THIS MONTH’S CONTRIBUTORS: MAX CATES, JOE GALVIN, TAMARA SCHENK, DAVE KURLAN, PHIL KREINDLER, WARREN SHIVER AND MICHAEL PERLA, JASON JORDAN,SURESH BALASUBRAMANIAN, MICHELLE CHEONG & TIM RIESTERER

FROM TOP SALES WORLD MAY 2016

Jonathan Farrington interviews Brian Sullivan, co­author ofthe recently published “SANDLER ENTERPRISE SELLING”

T P SALES MAGAZINEALSO INSIDE: The 2016 Top 50 Sales BlogsAnnounced

Winning, Growing,And Retaining MajorAccounts

TOP SALES MAGAZINE MAY 20162

Three Big Don’tsfor Hiring theRight SalesPersonMax Cates

11The Politics ofBusinessDecision MakingJoe Galvin

14

How to Design ASales CoachingFrameworkTamara Schenk

16This Email ProvesHow Poorly theBottom 74% ofSalespeopleDave Kurlan

20

You Can’t CutAnd Paste YourWay To SalesSuccessPhil Kreindler

22The 7 Steps toSales ForceTransformationWarren Shiverand MichaelPerla

24

CrackSalesManaCode Sales and HAchieJason

2

king the

agementPart 3 of 4 Objectives

How toeve Themn Jordan

27

Make Your SalesForce aCompetitiveWeaponSureshBalasubramanian

30

Lifelong learning– What salesprofessionalsneed to know?Michelle Cheong

32Do YourSalespeopleKnow WhatTraining TheyNeed?Tim Riesterer

36

ContentsMay 2016

Editors: Jonathan Farrington JF@topsalesworld.comLinda Richardson linda@lindarichardson.comDesign: Bill Jeckells bill@billjeckells.comPublished by: Top Sales World A JF INITIATIVE

Winning, Growing, AndRetaining Major AccountsJonathan Farrington interviewsBrian Sullivan, co­author of therecently published “SANDLERENTERPRISE SELLING”PAGE 6

Featured Top Partner of the Month Corporate VisionsPAGE 40

Top Sales Article & Blog PostApril 2016PAGE 41

TOP SALES MAGAZINE

TOP SALES WORLD is Sponsored by

Is Sales Management Gettingin the Way of Sales Success?Jonathan FarringtonPAGE 4

TOP SALES MAGAZINE MAY 2016 3

As I have said often enough, the single mostcommon mistake that organizations make ispromoting their number one salesperson into

the role of sales manager, thereby deprivingthemselves in a single stroke of their best producerand hamstringing their sales force with anineffective manager.

The skills required for managing, mentoring and

developing a sales team are totally different fromthose required for selling – sounds obvious, but it isa point, which must be re­iterated. As a result, it’snot uncommon to find newly promoted salesmanagers who regret having taken a managementposition and may even leave to get back into sales.

When a salesperson gains promotion tomanagement the first thing they have to do is toquickly acquaint themselves with a new set ofworking relationships – and a new set of rules.

The salesperson’s primary working relationshipsare with customers. However, the sales manager’s iswith the sales force i.e. his subordinates.Let’s look at that a little more closely:

Essential Attributes – Successful Salesperson:l Personal drive (ego) l Needs to win battles (Individual sales) l Able to work alonel Persuades customers to see his/her pointl Needs selling skills, personal skills and knowledgel Able to work away from the office

Recently, I made the pointduring a keynote speechthat the role of salesmanagement – dare I say

“sales leadership” – is now pivotal in thesuccess of every organization and yet, it isbecoming clear that around 80% ofmanagers are unqualified to fulfil the rolethat is being asked of them. What doesthat mean?

TOP SALES MAGAZINE MAY 20164

Is Sales Management Getting in the Way of Sales Success?

Editorial

l Works well with people and numbersl Good at implementing sales tactics

Essential Attributes – Successful Sales Manager:l Submission of personal needs to the goals of the

Company (Corporate drive) l Needs to win the war (Meet corporate goals) l Able to work with othersl Persuades the sales team to see the Company’s

pointl Needs management skills and marketing

knowledgel Needs to work at the officel Works well with people, numbers, paperwork

and the corporate hierarchyl Good at developing sales and marketing

strategies

Completely different set of skills!The most common danger in having sales

managers who are basically super salespeople is that“relations with subordinates” including the criticaltasks of development and supervision maydeteriorate.

Even when they do recognize the importance ofdeveloping their salespeople, many sales managersfind that they lack the skills and resources to do iteffectively. It then becomes easier not to bother.

The majority of sales managers – new andexperienced alike – say they do not have sufficienttime to train and develop their sales teams. They areso focused on sales results and so accustomed toachieving success through their personal pursuit ofthose results – that they overlook their greatestpotential source of power, the power to increasesales performance by developing their people.

To make things worse, most sales teams consistof a number of individuals with differing levels ofexperience and ability, so the whole issue of teamdevelopment becomes too daunting for theoverwhelmed manager to contemplate.

Sadly, this is a common scenario and goes someway to explaining why levels of sales achievement

are declining so alarmingly.At least 80% of sales managers fail within

eighteen months of being promoted (Source:Chally).

I spend quite a lot of my time questioning themotives of would­be sales managers: is it the kudosthat is attractive? The lure of a new car? The powerthat comes with authority? increased responsibility?

The reality is that it can be one of the loneliestand most stressful jobs in the world. Being suddenlypropelled from a situation where you are, by andlarge, totally responsible for your own achievement,into another where you are totally dependent onyour team for your success. Is it any wonder that somany managers fail so early, in what could havebeen such a promising career?

Sales achievement levels have never been so faroff target and the quality of selling skills are spiralingdownwards at an alarming rate of acceleration –whose fault is it?

I think it is about time our sales managers stoodup and accepted responsibility.

Whatever happens on the sales floor is down tothe sales leader – leaders always have to accept fullaccountability. n

To read more of Jonathan's articles, posts,white papers and thoughts visit his

personal site ­ here

TOP SALES MAGAZINE MAY 2016 5

Come and meet Jonathan in London here

JF: Your new book is SANDLER ENTERPRISESELLING: Winning, Growing, And Retaining MajorAccounts. What is enterprise selling? And how is itdifferent from any other type of selling?BS: At Sandler, we believe strongly in the power ofpain. It’s the great motivator and it motivates action.We like to say, “No pain, no sale”. And that’s thetruth. So, we define enterprise selling in terms ofthe unique pains and challenges that organizations

face in selling to and serving large, complexaccounts. Pains and challenges such as lengthysales cycles. Consider that, in dealing with small andmedium­sized accounts, selling cycles can last days,weeks, maybe a month or two. But in selling toenterprise organizations, seasons can pass during asales pursuit. Sales cycles several months long arecommonplace and some last a year or longer. Andwith time comes risk, uncertainty, and doubt for theselling organization. It can be very frustrating,especially if you’re not prepared to deal with it. Butfor the selling organizations that follow effectiveprocesses, their preparation illustrates qualities tothe buying organization, qualities that give thebuyers a view of what the sellers would be like asbusiness partners, after the deal is won. Qualitiessuch as attention to detail, follow­up, anddependability. As a selling organization, with eachtouchpoint that showcases these types of qualitiesover a long pursuit, you get closer to a win –because the buying organization will be evaluatingyou every step of the way. But, for the ineffectiveselling organizations that may succumb to thoserisks, uncertainties, and doubts, they just mightoccasionally drop the ball. Maybe they’ll miss adeadline or submit a deliverable that doesn’t hit themark. Whatever it is, you can be assured that thebuying organization takes notice.

There are several other key pains and challengesthat define enterprise selling such as wide, diversebuyer networks, sophisticated competition, a keenfocus on business value, and more. And SandlerEnterprise Selling provides a practical approach fordealing with all of them, increasing your chances ofsuccess in the enterprise arena.

JF: What is the Sandler Enterprise Selling (SES)approach to selling? Can this approach be adaptedfor other types of sales situations?

Jonathan Farringtoninterviews Brian Sullivan,co-author of the recentlypublished “SANDLERENTERPRISE SELLING”

TOP SALES MAGAZINE MAY 20166

Winning, Growing, And Retaining Major Accounts

The Jonathan Farrington Interview

BS: Sandler Enterprise Selling provides a six­stageapproach for winning business with enterpriseaccounts, serving them effectively and expandingthe relationships over the long­term. With thefundamental Sandler Selling System as its bedrock,Sandler Enterprise Selling builds on this powerfulbaseline and enhances it, providing a robustprogram for selling organizations in the enterprisearena. SES is based on six highly strategic stagesdesigned to help you win, serve, and grow large,complex accounts. They are:

1. Territory & Account Planning2. Opportunity Identification3. Qualification4. Solution Development5. Proposing & Advancement6. Service Delivery

While there is a clear sequence to the stages withidentified starting and ending points, there is reallyno end to SES, for it represents a continuousprocess of selling to and serving enterpriseaccounts, and the excellence in serving spawnsgrowth. Streams of transactions over time in a long­term, mutually beneficial business relationship –that’s the enterprise world.

Regarding the question of whether SES can beadapted for other types of selling situations, it mapsbeautifully to any business model that sells intolarge complex accounts. And as such, it’s designedfor customization and the blending­in of company­specific themes. For companies involved in asimpler type of selling to smaller accounts, SES stilldelivers relevant insights that might be streamlineda bit to fit a more tactical and urgent model.

JF: One of the six stages you mention in the bookis Service Delivery. What can sales teams do inconjunction with delivery teams to expandaccounts?BS: We like to say, “There’s no better time to winbusiness, than after you’ve won business”. What do

we mean? First, enterprise accounts are huge. Theyare vast ecosystems of opportunity ­ diversifiedbusiness organizations typified by multipledivisions, groups, partners, and family trees ofconnected firms. Understanding this network ofpotential, think how much more credible you areonce you are on the “inside”. With the selling anddelivery teams collaborating to clearly understandthe client’s needs and pains and address them in allthat they do, the two become one in sharing thecommon goal of serving and growing theirtreasured account. The continuous process that isSandler Enterprise Selling provides the frameworkto make that common goal a reality.

JF: Why is it crucial for selling organizations toqualify opportunities effectively, especially in theenterprise world? And how can you help sellingteams make educated decisions regarding whichopportunities to pursue?BS: Enterprise opportunities are typically largedeals with big revenues that often represent long­term arrangements, making them very attractiveand extremely tempting. Given the magnitude ofthese deals, they can be game­changers for sellingorganizations. But, of course, games can changepositively or negatively. Consider the president of afirm in Texas that sells into and serves theenterprise market. She met with one of our teammembers and told him, “Every deal that we decideto pursue costs us $40,000. Win or lose, $40,000”.She continued, “If you can help us determine thatthe deals we decide to go after are the ones we’remost likely to win and if you can help us knowwhether to exit a pursuit or continue on, we’re veryinterested”. She and her firm, of course, are facing aclassic challenge of enterprise selling. But thefinancial investment cost is simply the tip of theiceberg. When an organization commits toembarking on one of those lengthy sales cycles,they commit much more than money. They commitother scarce resources as well – their people, theirtime, and their organizational energy. And then

TOP SALES MAGAZINE MAY 2016 7

there’s the opportunity cost. When you commit topursuing a major deal, you’ll clearly be foregoingother initiatives, be they sales opportunities or otherorganizational projects, because the funds, people,time, and energy you’ve committed to the enterprisepursuit are simply less available. And if you try topursue a big deal on the cheap, cutting back onthose scarce resources, one of those sophisticatedcompetitors that are fully committed to the deal willeat your lunch.

Qualification, then, in enterprise deals, is asurvival skill. And in SES, it begins early in theTerritory & Account Planning Stage. Here, you makedecisions regarding what you do well as anorganization, your strengths. You also build theprofiles of the accounts that align to those strengths– a really critical baseline activity that is oftenignored, and you engage in team account planningfor those targeted profile accounts. That’s the basisfor the first question asked by the president of thefirm in Texas – how to determine that the dealspursued have the highest likelihood of success.

And what of her need to know whether to stay inor exit one of those lengthy pursuits with the faucetsof money, time, and people flowing? Over thecourse of time, much can change in an enterprisepursuit. Buying team members can come and go.Business requirements can change. Companies canbe bought and sold. And your ability to refresh yourqualification process based on new information isvital. Getting out of a deal that will cost you $40,000in the end, when you’ve only spent $20,000, is a gift.A gift not only in expenses saved, but in redeployedorganizational resources. Redeployed, perhaps on toanother pursuit where you have a much greaterchance of success. A pursuit much more aligned toyour profile. And Sandler Enterprise Selling providesthe logical framework to help you make theseeducated decisions to pursue and stay connected toonly the deals you’re most likely to win.

JF: In SANDLER ENTERPRISE SELLING, youshare many tools that assist with the sales

process. What is the KARE Account PlanningTool?BS: KARE is a powerful and innovative tool inSandler Enterprise Selling. Most sellingorganizations have designations that they apply totheir accounts. They label accounts by size, verticalmarket, geographic location, commercial vs. publicsector, etc. But what do those labels really tell youabout the traits and tendencies of the accounts?What does knowing those designations really do tohelp you understand the relative importance of theaccounts to your overall strategy?

The SES KARE Tool takes a totally differentapproach. While the more tactical designationssuch as the vertical will still provide guidance,KARE’s four meaningful profiles ­ Keep, Attain,Recapture and Expand, give you a view into thetraits and tendencies of the accounts. Let’s look atKeep and Expand. All selling organizations haveKeep accounts – accounts you definitely want toretain, your bread­and­butter clients. They’re notrainmakers, and likely never will be, but you wantthem to stay with you forever. Now considerExpand accounts – those in which you see greatpotential for expansion and those in which you arewilling, and often eager, to invest. That differencebetween Keep and Expand accounts is critical andunderstanding it earns you the right to taketargeted actions, based on the specific needs ofaccounts in the profiles.

The Recapture accounts are previous clients andAttain accounts are those profile targets mentionedbefore, developed in the Territory & AccountPlanning Stage of SES. KARE provides theframework and you build the profiles based on thespecific attributes of your selling and service model.You then craft the common actions to be takenbased on the profiles. And you’ve also developedvery meaningful labels for all of your accounts,providing an organization­wide lexicon buildingclarity and understanding in team selling.

TOP SALES MAGAZINE MAY 20168

The Jonathan Farrington Interview

JF: You devote an entire chapter to Client­CentricSatisfaction. What does that mean and how isclient satisfaction a key to long­term salessuccess?BS: Think about typical customer satisfactionsurveys. From a consumer standpoint, you receiveone of those emails from the chain hotel you stayedin and you’re asked to give ratings on yoursatisfaction in pre­defined categories. Categorieslike “Quality of Food”, “Friendliness of Lobby Staff”and “Comfort of Shower Cap”. But your room wasnext to the ice machine and across from theelevator and you didn’t sleep a wink. But “RoomNoise” was not one of your options. You delete theemail and never stay at the hotel again.

The same often happens in business. The servingorganization delivers a satisfaction survey filled withpre­chosen criteria that may or may not haveanything to do with the client. In fact, the clientcould rate you highly in the boilerplate areas whileat the same time be planning your exit. But you’dnever know. Because the criteria were yours, notthe client’s.

SES approaches client satisfaction verydifferently. The process guides you to visit with theclient at the start of the relationship and ask themto define their success factors for the upcomingpartnership. The SES Client­Centric SatisfactionTool provides some suggested factors from whichthe client can choose but they are free to addothers if they choose – welcomed to do so, by theway. The client chooses five factors and alsoprovides weights for each. And in choosing thefactors, lively discussion typically ensues.Discussion about what’s most important to theclient in the relationship. Sound like a meeting you’dlike to be part of? And what you’ll find is that therewill be surprises in the choices. Why surprises?Because things have changed. You’re no longer thevendor seeking business. You’re the provider ofservices, a “partner” in some sense, even at thisearly point. Think about it. If you asked this sameclient what was most important to them weeks

before, when they were a prospect and you werebidding on their business, you can imagine whatthey’d have said. “Drop your prices”, “Cut yourdelivery times” and “Give me more pro bonoservices”. What’s changed?

You are now working together. You havecommitted to one another. Now, in many ways, youshare goals with your successes also the client’ssuccesses. The honesty factor has gone way up.And what you learn will absolutely increase yourchances of being successful in delivering. Why?Because now you know exactly how the clientdefines success. In learning that, you’ve earned theright to further refine your delivery focus, based onthe direct client input. As your probability ofdelivery success increases, so do your chances ofmaximizing client satisfaction. And with that, you’llbe in a much better position to expand the account.All because you bothered to ask what’s reallyimportant to the client. The SES Client­CentricSatisfaction Tool provides you the process forreturning, down the road, to gain the client’s actualsatisfaction ratings. Ratings against those criteriaspecifically chosen by the client. And that you havebeen internally tracking. You’ll continue to ask if anyof the ratings or weights have changed since thefirst choices were made, because things do change– and you need to know, learn, and adjust as aresult. The SES Client­Centric Satisfaction Toolprovides the vehicle to success in this arena.

JF: Is there any other information you would liketo share with our audience? Where may ourlisteners find out more about you and the book?BS: The book is available online and in bricks &mortar retailers everywhere. Download a FreeChapter here. For those interested in a lively forumfor discussions around enterprise selling, please jointhe Sandler Enterprise Selling LinkedIn Group. n

Brian Sullivan is Vice President of SandlerEnterprise Selling. Find out more here

TOP SALES MAGAZINE MAY 2016 9

Second Annual CSO Insights Sales EnablementSurvey Launched – Help Us Help You!

The CSO Insights 2016 Sales EnablementOptimization Study offers valuable data and answersto important questions, such as:

l What is the overall business impact salesenablement can create?

l What kinds of enablement services (training,content, tools, coaching) really make a differencein sales performance?

l How can enablement help with social selling?l What’s the role of content in building customer

relationships?l Can technology improve KPIs? How well is

enablement technology integrated with otherSFA/CRM systems?

l How does sales enablement manage cross-functional collaboration?

l Do more mature enablement frameworks andprocesses impact sales performance?

l How are frontline sales managers equipped todrive adoption and reinforcement?

Please take 15- 20 minutes to complete our CSOInsights 2016 Sales Enablement Optimization Study.

What’s in it for you?

l We share study results with our participants first.Those results can help you evolve yourenablement practice as well as sell yourenablement strategy internally.

l Upon completing the survey you will be able toimmediately download the CSO Insights' 2016Sales Performance Key Trends Analysis, andtwo research notes on strategic issues inenablement, regarding content and trainingchallenges.

l In July 2016, you will receive the 2016 SalesEnablement Optimization Study Key TrendsReport – the most important enablement researchreport in the industry.

Are you leading a sales enablementor sales training program orfunction?

We’ll also take a closer look at thedifferences across company sizes,regions, and industries this year!

Here is the link to the survey

Or the rainmaker who jumped to the top ofthe charts before you discovered anintegrity problem. Many times, it seems that

just when we think we’ve learned from our failures,we keep getting surprised again and again.Unfortunately, it seems the unpleasant surprisesoutweigh the pleasant ones. In fact, a recent studyestimated that the turnover rate for entry level salespeople is a staggering 33% during the first year.

Obviously, the challenge is hiring the right personfor the job. That doesn’t mean hiring the best personfor the job who is available at the time. After all,wouldn’t it be better to hire no one at all – to have

TOP SALES MAGAZINE MAY 2016 11

There’s some truth to theold axiom about hiringpeople: First-rate managershire first-rate people whilesecond-rate managers hire

third-rate people. There are hiring savantsamong us who are adept at selecting first-rate sales people. But most of us are lessaccomplished – having, for example, hiredthe sure-thing sales star who flamed outin six months.

Three Big Don’ts for Hiring the Right Sales Person

Max Cates

your existing reps pick up the slack by handling moreaccounts, for example, until the right rep comesalong – than to hire a mediocre sales person thatyou’re stuck with? Think about it. Are you reallycommitted to hiring the right person or simply tryingto avoid hiring a failure? There’s a huge differencebetween hiring right and hiring safe. Most of us havebeen in the situation where your pool of candidatesjust isn’t that strong so you hire the best available.And, many times, that rep turns out to be an averageperformer. The perplexing thing about hiring is notselecting a bad rep – those are pretty easy toidentify and screen. The real struggle is to avoidhiring the mediocre rep. Unfortunately, the laws ofprobability are working in favor of you employingaverage reps if you don’t have a game plan for hiringthe right people.

For sales managers who lack the knack forconsistently attracting top talent (which is themajority of us) here are three Don’ts in the hiringprocess:

1. Don’t trust your intuition. That’s rule numberone, no matter how experienced you are. Intuition isa feeling. And sales people are genius at making youfeel good. Their job is to make you like them. Manyhave a sixth sense for detecting what you’re lookingfor and becoming that person for a few minutes,long enough to get the job. It’s ironic, according toresearch, that the ones who project the mostlikability may be the weaker candidates. Hiring is ascience, not an art. The key is to quantify and verify.After all, numbers don’t lie. Have the applicantprovide sales reports, income statements and otherdocumentation that provide a black and whitepicture of sales performance over time. Verifycandidate’s claims the same way. For example, if acandidate touts his prowess at generating newbusiness, ask for documentation to prove it. As inthe courtroom, you’re looking for evidence, nothearsay. That’s important because, depending onwhat study you read, between 30% to 44% of jobapplicants misrepresent themselves. You can query,

probe and assess till the cows come home, but theonly way to predict a candidate’s future success is toview – through actual results – his or her presentresults.

2. Don’t hire unknowns. Make that your goal – tohire people you know. Even though it’s a goal youmay never attain, it will force you to focus on strongnetworking – to create a pool of candidates readyfor your next hire. If you’re running a lot of hiringads, you are hiring unknowns. That means yoursuccess rate is going to be lower than managers whouse networking skills to hire sales people with whomthey’re familiar. Strong recruiting increases thequantity and quality of “best available reps” which, inturn, decreases the chances of hiring mediocre reps.The best time to recruit is well before you have a jobopening, therefore allowing you to avoid the rush ofhiring in a hurry. Make your recruiting proactiverather than reactive. Doing so means you’ll have alist of candidates well before you have a jobopening. Another advantage of proactive recruitingis the opportunity to choose from candidates whoare happy with their current job as opposed todissatisfied, malcontented candidates who couldeasily carry over their discontent into your group.Recruitment is the prospecting phase of hiring,identifying people who have the people andorganizational skills to help your sales efforts. This isan organized, orderly and full­time process involvingdaily contacts and networking – both in­person andon social media. And, don’t overlook your mostpowerful recruiting ally – your sales reps who canhelp identify sales talent (as well as helping onboardthem to success). Prospects are everywhereincluding employees of hotels, retail stores,restaurants, doctors’ offices, sales people who callon you. The list goes on and on. It’s simply a processof observing and engaging – when you see a personwith sales potential, take a few minutes to engagethem in casual conversation. If they have an interestin a sales career, you might have a good candidatefor your next opening.

TOP SALES MAGAZINE MAY 201612

Max Cates

3. Don’t make the candidate too relaxed. Most ofus have spent years learning to get close tocustomers, to develop a relaxed environment inwhich customers can be themselves and feelcomfortable buying from you. These are invaluablelifetime lessons which are good for all phases of life,except perhaps in interviewing. Of course, we wantapplicants to relax and be themselves; however, wewant to see them being themselves in a salessituation. That is not a relaxing activity. It’s importantfor you to set an amiable, friendly and respectfultone to give the candidate a good first impression.After all, you are selling yourself and your companyto candidates. But remember, they are here primarilyto sell you on themselves, and your job is tointerview them, not serve as their host. Instead ofstarting the interview with a “presentation” aboutthe position and the company, begin by askingcandidates questions about themselves. Thistechnique will help you learn about candidatesbefore they have enough details about your jobopening to say what they think you want to hear.Also, don’t tell the candidate the particular qualitiesyou’re looking for, to avoid “fake good” responses.Give them no more than the basic information of thejob such as pay, hours, territory, travel and generalresponsibilities. Then subtly probe for the skills youneed. Insure that everyone interviewing thecandidate follows the same line of interviewing. Besure not to talk about past successes and failures ofthe sales team or specific team dynamics. This kindof information helps the applicant shape theiranswers, sometimes bending the truth to meet yourneeds. As the interview proceeds, don’t hesitate toinclude a few difficult moments to uncover possiblered flags. Inject a few subtle stressors in theinterview to see how the candidate reacts to difficultquestions or challenging statements. Try this one:“Looking at your credentials, without having seenyou on the job, I’m not sure you’re right for thisposition. Why do you think you are?” Putting themon the spot may unearth defensiveness and otherred flags that indicate future problems. In addition,

ask them to sell you something – a pen, a paper clip,a smart phone. Give them objections to overcome,make it difficult. This will give you a feel for theirpresentation style as well as their patience,resilience and mental agility. One hiring executive, asnoted in a recent New York Times article, sets up abreakfast interview with candidates, and gets thereearly to instruct the waiter or waitress to makeerrors in the order. The boss then can see how theapplicant reacts to unexpected and irritatingcircumstances. Also, a subconscious temptation inus with sales backgrounds is to try to make thecandidate like you. That’s not your job. Yourobjective is to accurately assess their sales potential,not their chemistry with you. In fact, some of yourbest candidates may be ones who don’t establish aquick rapport with you. Don’t be Mr. Nice Guy. Seekthe truth. You can do it in a friendly, supportive,non­threatening manner. Most candidates expectsome challenges in job interviews. The trick is tohandle it in a way that leaves enthusiasm andrespect for the position in the candidate’s mind.

It may help to develop your own personal hiringmission statement that you share with your salesteam and with applicants. Here’s an example: “Wehire only the best sales reps (not the best availablereps) who are accountable, effective sales people. Inreturn, we offer a supporting and rewardingenvironment in which our sales people experiencemeaningful growth and development.” In otherwords, it tells candidates that – if they meet yourhigh standards – you have their back and will helpthem thrive. At the same time, it implies that this isan elite sales team, that expectations are high andthat you hire only the best reps who can fit into yourhigh­performing sales team. n

Max Cates is the author of Seven Steps toSuccess for Sales Managers. Find out more here

TOP SALES MAGAZINE MAY 2016 13

The buyer has become so knowledgeable thatmaybe we should Hire the Buyer. I subscribeto the notion of “buyer chaos”. I don’t think it’s

ever been harder to be part of a business decisionteam than it is today.

Buying is not the same as Business DecisionMaking. Buying is the relatively straightforward

process of evaluating options, capabilities and costby a business “buyer”. At the extreme this is theconsumer; influenced by advertising, experienced bybrand and conscious of cost. As consumers we makedecisions based on what we want, need and canafford. It’s personal. I want the 4D TV and she wantsnew carpeting, we can work this out.

Some argue that buyers no longer need a salesperson, which is true in simple, product­orientedtransactions. As the digital customer experienceevolves, the improved the buying “process” willcontinue to displace low revenue, transactionalselling.

Business decisions are made differently thanpersonal decisions. Business Decision Making (BDM)is how a group of business people makes decisionsin their business context. In the world the business“Decision Maker” he or she evaluates their decisionbased on the value to the business and, moreimportantly, the personal value to them.

Business Value and Personal Value

Business Value is what is discussed and debatedinternally by the buying team. Features, functionalityand cost aligned to the business issue. Businessvalue is unique to every organization based on theircontext. Business value gets pounded into themarket and pumped into the decision team by thecompeting vendor product­marketing organizations.Then it gets adapted to customer by each salesteam. Cost savings, return on investment, time toperformance and every other logical decisioncomparative can be analyzed, conceptualized andtheorized within the context of the impact to thebusiness.

Smarter customers requires smarter sales peopleto fill gaps in business knowledge that customercan’t or don’t access for themselves. This usuallyfalls into customer specific areas of integration orcustomization. It also creates the opportunity for the

The “Buyer” has never beenmore popular than he orshe is today. To some thebuyer is fully informed,socially astute, connected

to the always-on community and is somearbitrary percentage through the mythicalbuying process before connecting withsales.

The Politics of Business Decision Making

TOP SALES MAGAZINE MAY 201614

Joe Galvin

sales person to add business value through bysharing research, data or expertise. The demand fordeeper, richer content is the accelerant for salesforce enablement and the driver for the explosion ofcontent marketing.

Personal value is the “what’s in it for me” filterwe all use when considering our businessperspective. Politics plays a critical role in everybusiness discussion and decision. Sales might bepushing for the new sales enablement/LMS systemto support the role out of new messaging andimprove new hire time to productivity, but the ITorganization lacks resources and is consumed byexisting projects, finance is unsure about investing inmore sales technology without an equivalentincrease in quota while marketing wants additionalinvestment in marketing automation. Where you sitat the table is going to have a huge influence on yourperspective.

Everyone, at one extreme or another appliestheir filter of personal value to their perspective.How will this impact my perception within theorganization or with my boss? Do I agree with myboss or become the contrarian? How will this impactmy promote­ability or will it potentially hurt thoseprospects? Am I aligned with the right people? Weused to call it a CLM; “career limiting move”. Someonewould say or do something or a region wouldstruggle and it would have a negative impact on thatperson’s career and their perception within theorganization – to the point in some cases they wereforced to leave.

Decision Intelligence

There is no amount of marketing automation, socialselling or predictive analytics that can identify theintelligence of the customers decision process. Thebusiness decision method, be that formal or fly­by­night of how an ad­hoc group of businessprofessionals will make a business decision is asmuch a factor of political power and influence ­ asbusiness impact.

We arm our sales team with the same research,data, case studies, thought leadership, ROI­TCOanalysis that we make available to prospects andcustomers (and competitors). It’s naive to think thatevery buyer reads all that stuff and is fully informednot just of your capabilities, but with all thealternatives; especially when it’s a one time, strategicdecision.

Many sales teams are struggling to come to gripswith the higher bar of knowledge required bycustomers today. Being able to add business valueto the dialogue is as much a function of what thecustomer knows as to the sales person’s ability toadd it. Sales Force Enablement teams can create acompetitive knowledge advantage for their salespeople to win the business value discussion.

However, understanding the decision method,political power structure and the human dynamicsbehind the business decision can only be acquiredby sales professionals capable of building credibilityand developing trust with “the buyers” to ask thedecision intelligence questions. We learned early onto ask the, “who else will be involved in the decision”question.

If you break down what is unique about the highperformer, it’s not just their ability to intellectuallyengage in a business value discussion, it’s their abilityto instinctively breakdown the business decisionmethod unique to each deal, the people behind itand the win­ability of each opportunity. They knowwhat deals to drop, which buyers to influence andwhat messages will win based on this group ofpeople. That can’t be automated and marketing can’tdo it. It requires a sales professional interacting withcustomers.

As long as business decisions are made by groupsof people, there will need to be a sales professionalto win the business value discussion and solve forthe decision intelligence. n

Joe Galvin ­ Independent Analyst ofB2B Sales. Find out more here

TOP SALES MAGAZINE MAY 2016 15

Lasting behavior change requires ongoingreinforcement. And this where coachingcomes into play. And frontline sales managers.

Coaching has to be formalized to be effective

At CSO Insights, we define coaching as a leadershipskill to develop each salesperson's full potential. Tobe effective with coaching, world­class performersbuild on coaching frameworks. Our 2015 SalesManagement Optimization Study showed that adiscretionary or informal coaching process did nothave a significant impact on win rates, but a formalcoaching process did: by nine percent. Ambitioussales leaders know immediately what a nine percentbetter win rate would mean in their organization.They also know that their frontline sales managers’ability to coach is a critical element to sustainablesales performance. And yes, they also know that a

formal approach to coaching is the differentiatingelement to become world­class.

Sales Coaching Framework Defined

The CSO Insights Coaching Framework sits betweenthe customer’s journey and the sales professionals’journey (sales process). It requires that thecustomer’s journey has already been mapped to theorganization's sales process. For each gate on thecustomer's side, there has to be an equivalent stepon the internal side. This mapping is a keyprerequisite to creating a coaching framework andthe related coaching assets such as coachingguidelines, questionnaires for various buyingsituations and coaching training sessions for salesmanagers. Our coaching framework consists of fourcoaching layers, each corresponding to a differentcoaching area.

l Lead and Opportunity Coaching: The coach andsales professional examine a lead or opportunity todetermine where it is along the customer’s journeyand to identify activities that will keep the dealflowing through the funnel toward a successfulconclusion. The earlier the coaching begins, themore valuable it is. In the awareness phase, salesmanagers can help the sales professionals get betterat identifying and addressing opportunities, and theycan coach them to develop and execute winning

Imagine salespeople haveto learn a new skill, forinstance, how to applynewly developed valuemessages in different

customer interactions. In this case ofbehavioral change, a training session canonly be the beginning of a longer journey.

TOP SALES MAGAZINE MAY 201616

How to Design A Sales Coaching Framework

Tamara Schenk

deal strategies. Plus, they can spot areas where thesales team needs to stop investing time and effort indeals that cannot be won or will require moreresources than they are worth.

l Funnel or Pipeline Coaching focuses on thestructure of a salesperson’s or the sales team’sfunnel, identifying the most valuable deals that canbe won and helping to manage risks and allocateresources accordingly. Funnel coaching also helpsthe salesperson understand how the shape of theirfunnel translates into quota attainment anddetermine how best to improve their funnelperformance. During funnel coaching, the salesmanagers must assess the types of opportunities inthe funnel, e.g., many small opportunities or fewerlarge volume deals, as well as the assumed closedates, stages, and risks of each opportunity. Mostimportantly, the coach must weigh the value of theopportunities against their probability of being won.Clearly, this coaching area builds on opportunitycoaching and can only be successful if there is clarityat the opportunity level.

l Coaching on Skills and Behaviors: In today'scomplex selling environments, customer behaviorsare constantly changing. As a result, salespeopleoften have to make significant changes to theirselling skills and behaviors. For example, thetransactional, product­oriented approach no longerworks in many selling scenarios, and salesprofessionals must adopt a value­based approachthat focuses on the customers’ business outcomes.This is an area where sales managers should workclosely with the enablement teams. Creating valuefor prospects and customers requires tailored valuemessages that are tied to the customer’s journeyphase, buyer roles and their business challenges andgoals. Enablement's job is to provide these valuemessages and the related training, but salesmanagers must also coach to reinforce what hasbeen taught to ensure adoption. This requirescoaching on leads and opportunity and coaching on

improving the sales professional's messaging skills.

l Account Coaching is often overlooked, but it isequally important if an account strategy is in place.It’s mainly about coaching on identifying newbusiness opportunities within the account (leadidentification) and mapping the account strategy tothe current achievements within an account (alsofrom a customer’s perspective) and makingadjustments or changes to strategy, focus area,relationship development, etc. The frequency ofaccount coaching sessions depends on anorganization’s rhythm of the business.

l Territory Coaching is even more overlooked, butequally important in the case of a territory strategy.It’s more than saying “work your territory.” Instead,territory coaching is all about focus: focus on theright targets and customers, and on the mostrelevant buyer roles. Also, in territory coaching, leadidentification plays a key role. As soon as leads arequalified, they are coached by the general lead andopportunity coaching process as mentioned above.

Going forward

As soon as such a coaching framework is defined,the missing coaching assets for both content(coaching guidelines, coaching questions, coachinglearning content, etc.,) and training (that make up astrategic frontline sales managers developmentprogram) have to be created. In an ideal world, salesleaders understand the business impact of theirfrontline sales managers. And that’s why they investnot only in their sales managers’ capabilities but alsoin a scalable platform for performance andproductivity that includes a coaching framework as acritical component. n

Tamara Schenk is a Research Director withCSO Insights, A Division of MHI Global.

Find out more here

TOP SALES MAGAZINE MAY 2016 17

https://www.salesforce.com/eu/events/details/salesforum-amersfoort-17052016/?id=7010M000000iTz2

Ken is one of my longtime readers, a formerclient, and last week he sent this noteexpressing his frustrations as a buyer of

services. I'll add my comments and conclusions atthe end of his note.

I just wanted to let you know that your salestraining program has ruined me as a buyer. Theineptitude of almost every sales team I haveencountered recently is chilling, especially since you

have shown me that they can do so much better. Ihave come to wonder if it would be cost­effectivefor buyers to provide sales training to theirprospective vendors to save us time, effort andaggravation in our purchasing process. Salespeoplechasing prospects??? I can’t tell you how much time Ispend chasing vendors.

I started a new career in Information Securityabout 6 years ago and am now Chief Information

TOP SALES MAGAZINE MAY 201620

This Email Proves How Poorlythe Bottom 74% of Salespeople Perform

I've written more than 1,400 articles for Understanding the Sales Force andevery one of them has been my observation of salespeople, sales managersand sales teams. The observations come from sales force evaluations, salescandidate assessments, sales recruiting projects, sales training and coachinginitiatives, and sales leadership training. After 10 years and 1,400 articlesand to avoid boredom, we will change things up a bit for this article.

Dave Kurlan

a name but no introduction. Finally, my auditor setup a call for today.

The call started out promising, (i.e., I didn’t haveto sit through 50 NASCAR slides telling me howgreat the company was and all the other companiesthey have done business with.) The rep asked mewhat I hoped to learn. After I told them, he handedthe call off to his Sales Engineer for the ‘demo.’Unfortunately, the SE had no capacity to show meor discuss with me the auditing tool that I wasinterested in. After 2 minutes the rep broke in andsuggested we re­schedule for another time. We’llsee if I hear back.

This is probably the worst example of about ahalf dozen similar ones where I have a need, I wouldlike to buy something, and I end up doing all of thework.

Very frustrating.Anyway thanks for allowing me to vent.You're probably thinking, well, that's not what

would happen if I was the salesperson or salesmanager or sales VP or CEO. Believe it or not, this isfairly common! These are the very same companiesthat believe they have effective sales processes inplace, that their 10% win rates are acceptable, andthat they need to get people interested byconducting demos. These are the companies thatdon't think they need help, have everything undercontrol, have ineffective sales selection and evenmore ineffective sales management.

If the sales managers were decent, the very firsttime they debriefed a salesperson, listened to a call,observed a meeting, or discussed an upcoming call,they would have been able to identify ineffectivefollow­up, ineffective qualifying, ineffective listeningand questioning, etc.

It's most likely that the sales managers are formersalespeople who, like those they manage, specializedin conducting demos, creating proposals, and findingthe 10% that will stick. n

Dave Kurlan is the Founder & CEO ofObjective Management Group Inc. Visit here

TOP SALES MAGAZINE MAY 2016 21

Security Officer for a fast growing SaaS startup inthe expense reporting and expense managementspace. In my role, I need to purchase complianceservices, auditing tools, training products, etc.

Here is the scenario that prompted this email:A few weeks ago, I got a blast email to participate

in a Webinar for a new auditing tool which wasbeing offered by a well­known information securityvendor. I attended the Webinar but no salespersonfollowed up. I went to the company website andfilled out the ‘request evaluation’ form. Nosalesperson followed up. I sent an email tosales@company.com requesting a conversation.

About 5 days later I got an email and a voicemail:‘Would you like to set up a conversation?’ Iresponded to the email, ‘ I am available tomorrowmorning from 10 a.m. to noon.’ The voicemail askedME to call the rep. There has been no successivefollow up. I then reached out to some consultants Iknow in the industry asking for intros. One gave me

Ifear it has not in many cases. Let me describe theproblem as I see it and offer some solutions.

You are not talking the customers language

There are some horror stories about the misuse ofcut and paste in documents. Apparently JP Morganlost $6.2 million in 2012 at least in part because ofcareless cutting and pasting in Excel documents andthere are cases of contracts, legal documents andeven patient records where cut and paste has led tomedical disasters. But what I want to talk about isthe proposal document that makes the prospect feelthat they are reading something prepared for anycustomer but not for them.

If you copy from a proposal that was written foranother customer, or even use generic descriptionsof your solution, it won’t sound like a proposal

specifically written to meet your customers needs.Worse still it might have formatting errors, out ofdate prices, old terms and conditions or evenanother customers name in the text somewhere if ithasn’t been very carefully checked.

Reading some of these documents is like hearingone of those call centre agents on the phone justtrotting out the sentences they have been taught tosay to everyone.

You’re not even talking in the Sales Personsvoice

If proposal writing is not done by Sales Peoplethemselves, it won’t read as though it was written bythem. And because the Sales Person has developeda relationship with the prospect it will sound falseand insincere. Personally I think I can spot every bitof copy that has been taken from another documentand I’m sure I am not the only person who can.

The problem becomes worse when it comes to apresentation. If you have written every word of theproposal presentation you know it inside out andyou believe in it. If it’s been cut and pasted fromanother document you won’t be as passionate aboutit. Worse still you might not even understand itproperly.

Technology has madecreating proposaldocuments quicker andeasier, but has it made forbetter proposals?

TOP SALES MAGAZINE MAY 201622

You Can’t Cut And Paste Your Way To Sales Success

Phil Kreindler

Don’t forget that at the moment the customerreads it – that document is your brand. It’s not aboutthe logo or the typeface, the reality of a brand is thatit is made up of the the thoughts and feelings peoplecome away with after an interaction with you. Thatis the reality of your brand. If they think – copy andpaste, incoherent and not on my wavelength – that’syour brand.

Why do people cut and paste?

I am not against the technology I am worried aboutcareless use and over use of rehashed text. Iunderstand that everyone wants to save time, butthe time spent on a document full of copy and pasteis actually wasted time.

Then there are organisations who want to ensurea minimum standard of writing so they providegeneric templates for everyone to use. Or they havepeople whose job is just to write proposaldocuments. Either way, I believe the advantages ofmaintaining a minimum standard of writing areoutweighed by the loss of customer­specificlanguage and thinking. The only person whounderstands how the customer thinks and talksabout their needs is the Sales Person.

Short­term fix. Long­term problem

Perhaps the biggest problem that results from takingproposal writing away from Sales People or allowingthem to cut and paste chunks from other proposalsis that they becoming de­skilled. Far too many SalesPeople cannot write well or have got out of the habitof writing. You only get better at writing withpractice.

Ways to use cut and paste well

I don’t say you should never use cut and paste, justtake care. All your documents should be tailored toeach customer and each opportunity with thatcustomer. With that in mind, you can do the following:

l Project Planning. Proposals are becoming longerand more complex requiring content from more andmore people. Make sure you task people to supplytheir content in good time so you have time to editand check it.

l Opportunity Roadmap. Use an OpportunityRoadmap and a Deal One­Pager to brief everyoneinvolved in writing a proposal and to get themsinging from the same hymn sheet.

l Templates. You can have templates for somestandard copy, like a Health and Safety policy forinstance. These should be stored in a database thatsomeone is tasked to keep up to date. Don’t copyand paste from an old document as the policy mayhave changed.

l Formatting. Nothing flags up that a documenthas been thrown together without much care thaninconsistent formatting. If you use Windows copyingtext into Notepad and out again removes allformatting and Apple has formatting tools.

l Checking. Leave time for checking. Use ‘onething at a time’ checking where you read throughonce for spelling for instance then another time forsense. If you can get another person to check yourdocument that can help.

Ask yourself:l How do you make sure your presentation

documents are written in the customers’language?

l Do you check every document thoroughly?l Are you proud of the documents you send out?l Do customers say that the content of your

documents is relevant? n

Phil Kreindler is the CEO and Founder ofInfoteam. Find out more by visiting here

TOP SALES MAGAZINE MAY 2016 23

The growth ‘engine’ of any business is its salesorganization. Therefore, the upside of asuccessful sales force transformation can be

significant, including:

l increased revenuel reduced cost of salesl increased lead conversion ratesl improved sales and share of wallet with existing

high­potential customers

But the downside can be daunting. According to aMcKinsey study, 75 percent of companies thatattempted to transform to a solutions sellingapproach failed to produce a return. While thepotential rewards are significant, the road to successis paved with failures.

Welcome to the transformation dilemma.

What is a Sales Transformation?

In our recent book, 7 Steps to Sales ForceTransformation, we define a sales forcetransformation as one that fundamentally changesthe way a sales force sells. Typically, these salestransformations take longer than a year and mustinvolve other functional areas ­ sales cannot succeedas an ‘island’ in the organization. Transforming a salesorganization requires new value propositions; newcase studies and collateral from marketing; newcompetencies; skill development; new recruitingprofiles from HR; and alignment with operations torefine products and services. A sales transformation

TOP SALES MAGAZINE MAY 201624

The 7 Stepsto Sales Force Transformation

In most companies, everyone expectsgrowth—investors, executives, leaders,customers, and employees.

Warren Shiver and Michael Perla

is not merely a tweak, such as changing your salestraining curriculum or implementing a new proposalgeneration application, it’s more like a “re­wiring” ofthe company “house”.

What are the Key Steps?

From our research and experience we’ve outlinedseven key steps in sales force transformation. Thesteps build on each other and the majority of themfocus on building the foundation and support toenable the best chance of success. They are:

1. Drivers: Determine the forces, events, and circumstances that can compel the need for a salestransformation.

2. Vision: Define a picture of the desired future tailored to the unique needs and specific goals of theorganization.

3. Case: Build a case for change, which can also be called “treating your sales transformation like aninternal sale.”

4. Support: Enlist support from other functional areas within the organization, such as marketing, HR,finance, and operations, as well as external supportfrom partners and customers

5. Roadmap: Design an approach that includes sales strategy and structure, sales processes and tools,enablement and people, and metrics andmanagement—all keys to a successful salestransformation initiative.

6. Implement: Launch your initiative, whether as a comprehensive program or as a pilot, depending onfactors such as budget, time, the size of yourorganization, and the degree of executive buy­in.

7. Sustain: Make the change “stick” through leadership, sales team training, communications,

management tools, hiring, new hire onboarding, andbeyond. After all, you can’t expect the results tosustain themselves.

What are the Key ‘Transformational’ Levers toPull?

So, what does it take to implement these seven stepssuccessfully? In other words, what levers can you pullto boost your chances of achieving sales forcetransformation?

We’ve identified six levers that not only help toamplify and sustain change within a salesorganization but that can be applied to almost anyorganizational change. In every successfultransformation we know of, the leaders pulled most(if not all) of these key levers:

1. Perspective: understand why change ishappening and gain perspective from both inside thecompany and from the “voice of the customer”.Diagnose what’s working and not working directlyfrom the sources “on the ground”.

2. Alignment: as stated above, sales can’t be an“island” and successfully transform. There should beboth vertical and horizontal alignment across thebusiness – from executives on down and acrossfunctions.

3. Leadership: a successful transformation needssustained, committed and authentic leadership ­ fromthe Chief Sales Officer to the first­line sales manager

4. Sequence: in getting ready for a transformation,you need to first determine “the what” (strategy),then “the how” (execution), and then “the who”(talent). In order to recruit, select, and hire the righttalent, you first need to know what the overallstrategy is and what they will be doing – whatknowledge, skills and abilities will be needed tosupport the go­to­market strategy and/or buyer­aligned sales process

TOP SALES MAGAZINE MAY 2016 25

5. Measurement: in our survey of over one hundredsales leaders, the best predictor of a successfultransformation was whether or not the companymeasured progress. Both process and result metricsare essential for communicating progress and helpingto build momentum for the effort.

7. Communication: the key is “early and often” whenit comes to communications. The messages shouldalso be authentic and transparent and becommunicated in such a way that they incorporatethe different learning and thinking styles of thetargets (e.g., data driven, story oriented, emotionallyfocused, etc.).

What Do I Do Monday Morning?

First, look at the transformational levers and gaugeyour readiness for a sales transformation. Review thesteps and begin to articulate the potential drivers and

vision. Lastly, determine if you just need a tweak or ifyou really need to transform.

By tweak, we mean an incremental change, whichcould be a sales training course or a new softwareapplication. Ask yourself, what’s the gap betweenwhere you are today and your desired state? If thegap is large, you usually need more of a fundamentalshift in how you sell. Although transformation isoften an over­used word, it does indicate the type,scope and scale of the dramatic change that isnecessary to really impact the organization, asopposed to a more run­of­the­mill change. n

Warren Shiver is the Founder and ManagingPartner of Symmetrics Group and Michael

Perla is a Principal with Symmetrics Group.Download their Sales Transformation

Roadmap here

We also identified five discrete salesprocesses – Call Management,Opportunity Management, Account

Management, Territory Management, and SalesForce Enablement. Now we will explore SalesObjectives and their links to Sales Activities.

The Things We Want

Every sales force has certain outcomes that it istrying to achieve, like acquiring customers, cross­selling products, or improving salesperson skills.These are the things that the organization wants andthe sales force is specifically tasked to deliver. In ourresearch, we categorized these outcomes and their

associated metrics as ‘Sales Objectives.’ Recall that the Sales Objectives are goals toward

which selling effort is directed. And since they arethe outcomes of Sales Activities, we cannot manageSales Objectives with the same degree of control asthe Activities themselves. Therefore, we can onlyachieve the Objectives we desire indirectly bymanaging our sales force’s Activities.

For example, a Sales Objective might be toincrease your number of new accounts, which couldbe achieved by putting greater effort into coldcalling or by visiting more prospects. You cannotdirect a salesperson to have more new accounts,because prospects have to agree to become yourcustomers. But you can set an Objective and then

In previous installments (see part 1 and part 2), we shared research findingsthat revealed there are three types of sales force metrics – measures ofSales Activities, Sales Objectives, and Business Results.

TOP SALES MAGAZINE MAY 2016 27

Jason Jordan

Cracking the Sales Management Code Part 3 of 4 Sales Objectives and How to Achieve Them

manage the upstream activities. In fact, you should.Again, managing Sales Activities leads to achievingSales Objectives.

The Four Flavors

Just as we used our collection of Sales Activitymetrics to isolate distinct processes, we also usedour Sales Objective metrics to discern fourcategories into which all of the measures fell. It isimportant to understand the nature of theObjectives your team is pursuing, because it helpsyou then understand how to achieve them.

The first Sales Objective we called MarketCoverage. These metrics tell you how thoroughlyand accurately your sales force is addressing yourtarget market, and they are used to ensure thatthere is enough total selling effort to cover all ofyour desired customers and prospects.

Sample Market Coverage metrics include:l Percentage of Customer­Facing Timel Sales Rep Turnoverl Percentage of Prospects Contacted

Sales Force Capability metrics tell you howeffectively your selling effort is being applied. Thatis, if your salespeople have six hours each day tospend with prospects and customers, howsuccessful are they in advancing opportunities,winning deals, or accomplishing other desiredoutcomes of their customer interactions?

(Note that a salesperson’s capability is not thesame as their skill. Capability includes the skill of thesalesperson, no doubt, but it is also a reflection ofselling tools, motivation, and other components thataffect the effectiveness of a salesperson.)

Sample Sales Force Capability metrics include:l Percentage of Calls Advancedl Percentage of Deals Wonl Number of Sales per Call

Product Focus metrics report whether a sales forceis selling the products and services that you deemoptimal to your company. These could be productswith higher profitability or products with somestrategic value, such as a new line of products.

Sample Product Focus metrics include:l Ratio of New vs. Existing Productsl Percentage of Cross­Sellingl Average Deal Size

Customer Focus metrics reveal whether the salesforce is attracting, retaining, and growing thecompany’s targeted customers. These could becustomers that are either more profitable orcustomers that are somehow strategically important,like those in a new market or geography.

Sample Customer Focus metrics include:l Ratio of New vs. Existing Customersl Rate of Customer Retentionl Revenue by Customer Type

In sum, these four types of Sales Objectives provideguidance to your sales force about which things areimportant and what they should be trying toaccomplish in the field. You can consider themguideposts or beacons to steer your sales forcetoward success. However, simply communicatingobjectives or even aligning them with incentives willnot create the desired outcomes. To confidentlyachieve your Objectives, you must embed them inthe day­to­day activities of your salespeople.

Achieving Sales Objectives

Recall that one of our first observations about SalesObjectives was that they cannot be directlymanaged – they can only be influenced by directingspecific Sales Activities. Shortly after we identifiedthe Objectives, we began to look for some way torelate them back to the Activities in a systematicfashion.

TOP SALES MAGAZINE MAY 201628

Jason Jordan

We found that Activities do have direct causalrelationships with Objectives. More specifically,certain Sales Activities influence certain SalesObjectives. This means that if you set a new SalesObjective, you should know exactly what to do toachieve it… You track backward to the Activities thathave an impact on that Objective, and then youmanage those Activities proactively.

Suppose that you set an Objective for the year toimprove your Customer Retention Rate. You aretrying to affect a Customer Focus metric, and thereare many Activities that can influence such anoutcome. First, you could alter your compensationand coaching to shift the focus of your reps towardservicing existing customers. Or you could allocatemore visits to those customers and put an accountmanagement process in place to help yoursalespeople become more intimate with keycustomer issues. Of course, you would be managingand measuring these Activities all along to ensureproper execution of the tasks.

Or, suppose that you set an Objective to improveyour Close Rate. If your salespeople are in charge ofthe proposal generation and presentation activities,then this would be a Salesperson Capability metric.There are many Sales Activities that couldpotentially affect this Objective. First, you couldprovide proposal templates or train your salespeopleon how to craft a winning document. Or you mightdecide to have each proposal reviewed by allinternal stakeholders prior to submission. Orperhaps you would make sure that a manager isinvolved in the planning of any meeting where aproposal is presented. Again, measuring andmanaging these Activities all the while.

Of course, management’s judgment must be usedin all cases to identify the best course of action toinfluence a given Objective. But the Activity­Objective relationships demonstrated here areuseful departure points for good managerialdecision­making. And good coaching. And generally,good selling.

Implications for Sales Leaders

By establishing a causal link between Sales Activitiesand Sales Objectives, we gained insight into what wethink has been the missing link in sales performancemanagement: the ability to set specific SalesObjectives and then manage day­to­day Activities topredictably achieve those outcomes. Rather than justasking for the outcomes we want, we can actuallyinform our sales force on how to accomplish them.

As a sales leader, you must first make certain thatyou have the right sales processes in place for eachof your selling roles. Then you can set clear SalesObjectives and make sure that your salespeople’sActivities are aligned to achieve these outcomes.With clear Objectives and formal Activities, youhave the means to set a new strategic direction andensure consistent execution in the field.

It is also a clever idea to maintain a good mix ofthe Sales Objectives that you track. MarketCoverage metrics give you confidence that you haveenough sales effort to accomplish your goals. SalesForce Capability metrics give you confidence thatyour salespeople are using that effort effectively.And Product Focus and Customer Focus metricsgive you confidence that they are selling the rightthings to the right people. All of these are things asales leader needs to know, if you want your team toperform consistently at the highest possible level.

In the next installment of this series, we willreveal the different types of Business Results wefound in our research and show how you canconvert those Business Results into Sales Objectivesthat will drive your salespeople’s day­to­dayActivities. n

Register to download the first 2 chapters ofCracking the Sales Management Code here

In previous installments (see part 1 and part2), we shared research findings that revealedthere are three types of sales force metrics –

measures of Sales Activities, Sales Objectives,and Business Results.

TOP SALES MAGAZINE MAY 2016 29

In a changed B2B sales model, how can youensure that reps are efficient and effective at allstages of the sales cycle and have what they need

to accelerate and optimize processes?Below are 3 ways to make your team stand out

from the rest of the sales pack:

#1. Become ‘consultants’ not ‘order takers’

Last year, Forrester made a bold statement, sayingthat 1 million sales jobs would disappear by 2020.This statement has been misconstrued multipletimes. In the right context, Forrester’s report, Deathof a (B2B) Salesman, actually projects 10% growth forone particular sales archetype – ‘the consultant,’while projecting decline of other archetypes, most

notably the ‘order taker.’ According to Forrester, consultants are the most

adept at “understanding customer needs, explainingproducts and services, and helping clients bringinternal stakeholders and budget together to makepurchases.”

Imagine this at a restaurant that you frequentregularly. The ‘order taker’ does simply that – writesdown what you say. The consultant, on the otherhand, having insight into your preferences, likes anddislikes, offers you an informed recommendationbased on your tastes.

To be a consultant requires more insight andthought. Consultants take the extra time tounderstand more about their prospects – so they candeliver more value. They look at prospects’ LinkedIn

With less opportunities to engage with prospects, and engagement takingplace later in the sales cycle, your sales force needs to become acompetitive weapon. As their sales leader, you need to do all you can to helpthem.

TOP SALES MAGAZINE MAY 201630

Make Your Sales Force a Competitive Weapon

Suresh Balasubramanian

automation system and work where your reps work.As you add new tools to your stack, be sure thattools easily integrate. It costs more to manage andmaintain multiple point tools. If you’re adding pointtools that only have the capability to focus on one ortwo problems, you’ll end up drowning in sales tools.Enterprises need an open ecosystem that cansupport both today’s and tomorrow’s sales tools. Forthe greatest return on investment, you needextensibility.

Likewise, technologies need to span acrossmultiple stages of your sales cycle. If there are gapsin visibility across different stages, your team canmiss or lose sales opportunities.

#3. Capture ‘micro­moments’ with buyers

In her research of 2016 sales trends, Telesmartfounder Josiane Feigon says capturing ‘micro­moments’ of buyers’ time will strengthen thecustomer relationship. For your sales force to be acompetitive weapon, it needs to use micro­momentsto gain mindshare with customers – using automationto connect in frequent and meaningful ways.

We’re being bombarded with content. Salesengagement must be kept short and to the point –and deliver value – to capture buyers’ interests.Automated email and call scheduling is a greatvehicle to deliver these micro­moments.

Think of the emails you save in your inbox. Theytypically have something you are or might beinterested in for the future. When the opportunityarises, these filed emails are the first ones we turnto.

Companies that use their sales force as acompetitive weapon use technology to help repsdeliver more value. They use automation to buildand strengthen customer relationships. They useanalytics to better understand the needs of buyers.They don’t work harder – they work smarter. n

Suresh Balasubramanian is CEO forLiveHive, Inc. Find out more here

TOP SALES MAGAZINE MAY 2016 31

In profiles, and they use engagement analytics tolearn about their interests and interest level.

Sales leaders must empower their reps to beconsultants. This requires coaching, as well astechnology. Coaching is the #1 activity thatimproves rep performance, while technologydelivers the buyer insights needed to better servecustomers.

#2. Use technology that enhances – notreplaces

Your team needs technology that helps themenhance their selling capabilities, but technologyisn’t a replacement for sales. Sales still remains verymuch an art – with the addition of a little science.This is one of the reasons why marketingautomation doesn’t work for sales teams. With aprocess controlled by marketing, there is no realselling going on. Sales needs the control to manageits own prospecting process and the ability topersonalize its outreach to be most effective.

Further, any technology that you give your teammust work seamlessly together. It should integrateseamlessly with Salesforce and your marketing

As we continue to witness rapid advances inArtificial Intelligence and automation, the realchallenge of how we, as individuals, can add

more value is a pressing matter in the world oftechnology sales.

As sales professionals, complacency and relyingon the status quo is creating a very real fear of beingleft behind in our careers by our competitors, ourindustry and even in our own company.

As a recruitment professional assisting some ofthe largest technology companies across Australia, ithas become my core job to uncover the sales peopleof the future.

I am seeing a stronger focus for finding people

WITH so much writtenabout robotics, automationand digital disruption, doyou ever feel afraid of beingleft out because you’re

afraid of being left behind?

TOP SALES MAGAZINE MAY 201632

Lifelong learning – What sales professionals need to know?

Michelle Cheong

who actively embrace the constant change thatcomes with rapid disruption, while keeping a focuson the important human elements that makes salespeople successful.

It would be easy to think that because salesrequires the creative and social interaction, that hasyet to be matched by machines, we are safe.

While able to beat a master in the ancientChinese game of Go, IBM’s super computer,Watson, still hasn’t reached the point of establishingrapport and building relationships, engagement,connectivity and trusted advisory that people rely onto make purchasing decisions.

While this may be true now, the reality is that wemay be approaching crunch time. And soon.

In January this year, the Harvard BusinessReview published an article on how to preventbecoming obsolete. This article should becompulsory reading not just for every salesprofessional, but for every worker who is concernedabout how they can adapt their thinking to remainrelevant in this fast changing environment.

A recent survey by Oxford Economics foundemployees’ top concern is that their position mightchange or become obsolete. Half believe theircurrent skills won’t be needed in three years. Thefear has spread beyond those on the frontline, as astudy by Adobe found that 40 per cent ofexecutives feel the need to reinvent themselves.What’s more, only 14 per cent felt they knew how.

Gartner predicts that one­third of jobs will bereplaced by software, robots, and smart machines by2025.

Yes, these statistics are a generalisation acrossthe broader workforce, but to say it won’t affectsales professionals is naïve.

So how do we respond and what do salesprofessionals need to know?

In times of transformative change, it is not justour skills, tools, and practices that become obsolete.More fundamentally, our mental models becomeoutdated, rendering them ineffective, misleading, oroutright dangerous.

Mental models are the (largely unconscious) wayswe make sense of the world around us. Thesemodels are like mental habits. And habits don’tchange overnight. Change requires both learningand unlearning. The process is less like a teenagerlearning to drive, and more like a tourist in Londontrying to drive on the opposite side of the road.

Fortunately, we are not destined to becomeextinct in the workplace. It is not us as individualswho may become obsolete; it is our mental models.

Our whole approach to learning anddevelopment needs to change at a fundamentallevel. And how do we set about doing this?

They say we should create two savings accountsfor the future. One account will be our traditionalretirement savings account and most people havethis under way.

The other account, almost no one has, it is ourreinvention account. The money we put aside eachpay check to ensure that we have sufficient funds topay for our own training and development.

We might also need to ensure that this account isdeep enough to provide for a year or two of livingexpenses to cover the eventuality that we need totake some time out to study full time.

As someone who speaks every day to salesprofessionals looking for the secret to succeeding inthe future, this to me is the obvious first step.

To stay doing what you have been doing for thepast decade and expect to continue doing so is notsmart or sustainable.

What is smart is planning for the future and thefirst step is developing a learning fund that supportsyour constant thirst for adapting and learning newmental models.

By undertaking this first step, you will be on yourway to not only surviving the future world of work,but thriving. n

Michelle Cheong is a consultant forDavidson Technology. Find out more here

TOP SALES MAGAZINE MAY 2016 33

EUROPE’S LEADING SALES EVENT

Deb CalvertTranscending the Transaction: Are You Enabling or Disabling Customer Connections?

Tamara SchenkHow To Set­Up “Customer­Core”Enablement Strategies To DriveOutstanding Performance

Tiffani BovaThe Future of Sales is CustomerDriven

Joanne BlackStop Cold Calling: Get the One­Call Referral Meeting

Russell ActonDisappearing World ­ A practical‘survival guide'' for a modern dayEnterprise Sales Person

Barb GiamancoSocial Selling to the C­Suite

Christian MaurerThe terms B2B and B2C havebecome obsolete, haven`t they?

Rick BakerBuilding Efficacy Amidst the Risingtide of Efficiency

Bernadette McClellandConscious Selling And The Art ofCommercial Conversations

Colleen FrancisNonstop Sales Boom: Putting an End to Boom­and­Bust Sales Cycles

Sales Innovation Expo 2016 is back, bigger and better than ever! Thisyear’s show is the place to be for professional sales leaders worldwide.Some of the best­known names have been flown in to run seminars,Europe’s leading suppliers will be there to offer advice and brand newthis year, you will have access to the co­located B2B Marketing Expo.

WED

NES

DA

Y

To register for your free ticket and to find out more information,please visit here

To find out more about Top Sales World Village please visit here.For sponsorship opportunities, please email: jf@topsalesworld.com

TOP SALES WORLD VILLAGE

Cian McLoughlinRebirth of the Sales Industry

Stephen JonesHow to reliably predict salesperformance

Dr Tony AlessandraHow to Read a Customer Like aBook

Jason JordanSales Management and CRM: A Match Made in Heaven or Hell?

George BronténCan checklists save the salesprofession?

Erik PetersonGood Intentions, Wrong Instincts: A Counterintuitive Approach toMessage Differentiation

Jim CathcartIncrease Your Success Velocity™

Tony HughesThe Great Sales Disruption AndWhat To Do About It

Jonathan Farrington& Etien D’HollanderMobile Sales … Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow

THU

RSD

AY

TOP SALES MAGAZINE MAY 201636

Do Your Salespeople Know What Training They Need?

Not very, according to a Corporate Visionsself­assessment survey.

Behavioral economists sometimes refer to theconcept of “declared preferences” (what people sayor feel) versus “revealed” preferences (what peopleactually do). They often mention the idea whenexplaining the discrepancies between opinion pollsand actual behaviors. There seems to be a similardiscrepancy between where reps say they’restruggling most in their customer conversations, andwhat behavioral outcome data actually reveals abouttheir challenges.

Last year, when three Corporate Visions subjectmatter experts and I published our latest book, TheThree Value Conversations, we launched a parallelself­assessment tool, with questions aligned to thekey skills and concepts highlighted in it. Specifically,the assessment was designed to measure reps’proficiency in three critical areas: creating value(differentiation skills), elevating value (executiveconversation skills), and capturing value (negotiationskills). Since that time, nearly 300 sales professionalshave taken the assessment.

For each skills area, we asked reps which skill(from a list of six) they believed to be their biggestselling challenge. Then, we compared what theythought their biggest challenge was against what thebehavioral outcome survey indicated. In each valuescenario, there was a discrepancy, as the challengesreps believed was their biggest selling hurdle didn’tcorrespond to the ones indicated by their answers tothe survey questions.

Create Value (Objective: Defeat the status quo anddifferentiate your solutions)

l Participants declared: Illustrating a sharp

It’s not uncommon forcompanies to plan theirsales training programsbased on what salespeoplesay their biggest needs are.

But at a time when so much rides on yourreps’ ability to articulate value throughoutthe sales cycle, you have to wonder: Howreliable is that approach?

Tim Riesterer

contrast between a customer’s current state and adesired future state was their top challenge.

l But the data revealed: Creating and confirmingurgency by stirring emotions is their actual topchallenge.

Elevate Value (Objective: Make a business case thatfrees up budget and passes muster with executivebuyers)

l Participants declared: Winning access toexecutive buyers rather than being delegated downwas their top challenge.

l But the data revealed: Identifying specificfinancial metrics that their solution will impact istheir actual top challenge.

l Capture Value (Objective: Protect pricing and

expand deal size during tense negotiations)

l Participants declared: Getting customers toreveal underlying motivations was their topchallenge.

l But the data revealed: Gaining agreements tomutually beneficial terms in response to yourconcession plan is their actual top challenge.

These results hint at something worth rememberingthe next time you plan your sales training:Perceptions are not reality. In other words, whatyour reps say anecdotally about their greatest sellingchallenges could be preventing you from identifyingand addressing even bigger skills in your customerconversations. n

Tim Riesterer is chief strategy and marketingofficer, Corporate Visions. Find out more here

2016 Top 50 Sales & Marketing BlogsEvery year, we take a close look at all of the Blogs that we aggregate every day in our Top Sales Blogs section and we choose our favorite 50. The criteria we use is:

l Quality of the written word, including use of grammar, punctuation and originalityl Ability to educate or entertain – specifically, giving something back rather than “pitching” continuallyl Popularity – i.e. visitor numbersl Social media exposure – Tweets, LinkedIn/Facebook/Google+ promotionl Blog design – cosmetic appearancel Finally, regularity of posts.

We hope you enjoy our selection.

2016 Top SalesAcademy

3 Pipeline Management Strategies Provento Grow Revenue Presented by Jason Jordan

Sales Meets Social Media: Implementing aSocial Selling Strategy Presented by Barb Giamanco

Sales Force Enablement: Key Trends Presented by Tamara Schenk

What sellers can learn from the book ‘Our Iceberg is Melting’ Presented by Christian Maurer

How to Sell “Value” Dave Kurlan

Financial Sales Execution Presented by Michael Nick

The Battle for Mindshare and Preference:How Today’s Top Performers Win in aCustomer-Driven WorldPresented by Dave Stein & Steve Andersen

Lead the Customer Experience forDifferentiation, Value Creation and SalesAccelerationPresented by Deb Calvert

Being a High Performing SalesOrganization Requires a Hard Reset onConventional Presented by Tiffani Bova

Effective Training and Coaching Skills ForSales Managers – How to elevate yoursales team from good to great Presented by Colleen Stanley

The 2016 Top Sales Academy program hasnow launched and will run through until May4th. As in previous years, we will beproviding exceptional pre-recordedpresentations delivered by some of theworld’s top sales experts, to help youbecome the best you can possibly be.

Please Register HERE

Here is the 2016 Faculty and program in detail …..

TOP SALES MAGAZINE MAY 201640

Top Partner of the Month

Top Sales Article & Blog Post

TOP SALES MAGAZINE MAY 2016 41

Why is it that some companies are magnets forthe world’s best talent? Sure, having a great

product is a good start – but there’s more to it thanthat. And that “it” factor is something CEOs andsales leaders desire more than anything to achievebecause they know it means good things for thebottom line – very good things.

So how do you get top talent that will boost yourrevenues to invest in you? At SBI, we analyzed ourdatabase of 11K+ companies to identify the top tencompanies to sell for in 2016 based on input fromcustomers, sales teams, corporate executives andmarket research.

Let’s look at Broadridge, our number oneperformer, for insights on how it made the list and

how your company can too.

It’s Not All About the PerksWhen you see Broadridge is number one on SBI’sranking of the ten best companies to sell for in 2016,you may figure the reason has to do with theexcellent working conditions they provide, such asgood territories, fair quotas, competitivecompensation plans and exciting sales contests. Butthat’s not why. The truth is, the most sought­aftersales talent does not generally sign on to a companybecause of sales contests and award trips. It reallycomes down to how much the company is willing tofully equip their sales reps. For instance, providingfaster quote processing, pre­sales...

This Month’s Top Sales ArticleHow to Be a Company You Would Want toSell For by Greg Alexander

We recently sat down with a client team to leada sales enablement session. In the corner of

the room sat a few of the client’s eager and curiousmarketers. They watched and listened intently as wehelped guide and equip the sales team. After thetraining, the marketers approached us, wanting toknow more and were curious how their team couldbetter support sales and what that might look like.What a healthy, proactive approach! We wish moremarketing teams would take this kind of initiative.(And if your marketing team isn’t asking to be a partof this kind collaboration, INVITE THEM!)

The message that sales and marketing need towork together is not a new one, and it might sound

like a broken record. Go ahead, Google it. You willfind countless blogs, podcasts, articles, webinars,and the list goes on. Why is there still a need to keeppreaching this message? Because it is imperative toyour team’s success. However, despite thefrequency of this message, sadly, the majority ofsales and marketing teams continue to operate ontheir own islands. If this is you—if your company canresonate with this—please, keep reading.

Currently, 92% of decision makers believe sellersare NOT creating value for the buyers. That’s bad,folks. Sure, this could be due to ineffective selling,but I would bet a more significant contributor isbecause sellers have not been...

This Month’s Top Sales Blog Post3 Immediate Steps to Engage Buyers by Jay Mitchell

Read More

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TOP SALES MAGAZINE MAY 201642

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