always assume your prospects will buy only what they need so uncover how you can convince them of that need

While you can emphasise the features and benefits of your product or service, by uncovering your customer’s business problems and “what keeps them awake at night” you will be way ahead of your ‘product flogging, price selling’ competitors!.

4. Create and maintain favourable attention. 

Effective marketing, referrals, strong sales skills, and strategic questions are the keys to creating favourable attention. Diligent follow-through and above-and-beyond customer service are the keys to maintaining it so what is your Customer Service Charter and Plan.

5. Sell on purpose, with a purpose. 

Know both what to do and why you’re doing it at every step along the way. Who are you targeting and why? What are you going to present to them and why? What are you going to ask them and why? What is your proposal going to look like and why? When are you going to ask for the order?

If you don’t feel sure of yourself at every step of the selling process, managers need to follow through and spend time on the road with you field coaching, not sitting behind their desk giving guidance.

Going forward:

Garret Norris is KONA’s Sales Training & Negotiation Specialist so to discuss how Garret can improve your sales results please contact him today on 1300 611 288 or info@KONA.com.au

For Tips 6 – 10 please read part 2 of Garret’s blog

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Positive Attitude – One Of The Keys To Being A Successful Leader

Posted on | by Sienna Anderson
By Tim Kitching of the KONA Group. In my experience senior executives are generally smart, interesting and accomplished leaders but they may not be the smartest, most interesting or most accomplished person in their organisation. They do, however, have one thing in common.  These head honchos have a positive attitude. They know that possessing the right mental attitude is more important than being the smartest or most interesting person in their organisation. Naturally, this doesn’t mean that they just go around spouting off platitudes about positive attitude and then get promoted. They have to live and work this way.  A lack of sincerity is obvious and is perceived by employees as the very opposite of positive. Here are 6 key traits that I see in successful executives:
  1. They communicate to the entire organisation their vision for the future all of the time.
  2. They don’t just adhere to the company values, they actually live them and inspire others to do the same.
  3. They go for optimism rather than pessimism every time.
  4. They think things through before making decisions. They don’t allow themselves the luxury of ‘knee jerk’ reactions.
  5. They surround themselves with positive people and shy away from those who think negatively and drain their precious energy.
  6. They are great believers in what they are doing!
These traits help to express a consistent positive attitude. What Positive Attitude Is All About? One of my favorite quotes is, “We can’t always control our circumstances but we can control our attitude. We must be more concerned with what we do with what happens to us than what happens to us.” Marvin Ashton said this in a speech in October 1974. It is as relevant today as it was over 40 years ago. This is more often stated as, “You may not be able to control events around you, but you can control how you react to them” Positive attitude is the difference between sustainable success and luck. It is the approach that delivers results because anything is possible with the right attitude. The ability to deliver what others see as impossible or very difficult is the job description of a modern executive. The fact is, that positive attitude is a learnt behaviour and as a result transitioning from a negative outlook to a positive one is a choice. If this is a challenge for you consider Executive Coaching or Group Workshops for your team as one way of driving the personal change needed to succeed as a modern executive. If you have further interest in this topic you will be interested in Tim’s previous blog ‘4 tips to get the most out of your executive coach’. Tim is a Speaker, Coach and Facilitator who works with individuals and organisation to improve performance and drive results.  He can be contacted at tim@KONA.com.au. He is a Director at The KONA Group and specialises in Executive Coaching and Sales Excellence.

Improving Your Coaching as a Leader Can Start with Two Easy Steps.

Posted on | by Sienna Anderson
By Timothy Kitching, Executive Coaching Director at the KONA Group. Our employees tell us that they want constructive and pragmatic coaching from their people leaders. The benefits of a coaching culture in the workplace are clearly documented and supported by evidence based research.  Increased productivity, greater employee engagement and significantly improved revenue are all tangible results seen from organisations that adopt a coaching culture. The KONA Group offers a range of Sales management training and coaching opportunities. Here are two hot tips that will help you achieve even better results when coaching your people:
  1. Ask your people what they would like to work on, a coaching session is about the person you are coaching, not about you!
As a leader, engage with your people by being genuinely interested in them.  Invest some time in understanding the person you will be coaching.  Your people have a ‘fake’ meter that can sense a lack of real interest a mile away.  In coaching you can’t ‘fake it until you make it’, you actually have to be sincere in your interest and efforts. If you need a process or work with in a very process focused workforce don’t be afraid to provide a checklist of topics that are potential discussion topics prior to the session.   Ask them to choose or suggest a subject that they would be interested in talking about. Why bother with what your people think?
  • Both of you will feel a degree of control over the coaching sessions, this helps people buy into the experience.
  • The person being coached sees that you respect their views and opinions.
  • The sessions are perceived as being sincere and genuine, and that really matters.
  1. Ask the person you are coaching for Feedback
Asking for feedback as soon as a coaching session is finished initiates open conversation where both of you can further develop your coaching relationship.  Coaching is about combined efforts producing positive results. Some feedback questions that you can ask include:
  • Do you feel that our conversation was worth your time?
  • Do you feel that what we discussed was important or relevant to you?
  • Do you feel like I was able to listen and understand what you had to say?
  • Has this conversation helped you find solutions to problems?
  • What could we do differently to make it even better next time?
If you are interested in further information on Executive coaching you will be interested in one of our previous blogs on ‘Mindfulness in a coach’.  Coaching is a difficult and challenging skill to master.  Each coach has a different style that impacts how effective their efforts are. If you need help do not be afraid to engage an executive coach to help you develop as a coach and turbo charge both your performance and that of your team.

Coaching for a Congruent Life In Today

Posted on | by Sienna Anderson

By Timothy Kitching Executive Coaching Director at the KONA Group.

Living a congruent life in today’s world is a big ask.  I don’t think we realise it but the huge range of pressures that are placed on all of us from the time we are little to conform and bow to peer pressure makes the idea of congruence easy to say, but much harder to do.

compass

Living a truly congruent life means that your personal, social, family and work lives are all consistent in their values and behaviours.  You have a ‘True North’ and you know where it is! It means that you are authentic.  I can hear many of your thoughts now, “I am pretty authentic, what you see is what you get.”  For those of you that are managers let me give you an example that is all to common.Reaching this position is part of many leadership programs including the KONA Leadership Development Programs.

A manager I once worked for used to talk a lot about behaviours and how the smallest things sent the loudest messages.  He was right and would use this when he spoke to his teams about values and authenticity.  He would relate it to such things as ‘doing what you say you are going to’ and ‘showing respect to the people you work with by being on time’.

Some days later he had overbooked his diary and arrived late to an important meeting that I had organised on his behalf.  I had made sure that all of the attendees were in the room ready to go on time and his late arrival was both embarrassing and hypocritical.  My frustration must have been evident because he delayed the meeting further and took me into another meeting room and said, “I am a General Manager and I don’t think it is too much for others to have to wait for me when I have a busy morning.  They work for me, not the other way around!  Your job is not to judge me’

This is a perfect example of a lack of authenticity and congruence.  Being on time and showing people respect is something you should do because it is right, not because they hold a higher or lower station in life to you.  In this example it is very clear that this individual did not believe in the concept of equality.  He may have believed in authenticity as he certainly did not hide his views. The lack of authenticity, however, was in his external professional image to his people versus his actual actions.

Being congruent and authentic requires a clear set of values that you follow as an individual. These must be recorded somewhere and be something that you share with others because it is at the very core of who you are.  Sadly most of us have never invested the time and energy to work out what these personal values are, let alone start to try to live them.

Here’s a Tip…

Have a clear set of values and know what you life purpose is, know why you are here.  Then focus on living your personal values each and every day.  It is much harder than you think but it makes decision much easier in time.  Be calm, deliberate, in the moment and mindful.

If you have further interest in this topic you will be interested in Tim’s previous blog ‘Don’t live a life of quiet desperation’.

Tim is a Speaker, Coach and Facilitator who works with people to help them live congruent lives.  He can be contacted at tim@KONA.com.au. He is a Director at The KONA Group and specialises in Executive Coaching and Sales Excellence.