Tag: Sales Training

5 THINGS YOU DIDN’T KNOW ABOUT THE HEALTH OF YOUR SALES

Posted on | by Sienna Anderson

Is your team due for a Sales Health Check in preparation for a productive 2021?

A Sales Health Check is an objective review of your Sales team. It highlights potential weaknesses in your team and strategy, but also builds on your areas of strength and growth.

  • Do your Salespeople follow an Effective Pipeline Management procedure? That is, do they know the number of visits, contacts, leads, prospects and customers they need each month, every month, to hit KPI?
  • What online presence do you have? How effective and up to date is it?
  • Do you have a current corporate page for LinkedIn?
  • Do you share posts on your LinkedIn page weekly?
  • What message is your team’s individual LinkedIn Profiles saying about the brand?
  • Do you publish a blog regularly and directly on your site? (a minimum of once per week)
  • Is every blog optimised for keywords and features a compelling call to action? If not, then get your company to POP out online and contact the KONA Group 1300 833 574 | info@KONA.com.au to get your Powerful Online Presence Training ASAP.

laptop with words Powerful Online Presence with KONA logo and man dialling mobile number 1300 833 574

 

3. ENGAGING

  • Do your Salespeople know how to map the journey their prospects will take through the buying process?
  • Do they know how to have engaging conversations on the phone, as well as face to face?
  • Are they mastering the art of Effective Questioning to reach their customer’s pain points?
  • What are their listening skills like? Huh? Are they listening to their customers, or just hearing them?

llama clipart black and white image with sunglasses on saying I hear you I'm just not listening

 

 

4. CONVERTING & CLOSING

Think, are your Salespeople:

  • Struggling to meet KPIs?
  • Sticking to existing clients only and “scared” of finding new customers?
  • Unable to generate leads?
  • Not wanting to “annoy” current leads?
  • Unaware of the core processes of prospecting?
  • Lack skills to keep their Pipeline active?
  • Unclear of distinguishing features from benefits?
  • Awkward and uneasy talking to decision makers and leaders?
  • Failing to revisit old leads regularly?
  • Stuck in the mindset that ‘sales is evil’?
  • Have a poor sales conversion rate?
  • Do not know the techniques to gain repeat business and upsell?
  • Blame shift – excuses dominate poor performance and missing targets?

click here to contact the KONA Group red button or call 1300 611 288

 

5. MEASURE

Measure the effectiveness of your Sales team and create productive, supported and balanced Salespeople.

  • Can you easily track conversion rates at each stage of the pipeline?
  • Can you easily work out the ROI for each customer targeted?
  • What system and processes do you have in place?
  • Do you know how satisfied your customers really are?

To get a Sales Health Check ASAP, contact the KONA Group 1300 833 574 or email info@KONA.com.au for a crucial conversation.

LAURETTE WITH HOPE IS NOT A STRATEGY ON IT FOR KONA GROUP SALES TRAINING SALES HEALTH CHECK

  • Do you have a Sales strategy that outlines, applies and measures daily activities for your team?
  • Is your team’s current activity mapped to SMART goals with Effective Communication?
  • Does your Sales team make use of multiple channels to generate leads?
  • Do they have absolute clarity around the profile of their customer? Do they understand their Customer’s DNA Profile?
  • Have you clearly articulated to your team the company’s point of difference when compared to your competitors?
  • What is your company’s Value Proposition?

click here to contact the KONA Group red button or call 1300 611 288

 

2. ATTRACTING

  • Do your Salespeople follow an Effective Pipeline Management procedure? That is, do they know the number of visits, contacts, leads, prospects and customers they need each month, every month, to hit KPI?
  • What online presence do you have? How effective and up to date is it?
  • Do you have a current corporate page for LinkedIn?
  • Do you share posts on your LinkedIn page weekly?
  • What message is your team’s individual LinkedIn Profiles saying about the brand?
  • Do you publish a blog regularly and directly on your site? (a minimum of once per week)
  • Is every blog optimised for keywords and features a compelling call to action? If not, then get your company to POP out online and contact the KONA Group 1300 833 574 | info@KONA.com.au to get your Powerful Online Presence Training ASAP.

laptop with words Powerful Online Presence with KONA logo and man dialling mobile number 1300 833 574

 

3. ENGAGING

  • Do your Salespeople know how to map the journey their prospects will take through the buying process?
  • Do they know how to have engaging conversations on the phone, as well as face to face?
  • Are they mastering the art of Effective Questioning to reach their customer’s pain points?
  • What are their listening skills like? Huh? Are they listening to their customers, or just hearing them?

llama clipart black and white image with sunglasses on saying I hear you I'm just not listening

 

 

4. CONVERTING & CLOSING

Think, are your Salespeople:

  • Struggling to meet KPIs?
  • Sticking to existing clients only and “scared” of finding new customers?
  • Unable to generate leads?
  • Not wanting to “annoy” current leads?
  • Unaware of the core processes of prospecting?
  • Lack skills to keep their Pipeline active?
  • Unclear of distinguishing features from benefits?
  • Awkward and uneasy talking to decision makers and leaders?
  • Failing to revisit old leads regularly?
  • Stuck in the mindset that ‘sales is evil’?
  • Have a poor sales conversion rate?
  • Do not know the techniques to gain repeat business and upsell?
  • Blame shift – excuses dominate poor performance and missing targets?

click here to contact the KONA Group red button or call 1300 611 288

 

5. MEASURE

Measure the effectiveness of your Sales team and create productive, supported and balanced Salespeople.

  • Can you easily track conversion rates at each stage of the pipeline?
  • Can you easily work out the ROI for each customer targeted?
  • What system and processes do you have in place?
  • Do you know how satisfied your customers really are?

To get a Sales Health Check ASAP, contact the KONA Group 1300 833 574 or email info@KONA.com.au for a crucial conversation.

LAURETTE WITH HOPE IS NOT A STRATEGY ON IT FOR KONA GROUP SALES TRAINING SALES HEALTH CHECK

With the challenges faced by the pandemic , how healthy is your team’s Sales capability?  Let’s think of COVID as a pot of boiling water. Now think of the egg and potato analogy. The same boiling water that softens the potato, also hardens the egg. Who in your team has come out of the pandemic soft and who has come out hard? Surely having resilient employees would be of great benefit and value to any organisation?

Hard Egg Soft Potato Image for Resilience Training

 

  A Sales Health Check, like all health checks, is crucial for your business’ optimal growth. Strong Leaders conduct Sales Health Checks often and that is the difference between exponential growth and remaining stagnant. Consider these 5 Sales Health Check Factors:

 

1. PLANNING

  • Do you have a Sales strategy that outlines, applies and measures daily activities for your team?
  • Is your team’s current activity mapped to SMART goals with Effective Communication?
  • Does your Sales team make use of multiple channels to generate leads?
  • Do they have absolute clarity around the profile of their customer? Do they understand their Customer’s DNA Profile?
  • Have you clearly articulated to your team the company’s point of difference when compared to your competitors?
  • What is your company’s Value Proposition?

click here to contact the KONA Group red button or call 1300 611 288

 

2. ATTRACTING

  • Do your Salespeople follow an Effective Pipeline Management procedure? That is, do they know the number of visits, contacts, leads, prospects and customers they need each month, every month, to hit KPI?
  • What online presence do you have? How effective and up to date is it?
  • Do you have a current corporate page for LinkedIn?
  • Do you share posts on your LinkedIn page weekly?
  • What message is your team’s individual LinkedIn Profiles saying about the brand?
  • Do you publish a blog regularly and directly on your site? (a minimum of once per week)
  • Is every blog optimised for keywords and features a compelling call to action? If not, then get your company to POP out online and contact the KONA Group 1300 833 574 | info@KONA.com.au to get your Powerful Online Presence Training ASAP.

laptop with words Powerful Online Presence with KONA logo and man dialling mobile number 1300 833 574

 

3. ENGAGING

  • Do your Salespeople know how to map the journey their prospects will take through the buying process?
  • Do they know how to have engaging conversations on the phone, as well as face to face?
  • Are they mastering the art of Effective Questioning to reach their customer’s pain points?
  • What are their listening skills like? Huh? Are they listening to their customers, or just hearing them?

llama clipart black and white image with sunglasses on saying I hear you I'm just not listening

 

 

4. CONVERTING & CLOSING

Think, are your Salespeople:

  • Struggling to meet KPIs?
  • Sticking to existing clients only and “scared” of finding new customers?
  • Unable to generate leads?
  • Not wanting to “annoy” current leads?
  • Unaware of the core processes of prospecting?
  • Lack skills to keep their Pipeline active?
  • Unclear of distinguishing features from benefits?
  • Awkward and uneasy talking to decision makers and leaders?
  • Failing to revisit old leads regularly?
  • Stuck in the mindset that ‘sales is evil’?
  • Have a poor sales conversion rate?
  • Do not know the techniques to gain repeat business and upsell?
  • Blame shift – excuses dominate poor performance and missing targets?

click here to contact the KONA Group red button or call 1300 611 288

 

5. MEASURE

Measure the effectiveness of your Sales team and create productive, supported and balanced Salespeople.

  • Can you easily track conversion rates at each stage of the pipeline?
  • Can you easily work out the ROI for each customer targeted?
  • What system and processes do you have in place?
  • Do you know how satisfied your customers really are?

To get a Sales Health Check ASAP, contact the KONA Group 1300 833 574 or email info@KONA.com.au for a crucial conversation.

LAURETTE WITH HOPE IS NOT A STRATEGY ON IT FOR KONA GROUP SALES TRAINING SALES HEALTH CHECK

END 2020 THE WAY YOU WANT TO START 2021

Posted on | by Sienna Anderson

Is your company one of the many forced to cancel the much anticipated Christmas party due to that pestilent C-word, COVID? Express gratitude to your team and at the same time prepare your Sales to be successful for 2021 – invite your Leadership Team to KONA’s Virtual Getting Ahead Christmas Retreat. This is a light-hearted, knowledge packed one-off 90 minutes Workshop with your Leadership team. Scheduled for November and December. And is ultimately, designed to get you ahead of the competition when 2021 kicks in. zoom meeting with six people with holiday backgrounds and clipart super imposed santa hats for a virtual christmas party
WHY?
Because often employees don’t ask for training, but it has nothing to do with their desire to learn. They may be unsure how to ask, afraid of rejection, or under the impression that it will make them look incapable. We have found that most employees crave opportunities for professional development. And furthermore, will be glad if you offer it.

HOW

KONA’s Virtual Getting Ahead Christmas Retreat addresses high-level topics that will significantly impact your business in 2021. This is delivered through our microlearning approach.  Microlearning has long been used primarily for corporate training where participants learn new processes in short time frames. Consequently, it comes as no surprise that the microlearning market is predicted to grow from $1.5 billion in 2019 to $2.7 billion in 2024 (MarketsandMarkets, 2019). Microlearning, or learning in bursts, reduces cognitive overload in workshop participants. And one of the biggest results we have seen from microlearning, is how it prevents learner fatigue. Plus it also increases knowledge retention from our participants.

WHAT

You can completely customise your Sales and/or Leadership workshop, or cherry-pick from our high-level topics of 2021.
KONA’s Virtual Getting Ahead Christmas Retreat Workshops | 90-Minutes Virtual
  • Effective Communication to Get Ahead of Competitors
  • Navigating New Products and Services with New Processes and People
  • Changing the 2021 Mindset: Activity Drives Results
  • Key Strategies for Q1
  • Differentiating your Presence in the Marketplace
  • How to Up the Level of Commitment of Your Team
  • Techniques to Manage Individual and Team Goals/Aspirations for 2021

KONA’s Virtual Getting Ahead Christmas Retreat!

END 2020 THE WAY YOU WANT TO START 2021!

colour cartoon luke sky walker and yoda, luke speech bubble says "I HOPE I SMASH MY KPIs IN 2021" and yoda replies "HOPE A STRATEGY IT IS NOT"

Book your team on KONA’s Virtual Getting Ahead Christmas Retreat by contacting us on:

 

1300611288 | info@kona.com.au

Are You Sales Match Fit? What We Know About Prospecting in 2021

Posted on | by Sienna Anderson
For many, 2020 comes pretty close to a curse word. And while there appears to be a chance of a resurgence at the moment, the fact remains, we still have no clear certainty about the path the pandemic will take businesses on next year. But that does not mean we just sit back and wait. You will not survive. Start getting Match Fit and Sales Ready in these closing months of 2020, otherwise 2021 will be even bleaker for businesses than this year was. Companies that are still standing strong and successful today must be Sales Ready and prepare to adapt their approach on a strategic level in 2021. While we can’t predict the future, we can use what we’ve learned to shape our strategies and maximise prospecting potential for next year. Here is a list of what we have learnt so far from the pandemic experience, and how to be Sales Ready, prepare for prospecting and go hard. 2021 SALES READY AT A GLANCE For those of you that want to go straight to it click on the link of your choice:
  1. Adapt, Apply, Adapt Again
  2. Clean for Clarity
  3. Trust Your Gut But Act on Fact
  4. Measure to Manage
  5. Create a 2021 Sales Strategy
 
ADAPT, APPLY, ADAPT AGAIN
Digital change has been around for a while now. Suppliers, buyers and and consumers are already living the digital lifestyle. Online purchases with small, medium and big-name vendors are now part and parcel of B2B purchases. This sounds like it may mean sales prospecting is going to get harder. It doesn’t have to be the case. Your Salespeople need to be adaptable in all their approaches. To be Sales Ready and prepare for 2021, there are big changes to B2B prospecting. Train your sales team to:
  • Sell to remote buyers
  • Identify new opportunities
  • Come up with their own unique selling points to meet the needs of a changing market
  • Try to enforce on-site purchasing where possible
  • Completely take onboard digital channels
  • Get socials-savvy – enable more social platforms to reach a wider digital-first audience

 
CLEAN FOR CLARITY
While most people dislike the chore of cleaning, some find it soothing. Either way, it is a necessary activity to maintain order. The same applies to your business’ database. coloured clip art image of vacuum cleaner behind computer monitor and paperwork and a rubbish bin for sales ready cleaning your database training
  • Clean up your Sales database and CRM: correct typos, incomplete records, incorrect email addresses, and so forth.
  • Check you have the correct CRM fields in place – as well as, correctly filled in.
  • Sift through bounce-backs from your email marketing.
  • LINKEDIN: Clean Up YOUR PROFILE! KONA’s LINKEDIN WORKSHOP was one of the most demanded trainings this year. What are your employees’ profiles saying about your brand?

 
TRUST YOUR GUT BUT ACT ON FACT
It is crucial Salespeople prioritise their leads based on data analysis rather than just gut feeling. This is critical – to convert the most customers and deliver an extraordinary experience, data must play a significant part in your strategic decisions. Train your sales team to ANALYSE FOR PROFIT. Do they know how to:
  • Gain a deeper understanding of their customer?
  • Create Customer Profile accounts?
  • Research techniques to personalise responses?
  • Maintain a sense of urgency while building rapport?
  • Defend price based on fact and value?
  • Use behaviour profiling to engage effectively with different buyer behaviour styles?

 
MEASURE TO MANAGE
Track and analyse your business’ actions. Measuring your marketing, as well as individual and team performances, gives you insight into strengths and weakness, as well as revealing what is working and what is not. Take a measure of:
  • The company’s Google Analytics figures: how many people are visiting the site? Where are they from? What particular pages are they frequenting?
  • What the numbers of your social media platforms are. Is your business growing in followers and connections? Is your team actually engaging with the marketplace to generate leads, or is it just a page for presence not profit?
  • The efficiency and accuracy of your CRM (Customer Relationship Management) System. Are your Salespeople adding new prospects to the pipeline? As a Leader, are you tracking movement through it? How about conversions, what is the bids versus wins ratio?
  • Measure it in many ways: Year-to-date versus Last-year-to-date. Year-to-date versus Goal, by service line and as well as by industry served.
The vital information from these measurements will form the foundation for your marketing, but also your Sales Strategy for 2021.

Do you and your Sales team require training on how to measure performance, and what to do with the results?

 
CREATE A 2021 SALES STRATEGY
At the very least, make notes about the business’ marketing and sales activities for the next 12 months. Address your team’s ability to commit to:
  • Investing in time and effort in their marketing and sales approaches
  • Setting, achieving and measuring individual KPIs, as well as team KPIs
  • Task Responsibilities for 2021 – most importantly, put all of these activities into a calendar-system, assign specific skill-based responsibilities, and then share the calendar with the team
kona group logo with Image of a clipart man and woman standing above a sales pipeline funnel with coins and arrows flowing in     Consider KONA’s ACTIVITY PLANNING Workshop to set your team’s goals for 2021. This needs to be done before 2021 arrives! For example:  as you think about your team’s goals for next year, do not just focus on the end result… set individual and team goals for the activities that will help you achieve the end result. This includes:
  • How many conversations to generate leads?
  • The number of Sales calls per week
  • The cost in time and money of prospecting properly
  • The Power of Power Hour – done right, done regularly
  • Maintaining Systems and Processes
  • Accountability Measures
  • Getting Geed-Up to Sell

    These are areas we need to focus on before 2021 gets here – to smash KPIs, skyrocket results and get back the company and team’s mojo. All these learnings are available to you and your team in KONA’s 2021 SALES READY WORKSHOP, addressing:
  1. Adaption and Resilience
  2. LINKEDIN Training | Employee Profiles and the Effect on the Brand
  3. Analyse for Profit
  4. Measure to Manage with Accountability
  5. Sales Strategies: Geed-Up to Sell in 2021
To Get Sales Match Fit for 2021 and learn more about KONA’s 2021 SALES READY WORKSHOP, contact KONA today on 1300611288 | info@kona.com.au for a conversation.   hope is not a business strategy kona hbb group garret norris

FRONT OF MIND SALES TIPS

Posted on | by Sienna Anderson

Research has proven two crucial Sales factors. Firstly, it is seven times less costly to keep a client than it is to win a new one. And secondly, it takes a minimum of 9 ‘touch points’, or brand recognition, to develop a relationship.

And during this pandemic-era it is has never been more vital to stay Front of Mind with your clients and prospects, through frequent, quality communication and Digital Marketing.

Note the focus on ‘Quality’ rather than’ Quantity’. As organisations have realised (some too late) that with Digital or Online Marketing any information sent out must be targeted to the specific audience and not “white noise”.

THE MESSAGE

Smart businesses are communicating with their clients and prospects by using web-based CRMs (Customer Relationship Management) systems or communication tracking tools to stay Front of Mind.

Staying Front of Mind in Sales is core in building the all-important pipeline. We have developed four methods you can connect with your customers and inform them constantly about your business. And please understand, while none of the following four points are new, the question is how often and how well does your organisation do it?

1. ONLINE EMOTIONAL CONTRACTING

Online Emotional Contracting is about utilising the social platforms available to interact with your whole database at once, to stay, Front of Mind.

LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter are all extraordinary online networking tools and depending on your type of business (B2B; B2C; Channel; Enterprise etc) a robust approach to turn your prospects into clients, as well as keep your current clients informed. But have you considered the message your profile or your team’s profile is sending? Could your Sales team – and business – benefit from Crucial LinkedIn Training? What does their profile reflect about them and the company?

This will help you improve your products or service offering which will eventually help you maintain your clients, and stay Front of Mind.

2. THE EDM APPROACH

EDMs (Electronic Direct Mails) promoting through an e-newsletter sent out daily, weekly or monthly is very effective. Critics may label the EDM Approach as “annoying”, but the results from Front of Mind Branding speaks for itself.

Auto-responders (which are particular email promoting messages that are composed ahead of time and sent to subscribers on particular days) can additionally be customised in email marketing just to make sure that your clients receives the information the moment they need it.

3. SMS TEXTS

With your clients’ permission, you can get in touch with them utilising quick updates and messages to their mobile phones. If they have joined your database you can also utilise SMS to send specials, coupons, openings or appointments.

A good example of how SMS updates can grow your business, retain clients and remain Front of Mind is one of Queensland’s top Smash Repairers. This forward thinking company sends an SMS update to their clients at each stage of the car’s repair process! Clever. This keeps their clients informed and engaged and feeling part of the process – a huge benefit away from the Industry Customer Service levels of years gone by!

4. OCCASION MARKETING

An incredible approach to inviting people to a virtual gathering or event is to send an online message to clients.

A smart business uses the available technology to identify their client’s needs and how to respond to them appropriately as they realise that by keeping in regular contact with their clients can make them an invaluable resource. If not clients and customers will switch to other businesses that offers what they require. You need to stay front of mind, even during uncertain times.

To learn more about how the Sales and Marketing Training and Coaching Specialists at the KONA Group can help increase your leads and client base through Digital Marketing, contact KONA today on 1300 611 288 | info@kona.com.au for a confidential conversation.

Contact Us

12 Sales Myths Debunked

Posted on | by Sienna Anderson

For more than 20 years the KONA Group has been increasing sales effectiveness in many organisations and across several industries. Including:

  • Banking & Finance
  • Professional Services & Consulting
  • IT&C
  • FMCG
  • Building & Engineering
  • Pharma & Medical
  • Retail
  • Trades

And while many articles have been written about the ‘Black Art‘ of sales, unfortunately many don’t pass the test for sound psychology or practical reality.

Furthermore, many add to a growing world of sales myths and falsehoods.

So, having worked with thousands of Salespeople and Sales Managers, the following are KONA’s observations on the common myths about the Sales Profession:

KONA’s observations on the common myths about the Sales Profession

Sales Myth 1: Top Academic Grades Equal Top Sales Results

Fact: Academic qualifications do NOT guarantee sales results. In fact, they often work against a Salesperson. Research has proven that it is easier to teach basic engineering concepts to a sales professional than it is to teach an academic “genius” to sell.

Sales Myth 2: The Best Salespeople Have “The Gift Of The Gab”, “Can Talk Under Water” and “Sell Ice To Eskimos”

Fact: Sales is a Process, just like any other profession.

It is no different to a manufacturing conveyor belt. If you do things out of order, cut corners, or don’t manage the ‘human element’, results will be no where near what they could be.

Also, the best Salespeople are the ones who are clear about which companies they want to deal with, who they want to speak with, what they are going to speak about, “what keeps the customer awake at night” and how they can add Value to the customers business (and role), not just reasons to buy their products.

Sales Myth 3: The Best Salespeople Will Make The Best Managers

Fact: When you convert a sales superstar into a manager, typically three things happen:

  1. You lose a great Salesperson
  2. You gain a mediocre (or worse) manager as most new managers are thrown into the role without any help, especially in their first 90 days in the role
  3. Customers suffer in the transition time

Sales Myth 4: Salespeople are Lazy and Out There “Eating and Drinking for Australia”

Fact: This is a common misconception brought about by hiring the wrong Salespeople for the job; or the right Salesperson for the wrong job; and/or poor Sales Management. Good Salespeople have the desire and commitment to succeed and require guidance, coaching and to be held accountable for their performance.

Sales Myth 5: All Salespeople are Motivated by Money

Fact: Good Salespeople seek 3 things: independence, achievement and financial reward. Money, including earning bonuses, does motivate some Salespeople to achieve a short term objective. However not every salesperson is motivated in this way and the manager is best to link their motivation strategy to what the Salesperson is going to spend their bonuses on, rather than just the bonus itself

Also, Salespeople are motivated by recognition, achievement and status for long term goals. What does their next 3 years look like? How will the manager help them to be successful.

Sales Myth 6: Good Salespeople Know How to Split Their Time Effectively Between Account Management and Prospecting

Fact: The best “hunters” who are great at new business development and prospecting rarely make good “farmers” who retain and service existing customers well. True ‘hunters’ get bored behind a desk and likewise, customer service people and tele-marketers with great personalities over the telephone don’t do as well in the field

Sales Myth 7: Salespeople Only Need Product Knowledge to be Successful

Fact: Why is an average of 90% of all induction programmes focused on internal procedures and product knowledge, and less than 10% on the conversations the Salesperson must have with customers?

Research proves that the conversations the customer has with the salesperson plays the single biggest role (39%) in a customer’s purchasing decision.

While product knowledge is important, if the Salesperson does not focus their  conversations on the customers business they run the risk of being just “another product flogging, brochure dropping, order taking, rep”.

Sales Myth 8: The Internet and/or Creating A Better Product Will Drive Customers To Your Door

Fact: Linked to the Myth # 7, nearly 85% of all new products patented in the Patent Office never succeed in the real world. And companies that don’t offer “real people” to relate to and consult with customers are over seven times more likely to fail.

Sales Myth 9: Experienced and/or Motivated Salespeople Immediately Know To Do When They Join Your Team

Fact: Far too many Managers do not provide clear directions and expectations (especially in behaviour, minimum standards and customer conversations) to their new team members.

In addition, in many companies Sales Managers are spending too much time behind their desk on ‘very important reports and strategies’ instead of getting in the field and coaching their people every month.

Sales Myth 10: Telling Salespeople They are Doing a Good Job Makes Them Arrogant Then Complacent

Fact: This is NOT true.  Poor management lets Salespeople become complacent.

Recognition for a job well done, be it behaviours demonstrated or results achieved, motivates the salesperson to go back out and achieve again. However if good sales performance goes unrecognised low morale and low performance will follow, for the Salesperson AND their colleagues.

Sales Myth 11: A Well Thought Out Strategy Will Ensure Sales Success

Fact: No matter how much time and effort has been put into a strategy it is EXECUTED when the Salesperson is Face to Face with a customer. If their conversations skills are not up to standard and of Value to the customer, then your strategy will be a waste of time and effort.

So, what are your people talking about?

Sales Myth 12: Putting a Salesperson on a Generic, Off the Shelf Public Training Course will ‘Fix Them’

Fact: Training works, as long as it is a) relevant to them, and b) followed up by coaching.

Unfortunately too many Managers send their people onto a ‘tick the box’ off the shelf , by the book training course, then don’t follow up with the Salesperson in the fied to ensure they put the training into practice. (I am sure you have never heard your Salespeople say “it was good, but won’t work with my customers, on my area, with my products”…)

Going forward: So, what type of Salespeople and Sales Managers do you have? And what type of Salespeople and Sales Managers do you need for the next 3 years?

If you need help designing a customised, fun and highly charged training program to help you win more customers and grow your market share, contact KONA today on 1300 611 288 | info@kona.com.au for a confidential conversation.

 

27 FASCINATING SALES STATISTICS

Posted on | by Sienna Anderson
COVID-19 is changing how B2B buyers and sellers interact. Clever adaptable sales leaders are learning how to adapt to the next normal. COVID-19 has destroyed lives and livelihoods and continues to do so in many communities around the world. The full implications of the pandemic are far from certain, it is already clear that its economic consequences are dire. For sales leaders contemplating how to react, taking care of their people and customers must be a top priority. Even as they manage that reality, sales leaders also need to adjust how their organizations sell in the face of new customer habits and trying economic times. In many ways, the changes in customer behaviour are an acceleration of digital trends that were in motion before the pandemic hit.

To better understand how both customers and sellers are reacting, we looked at sales statistics from 2019. While companies are generally reducing spend, a sizable number are increasing or maintaining it, with rates depending on company size, sector, and—more than any other factor—location in the world. One thing is clear, while there is a lot of trepidation and uncertainty, causing significant reductions in spending, companies are still spending.
Digital
No surprize then, B2B companies see digital interactions as two to three times more important to their customers than traditional sales interactions.
Remote
Almost 90 percent of sales have moved to a video-conferencing(VC)/phone/web sales model, and while some scepticism remains, more than half believe this is equally or more effective than sales models used before COVID-19. Data is an amazing thing, when we look at it, we can see trends and insights that can help us be better at what we do. For example, imagine in 2018 to 2019 we knew that is takes, on average, 3.68 calls to reach a prospect. That knowledge hopefully encouraged you to make at LEAST 4 attempts to reach your prospects.
Now the problem is things have changed…
And with that, the data needs to change and be updated. However, what we are going through is unprecedented. Looking at 2019, it took 8 calls on average to reach your prospect!! If you were going by previous data you’d be giving up at 4-5 attempts, missing tonnes of opportunities, so how many do we need to make in this COVID era???? To help here are some of the statistics out there from 2019 to help give you the insight and advantage you need to sell more. While our activity needs to increase, we don’t believe the methods have changed.  
NOW
1) Studies show that asking between 11–14 questions during the course of a lead call will translate to 74 percent greater potential success. (Source – Gong.io) 2) Almost six in 10 buyers want to discuss pricing on the first call. (Source – HubSpot) 3) Customers are 4x more likely to buy when referred by a friend. (Source – Neilsen) 4) 80% of sales require five follow-up phone calls after the meeting. (Source – Marketing Donut) 5) Several industries reported a 50 percent revenue increase with social media selling. (Source – Forbes) 6) 75% of 1,000 executives polled were prompted to attend an event or take an appointment as a result of a cold call or email. (Source – DiscoverOrg) 7) 43% of consumers are more likely to buy a new product when learning about it from friends on social media. (Source – Neilsen) 8) About 47% of top performers ask for refferals consistently, versus only 26% of non-top performers. (Source – HubSpot)

 
THEN
9) In 2007, it took 3.68 cold call attempts to reach a prospect. In 2019 it took eight attempts. (Source – Spotio)

10) 79% of all marketing leads are never converted to sales. (Source – Salesforce) 11) The biggest challenges in 2019 salespeople face: Establishing urgency (42%), Getting in touch with prospects (37%) and Overcoming price objections (35%) (Source – HubSpot) 12) 44% of salespeople give up after one follow-up. (Source – Scripted) 13) 40% of emails are opened on mobile first, and the average mobile screen can only fit four to seven words max in the subject line. (Source – ContactMonkey) 14) The best days to call are Wednesdays and Thursdays from 6:45 to 9:00 a.m. and 4:00 to 6:00 p.m.(Source – RingLead) 15) CRM system adoption increases sales by up to 29%. (Source – Salesforce) 16) 73% of executives prefer to work with sales professionals referred by someone they know. (Source – IDC) 17) 55% of B2B buyers search for information on social media. (Source – Blender) 18) The most successful reps use terms that inspire confidence, such as “certainly,” “definitely,” and “absolutely,” five times more often than low performers. (Source – Gong.io) 19) 79 percent of salespeople achieve quota by using a combination of social selling techniques. (Source – Microsoft) 20) On average, people made 33 dials per day. This is down from 38 in 2012. (Source – ForEntrepreneurs)

21) Research shows that 35% to 50% of sales go to the vendor that responds first. (Source – InsideSales.com) 22) Adding the word “New” to your subject line can increase open rates by 23%. (Source – Adestra) 23) Only 7% respond to leads in the first five minutes after a form submission. More than half don’t respond within five business days. (Source – Drift)

24) Subject lines with three to four words get more responses than shorter and longer ones. (Source – HubSpot) 25) Nurtured leads make 47% larger purchases than non-nurtured leads. (Source – The Annuitas Group) 26) High-performing sales organizations are twice as likely to provide ongoing training as low-performing ones. (Source – HubSpot) 27) 32% of buyers post a review on social media. (Source – Avande)

SO!
Did any of these statistics shock you? Were there any that you are finding to be happening to you right now? Which ones have inspired you to work differently? Statistic number 19 showed that a whopping 79% of salespeople achieve quota by using social selling techniques… however so many salespeople and sales teams are barely scratching the surface with it. If you need help designing a customised, fun and highly charged training program to help you win more customers and grow your market share, contact KONA today on 1300 611 288 | info@kona.com.au for a confidential conversation.  

7 TIPS TO BUILD A POSITIVE SALES CULTURE

Posted on | by Sienna Anderson
Your Long-Term Strategy for Success with a Positive Sales Culture
As the old adage goes, choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life! To truly create a driven and positive work culture, you’ll need a long-term strategy of consistent, purposeful support for sales improvement. These techniques for good sales training can be used with a one-day conference, a workshop or short-term coaching.
1. CONTINUE WITH TRAINING:
Make training continuous with a series of workshops, online seminars, lunch-and-learns, and other sessions. Regular sales training should reinforce previously learned skills as well as help people learn new tips and techniques. Online learning and blended-model learning, a combination of online and in-person training, is an affordable and effective way to offer continuous support and education.

2. LISTEN AND LEARN:
Build a library of books, podcasts and other materials to provide your team with learning on the go. They can listen to sales training and motivational materials during transit to appointments or on their commute to and from the office. Some classics of sales include Garret Norris’s Build a Healthy Business, Brian Tracy’s The Psychology of Selling and many others. Don’t forget books on communication skills and, of course, a bank of product resources to help your salespeople increase their basic sales knowledge. The Kenan-Flagler Business School offers a list of the 10 best podcasts for building a positive sales culture. You can download Apple iTunes to your smartphone or iPhone and listen on the go and be well on track to building your own positive sales mindset.
3. DEVELOP A CASE STUDY LIBRARY:
Newcomers to the sales department may gain much from a bank of case studies your team has created. Although some sales skills are product – and company-agnostic, others seem to work best in specific situations and industries. Use this foundational knowledge to shorten the learning curve for new employees and to help everyone improve, in turn creating a unified and positive sales environment. Because salespeople are often on the go, written case studies may not work for your team. Instead, spend five minutes at your weekly sales meeting sharing case studies and record them with a small digital recorder. Upload them to the company intranet or share links via email. Staff can listen to them in the car, at home or if they have a few minutes at work.

4. PERSONAL COACHING AND MENTORING:
Partnering up skilled salespeople as observers and mentors with new or less-skilled sales members may also help in establishing a positive sales culture. Learning from peers in a safe, supportive environment is often an effective way to overcome personal blind spots. Because the information is coming from peers, it may be easier to understand or easier for participants to ask questions.
5. ALLOW TIME FOR A CHANGE:
It takes time to learn and apply new skills. It can take even longer to demonstrate results. While you shouldn’t have to wait forever to see positive improvement, demanding immediate change is counterproductive. Allow your employees time to learn, grow and change. Make sure they have enough structured time in their day for learning and training activities.
6. MEASURE RESULTS:
Hold people accountable for their sales goals. Use the goals they have self-identified in training to measure progress. Metrics to monitor include lead generation, sales calls, closing rate and revenues generated. Don’t forget to measure customer satisfaction, upsells and cross-sells, too. These, when taken together, can clearly show how much of an impact sales training has made.
7. PROVIDE FEEDBACK: 
Managers can accompany team members on sales calls and provide immediate feedback once the meeting has ended. Providing feedback immediately after a situation helps reinforce both what went right and what could be changed in the future. Just make sure this feedback is given in private and not in front of the client!
PLAN FOR SUCCESS
For long-term sales success, you need a plan. Begin your plan by analysing and measuring the current performance of your sales team. Get to know each team member as an individual. Each person contributes something unique to the team while having specific weaknesses in their work skills. Identifying strengths and weaknesses is the first step to planning effective sales training. This is where you start. Even before you begin to think of your marketing plan A clear road map for sales training includes both big-picture thinking and alignment to individual goals and KPIs. Aligning training activities to the company’s overarching key performance indicators (KPIs) and goals helps build executive buy-in, as well as necessary budget, for your proposed sales education program. With these methods, both phone and field sales team members can demonstrate improvement over time. Having the right sales training program means tailoring it toward your team, their goals and their needs, and the company’s needs overall. With this in place, you can dispel the myth of sales training issues and demonstrate its positive benefits instead.

If you need help designing a customised, fun and highly charged training program to help you win more customers and grow your market share, contact KONA today on 1300 611 288 | info@kona.com.au for a confidential conversation.

TRAINING DOESN’T WORK

Posted on | by Sienna Anderson

An astonishing 85% of sales training falls short of delivering on its ROI. Additionally, approximately 80% of new skills are lost within one week of training if they are not used, and about 87% of skills are lost within a month of training if they are not used regularly.  Sales is the lifeblood of a company. Therefore, without steady sales, companies fail. Yet, some sales teams receive little, if any, training. Others receive inadequate one-hour seminars and are told they have just completed sales training. Is it any wonder why sales training doesn’t work?  The best salespeople in the world are akin to Olympic-level athletes. However, companies treat them as if they can simply hit the ground running and sell, sell, sell without any training at all. Consider how many hours go into training for the Olympics. Ultimately, an Olympic gymnast trains for years before hitting the mat with her teammates. So, we should do no less for our sales leaders! There are many reasons why sales training doesn’t work. The right sales training techniques, however, can help your sales team train for their own unique “Sales Olympics.” 

Sales Training Not Working? Here are Five Reasons Why Your Training Fails

A typical sales training scenario is a one-day, half-day or even shorter training session. That involves, an expert, consultant or high-producing salesperson to be invited into a company to speak to their sales team. The expert may hand out books or binders, encourage team members to participate in team-building exercises and listen to plenty of motivational speeches.  After a day of receiving exhaustive knowledge on communications, persuasion, prospecting and follow-up, the sales team is told they have successfully completed training. They return to their regular work the following day, and soon the old habits return.

There are many reasons why some sales training sessions fail and others succeed.  
Here are five common reasons why sales training often fails. 
1. Activities are not tailored to adults.  Considering the typical sales training model, it is unsurprising that companies fail to achieve their training ROI. KONA Group CEO Garret Norris, an expert in adult education, identified several key factors for best practices for adult learning. Adults need training that speaks to their learning needs, not training modelled after typical university classroom practices.

KONA Group CEO Garret Norris on Why Training Does Not Work

Adults engaged in learning activities need to: 
  • Know why they are participating in an activity.
  • Feel invested in the outcome — “What’s in this for me?”
  • Learn through doing. Newly learned activities must be practised to become second-nature. 
  • Solve problems. Solving problems helps place a new activity into an adult’s long-term memory.
  • Learn in a social setting. Adults, even more than children, prefer to learn while among peers.
  • Tap into their life experience. That is, so they forge connections between what they have just learned and real-life scenarios and situations they remember.
  • Integrate new knowledge with existing information. They like to see a connection between what they have just learned with things they have previously learned.

Assuming adults who attend a one-day seminar will become exceptional salespeople the following day is an unreasonable expectation. Sales training issues aren’t problems with salespeople — they are problems with the model used to train adult learners, whose needs remain unmet by lecture-style workshops. 
2. Not enough time allowed for results.
Another factor often overlooked in why sales training doesn’t work is leadership. Companies may invest in sales training, but if the company’s leadership team doesn’t support the time required to learn new skills, sales training may fail.  Companies often seek immediate ROI for investing in sales training, but as we have seen, this is an unrealistic expectation. Failing to give the participants enough time to learn, practice and perfect new skills is like asking an out-of-shape adult to run a 10K next week — you can ask, but the person is likely to fail (never mind get hurt!).  To truly enact a culture of continuous learning in your organisation, you must “put your money where your mouth is” and pay more than lip service to sales training. Corporate leaders must be willing to allow salespeople to attend training. They must be patient while new skills are learned. Systems must be set up to monitor, measure and report on sales results, with the data used not to punish low performance, but instead to coach and train for improvement.
3. Lack of leadership buy-in and participation.
Can you imagine a NRL team coach who never attends practice? Or the captain of the AFL team telling his players he’s too busy practising his surfing to attend team practice? The same thing happens with many sales managers: they assign personnel to training without attending training themselves.  When sales managers fail to attend training, it leads to a big disconnect between “Do as I say” and “Do as I do.” They give mixed messages about the importance of training. Perhaps more importantly, they cannot model the appropriate behaviours because they haven’t learned alongside their staff what’s important. 

Managers must be willing to commit the time and effort to sales training alongside their team members. Actively participating in sales training not only encourages team members but demonstrates support for the key concepts being taught. Whether it’s participating in classroom activities alongside trainees or role playing along with them, when the manager participates, training is more effective. 
4. Start With the End in Sight: Set Goals 
The first step to creating an ideal sales training model is to begin with the end goal in mind. Establish key goals, metrics and measurements first, before creating your training. 

Identify what you would like the sales team to learn, know and do after the training is completed. The goals for product knowledge sales training may be quite different from the goals for sales skills training. Identifying which skills to focus on first, and the desired outcomes, will have the most impact.  Additionally, practising in a safe, supportive training environment takes much of the risk out of trying new activities. A supportive and encouraging coach ensures people know when they have demonstrated a new skill successfully.

To GET YOUR TEAM INVOLVED IN ACTIVE LEARNING AND ENGAGED IN THE ART OF SALES contact 

KONA 1300 611 288 | info@kona.com.au for a confidential conversation today.

A Sales Manager’s Guide for Underperforming Sales Teams

Posted on | by Sienna Anderson

HOW TO TURN AROUND UNDERPERFORMING SALES TEAMS THAT  ARE STRUGGLING DURING THESE COVID TIMES

It is 8.30 in the morning. You walk into your office alone as your team must work from home, coffee in hand. You wish you could hear the chattering and bustle of your team. You enter the room and look around.

Phones are not ringing, and fingertips are not dancing across the keyboards. You long to hear the excitement in the voices of your team members. You miss the energy that was electrifying.

You think, do we have an underperforming sales team or what is going on? Then the mood shifts.

Someone calls you on MS Teams, when you answer you see one of your team spinning around in their chair, accordingly she winks and says, “That’s $5,000 before noon, Boss.” Normally the cheering in the office would be truly equal that of a crowd at an AFL final.

You quickly get your mojo, even manage a smile and say, “this is going to be a good day, I can feel it in my waters”.

*Beep beep beep*

Then finally comes your rude awakening. The sound of your alarm every morning is brutal. In fact you dream of a pre COVID sales team that’s crushing their quotas on a daily basis and a team culture that’s both supportive and competitive.

However that is not the case. They are struggling every day. They are also not closing deals. Similarly, they do not even seem to know how to qualify leads in this environment, truth be told… nor do you. Revenue is down and quite frankly – you are in trouble.

The good news? Your dream is not far off.

HERE IS A GUIDE ON HOW TO TURN AN UNDERPERFORMING SALES TEAM AROUND

Firstly, start from the beginning: Where did things go wrong? Yes, you can “blame” COVID and no one would flinch if you did. Many sales managers tend to have the kind of reflexive thinking that ends up making the problem worse. Why? They never figured out what caused all these issues in the first place. Let’s take a look at how you can get there.

TURN YOUR UNDERPERFORMING SALES TEAM AROUND contact the KONA Group | 1300 611 288 | info@kona.com.au

GETTING TO THE ROOT CAUSE OF THE PROBLEM

Often when things go wrong, we seek to blame rather than to solve. Have you ever had a conversation with a child, and they kept asking you “Why?” Regardless of your response, their next question was always “Why?” It is likely that you ended the conversation with a firm, and for the child very unsatisfying, “because.”

Well, guess what? While this is an excellent way for a child to drive their parents crazy, it’s also the same approach that turned Toyota into a $500 billion company. The company pioneered a problem-solving methodology for an underperforming sales issue, known as the 5 Whys Model. Let us take a look.

THE 5 WHYS MODEL

The 5 Whys Model has been praised by the start-up community as the quickest way to identify the root cause of a problem. We are going to take a look at how it works, the limitations to the model and what you can do to improve it.

So how does it work? You simply begin with a statement of the problem, that is,  “I have an underperforming sales team.” Next, you ask “Why?” and you continue to ask “Why?” in response to each statement until you have arrived at what’s actually causing the problem. Here is what the conversation could look like.

TURN YOUR UNDERPERFORMING SALES TEAM AROUND contact the KONA Group | 1300 611 288 | info@kona.com.au

Sales Manager: I have an underperforming sales team.

You: Why is your team underperforming?

Sales Manager: Nobody seems to be giving their best.

You: Why are they not giving it their best effort?

Sales Manager: They’re not personally invested in their success. They say they want to come into an office, do the day-to-day work, and leave at 5 p.m. sharp.

You: Why are they not personally invested?

Sales Manager: I think it is because we only reward the top sales rep, and everyone sees the top position as out of their reach. Only Glenn, the top guy, is killing it and the rest are not hitting target as they cant travel.

You: Why do they think the top position is out of their reach?

Sales Manager: Because Glenn has been the top rep ever since he started and they’ve pretty much given up on trying to even compete with him.

You: Why have they given up on trying to compete with him?

Sales Manager: Well, he is better than everyone by a long shot and still is.

Aha! In this situation, you have discovered – in less than two minutes – that your reps are not motivated to perform as well as your top performer. Voila – the reason for your underperforming sales team is now known.

LIMITATIONS TO THE 5 WHYS

While the 5 Whys approach can be a powerful problem-solving technique, it comes with limitations.

  1. Single cause issue. It assumes that there is only one cause behind the effect.
  2. Deductive thinking. Often, problem solving does not take place where the problem occurred. This leads to the discussion not being grounded in what actually happened.
  3. Confirmation bias. The person asking the questions will jump to conclusions because they’ve “seen this happen before”.

Here are four simple ways to improve your use of the 5 Whys Model and turn your underperforming sales team around:

  • Use a timeline. Identify the events that detail how the problem occurred, outside of COVID.
  • “Go and See.” Observe what is actually happening, rather than make assumptions as to what might be happening.
  • Gather data. Demonstrate that the answer to any of the whys is plausible.
  • Ask again. For each of the causes your sales reps come up with, ask them another five whys.

A STARTING POINT

Despite its limitations, using the 5 Whys Model offers you a great way to explore the potential issue at hand and opens up the lines of communication. It will assist you in challenging your assumptions and identify the areas in which the issue lies. And once you have done this, you can start looking at solutions to the problem.

Next, let us take a look at the three most common causes of an underperforming sales team and how you and your sales team can get out of a rut.

1. DID YOU HIRE THE RIGHT SALESPEOPLE?

Good sales managers ask themselves this question constantly when faced with an underperforming sales team. But it is not just about deals closed or leads qualified – it is about your team working together. It is about your sales culture. To illustrate this, let us look at an example.

The LA SWAT team used to be a volunteer task force within the LAPD that took on the most dangerous missions. These volunteers were skilled at combat, and many of them had unique experiences, such as the Vietnam War. But because they were not a cohesive team, the early SWAT teams suffered from sky-high mortality rates.

Members of the SWAT team face life and death situations every day. For them, having the right people is not just important. It is the difference between waking up the next day and knowing that your teammates will too.

Today, the SWAT team no longer consists of volunteers. Each candidate has to go through a six-day selection process during which they need to meet mental as well as physical criteria.

THE APPROACH

One of the most challenging tests is called “Hogan’s Alley.” This is a mock street scene where candidates are confronted with surprise situations in which they need to make life or death decisions. This includes whether or not to shoot a suspect or deciding whether a person is a friend or an enemy. During these tests, candidates need to demonstrate that they can think clearly and make a decision while they are exhausted, and even physically hurt.

While this is an extreme example, it is an approach to hiring that can be applied to any team. In order to not just survive, but to thrive as a business, you need to make sure you have the right people onboard.

You don’t want just good sales reps, you want sales reps who are cultural fits to work for your company. Plan and map out your desired skill sets and behaviour traits and use them as a guide in your hiring process. You’ll find that your existing employees fall into three camps.

TURN YOUR UNDERPERFORMING SALES TEAM AROUND contact the KONA Group | 1300 611 288 | info@kona.com.au

GREAT SALES REPS, GREAT FITS

They are not just your money makers – they are the future of your company. Incentivise them to stick around. Put them in leadership positions, get them talking to your most important prospects and help them reach their career goals.

GREAT SALES REPS, BAD FITS

These are people who are great sales reps, but they are in the wrong place. Maybe they do not believe in your product, or they are better suited selling to a different type of customer.

BAD SALES REPS

The killer instinct does not come naturally to the majority of people. This is something that cannot be taught. No amount of intellect or positive attitude can make up for it. Cut your losses quickly by letting go of sales reps that are either in the wrong business or the wrong career as soon as possible.

While firing people is never easy, you are doing both them and yourself a disservice by keeping them around. If you have mapped them and maximised the key skills and they still do not perform, then you need to be a strong leader.

TURN YOUR UNDERPERFORMING SALES TEAM AROUND contact the KONA Group | 1300 611 288 | info@kona.com.au

2. IS THERE A STRONG TEAM CULTURE?

The tech community loves to say that culture is something that happens “organically.” As XPLANE founder Dave Gray points out, this doesn’t mean we should just sit back and wait for it to happen. It will not as HOPE IS NOT A SALES STRATEGY!

As a sales manager, it is your job to keep a finger on the pulse of the culture and provide support.

Create a road map for your sales culture using mapping techniques.

Below are the key elements to focus on.

Outcomes. These are the objectives that you want your culture to achieve. It can be that your staff loves coming into work or that all your employees perform at their best.

Behaviours. Look at how individual behaviours influence the team and their ability to achieve your desired outcome. Reward encouragement and teamwork, but reprimand behaviours that bring down morale. If there is a toxic person on the team, get rid of him or her ASAP.

Enablers and Blockers. Check to see whether you have tools and people who make the job easier and more efficient, or if you have tools and people who inhibit people from doing their jobs well.

TURN YOUR UNDERPERFORMING SALES TEAM AROUND contact the KONA Group | 1300 611 288 | info@kona.com.au

3. ARE YOUR SALESPEOPLE MOTIVATED?

Firstly – hustle. That is what great salespeople are all about. And no salesperson is going to hustle when the compensation is not worth the work they put in.

But compensation is not just about the money. It’s about how you value a rep’s hard work and incentivise them to do better.

However, one of the most common causes of an unmotivated sales team is a complex compensation plan. Harvard Business School’s Dr. Doug J. Chung spent half a lifetime researching motivation and sales compensation plans. And the result? Well, it does not take a Harvard degree to grasp where things can go wrong. Chung found that there were three main factors to consider when designing your compensation plan.

COMPENSATION PLAN

  1. Salary v Compensation. This depends on the reliability of your industry’s sales cycle. If you are in a seasonal sales business, you can’t reward reps for blind luck. If sales do not fluctuate based on these outside factors, compensation should be directly tied to performance.
  2. Timing. The influence timing has on reps directly correlates to how naturally motivated they are. Similar to great students, great reps just need a year-end bonus to motivate them, but middle-road and low performers need more frequent benchmarks to keep them on track.
  3. Ratcheting. Many companies increase sales quotas of top performers year-to-year to get them to strive higher and higher. Chung’s studies indicated that this is actually detrimental to morale. This means that top performers are penalised for succeeding rather than rewarded. An alternative is to give over-achievement bonuses, where yearly benchmarks stay the same, but hitting an even loftier goal is rewarded with more.

It is simple: When salespeople do not know what they’re getting for the work they put in, they’re going to be less motivated. Structure and tailor your compensation plan in a way so that it incentivises each type of sales rep on your team to improve and get better –one plan does not fit all.

DRIVE YOUR SALES TEAM TO CONTINUOUSLY IMPROVE

Sales teams do not become great overnight. They become great because they work at it continuously. This is why your role as the sales manager is crucial. It is your job to help your sales team succeed. It begins and ends with you.

ACCEPT RESPONSIBILITY

Swedish economist Tobias Fredberg found a fascinating pattern by examining how dozens of CEOs spoke in interview transcripts. CEOs who had successfully turned a company around shared the same way of speaking. They personally took the blame for problems—using the words “I” and “me”—and passed the credit to the team for successes—using the words “us” and “we”.

As the sales manager, you are responsible for your team. When stuff goes wrong, it is up to you to step up to the plate and be accountable for your own actions. That is what being a good leader means—and that’s what will inspire autonomy and leadership from within your team. The benefits are huge.

TURN YOUR UNDERPERFORMING SALES TEAM AROUND contact the KONA Group | 1300 611 288 | info@kona.com.au

BENEFITS OF ACCOUNTABILITY

  • Ownership over problems. If you assume that every problem is yours to either fix or delegate, then nothing will ever fall through the cracks. Establishing clear ownership over responsibilities and starting from the ground up is how you empower your team to succeed.
  • No cost to morale. Blaming members of the team and taking credit for successes will make team members feel under-appreciated. They will feel like you are picking on them and taking their hard-earned glory.
  • Transparency. If you take it upon yourself to know the going-ons of the team, your sales reps will feel more comfortable telling you about potential stumbling blocks they are encountering. Otherwise, you will be unaware of an issue until it spirals out of control and blows up in your face.

When your team is doing well in the day-to-day, you can step back and watch everyone succeed. But at pivotal times, you need to personally bring on change and see your vision through.

LEAD BY EXAMPLE

Most people are natural sceptics. If you claim that something will work, they will need to see it to believe it. Instead of telling them, show them. Get into the weeds and start making cold calls, drafting emails, and closing deals with your team. Inspire them and set an example.

  • Mentor your reps. Give your sales reps someone to look up to. If your employees enter into a mentor-mentee relationship, they’ll be eager to learn and improve. They’re also more likely to stick around, as they’ll see their position as a learning opportunity.
  • Diagnose flaws in your systems. You might find a problem with a sales script, or an issue with how the team is finding leads. You’re not always this close to the action—take advantage of it.

GETTING ON THE TRACK TO SUCCESS

Often, as soon as an entire team agrees that there is an issue, you’ll see a shift in focus. Your salespeople will start questioning roles, processes and the direction. If it seems chaotic for a while—let it happen. This is a good thing.

It is always challenging to face a problem when you don’t know exactly what the problem is. It will take work both from you and your sales reps to align and bring your team back on a good path.

Remember to be patient. Things will not change overnight. The very first thing you try to turn things around is likely to fail, and that is okay. Keep trying until you have the culture, the goals and the vision that will help your salespeople crush it.

Soon enough, you will be walking down that hallway again and enter a room full of energy and excitement. Your salespeople will be closing deals again and there will be no alarm to wake you up.

Except for the sound of a sale, of course!

To roll-out this sales guide and turn your team’s performance around, contact KONA 1300 611 288 | info@kona.com.au for a confidential conversation today.