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FEATURESTORY
If Your Reps Can Stand the Heat, You Need A Hotter Kitchen
Complacency is a dangerous thing. Not only that, it's sneaky, and comes at sales managers from almost everybody on the team.
Take, for example, the "comfortable" sales reps on your team. You know, the ones who are satisfied with their current income level and long ago began coasting. They're too complacent.
And you no doubt have "average performers." They're in the middle of the pack, know it and unfortunately are resigned to the fact that they'll likely stay there. They're too complacent.
Even the top-performing reps are guilty. They know that "keep on keepin' on," works. With no one to push them and pose any real threat to their No. 1 status, they're not running as hard as they could. They, too, are too complacent.
All this complacency creates serious exposure to competitors. They are smart, they work hard and they become more formidable every day. Complacency means you're not getting better. And it means the other guys will catch up and pass you.
What's a sales manager to do? Turn up the heat and turn it up now. Do it in a simple, logical, straightforward way, but do it! Do it with measurement, reporting of relative rankings and knowledge sharing.
Start with the obvious measurement: monthly sales. In month one,
send an e-mail to each rep letting that individual know if he finished in the top one-third, in the middle one-third, or in the bottom one-third in total sales. Have one of the reps in the top
one-third make a formal, 15-minute presentation at your monthly sales meeting about how he or she did it. Take another 15 minutes for discussion and identify at least two or three best practices. Post
those best practices in a conspicuous place.
In month two, send another e-mail to each rep. This time let them know where they rank for both sales and gross profit dollars. Assign another top one-third rep for one of those measurements to prepare and deliver the 15-minute sales meeting presentation. Have the follow-up discussion and add the best practices to your list.
Add one more measurement and ranking to your e-mail every month. Be sure that the measurement is meaningful and relevant. Think about counting things like number of new opportunities identified, proposals delivered, and executive-level calls made. If it makes sense, track sales cycle time, percent of identified opportunities that are closed, and average order dollar value.
Now think about the sales culture this "turn-up-the-heat" process creates. All reps are aware of and competing to be in the top one-third of performers
for a variety of critical sales activities. Reps won't want to embarrass themselves in front of their peer group so presentation, preparation and delivery skills will be constantly sharpened.
Critical sales activities that work will be identified, emphasized and discussed every month.
Everyone will be constantly learning and picking up new ideas about how to get better.
Sounds like anything but complacency to me.
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Todd Youngblood is CEO of the YPS Group (www.ypsgroup.com), a sales training firm.
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See also in: Jump! (...five unconventional sales strategies)
Looking for the Best Ideas? Ask for Their Worst!
If Customers Push, Push Them Back
Turn A Competitor Into A Colleague
If Your Reps Can Stand the Heat, You Need A Hotter Kitchen
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