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How To Make Your Sales Manager Better

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Copyright (c) 2010 Mr. Inside Sales

I consult with a lot of business owners, and I hear a common complaint: “The sales team isn’t making their revenue numbers and my sales manager doesn’t seem to know what to do to get them to improve. What should I do?”

After reviewing their sales processes, their training program, sales scripts, etc., I always ask the same question: “How much production is your sales manager generating per month?” And I almost always get the same answer – “My manager doesn’t sell.”

Therein lies the problem.

The problem with most sales managers that they don’t sell. And the problem with that is how can they teach and manage something they aren’t doing themselves (or worse, can’t)?

Now I know there are differing opinions on this – some say managers need to manage from the sidelines (like coaches), need to be involved in higher level responsibilities, need to attend endless meetings, and need to be able to set revenue goals and get their team to achieve them.

I agree with some of this (except the endless meetings part!), but the most effective and respected sales managers and V. P.’s I work with all lead by example. They have a personal quota and they keep their skills sharp and refined because they are on the phones closing prospects and clients every day.

Because of this, they have a real understanding of what it takes to get the job done, and so they are in the best position to teach it to others.

Here are the top 5 benefits of having a selling sales manager:

1) Sales managers who actively sell have an up to date, intimate understanding of what techniques, skills and strategies work in your selling environment. And having this first-hand knowledge means they can teach it to others.

2) Because a selling sales manager has this immediate experience of closing sales, they are in a much better position to help their team members close business as well. They can easily do a TO (take over) when a sales rep needs help. This not only teaches the rep how to handle selling situations, but it often saves a sale as well. This is what your sales manager must be able to do, and it is a crucial part of their job.

3) A selling sales manager commands the ultimate respect and confidence of his/her sales team. A sales manager is a leader of his team, and the best way to lead is by example. Sales reps respect and follow a leader who can help them close sales and achieve their goals. They’ll also work harder for them.

4) A confident sales manager grows a confident and productive team. Nothing is better for a sales manager than to have him/her demonstrate, to themselves and others, that they have what it takes to successfully close sales. A successful selling manager isn’t afraid of setting production goals because he knows he can achieve them (and he knows what it’s going to take).

5) As a business owner, you must have the confidence that your manager knows exactly how to accomplish your company’s revenue goals. The most accurate way to determine this is by having the sure knowledge that he knows how to do it himself. This experience is invaluable and will ensure that the goals you set are reasonable and reachable.

The #1 problem I run across when working with companies is an unreachable, unrealistic revenue goal set by the owner that has no real buy in by the sales manager. It is this disconnect that causes friction, undermines morale, and often leads to demotivated, underperforming sales teams (and managers).

All this can be avoided when you have an experienced, hands on, selling sales manager who can give you honest and accurate feedback about production goals and the ways to achieve them.

There are many more benefits of having a selling sales manager leading your team, but I hope this short list has convinced you. Believe me, the fastest way to make your sales manager better is to give them a quota and require them to pick up the phone and start closing business.

If you don’t already have a quota for him/her now, then do yourself (and your company and your manager) a favor and set one this week. All of you will benefit from it!

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/business-articles/how-to-make-your-sales-manager-better-3103502.html

About the Author
Want to sell more with less rejection over the phone? Download the free Special Report, “Ten Techniques to Instantly Become a Better Closer”.

"Stop Managing the Pipeline, and Start Managing Your Sales Team."

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Copyright (c) 2010 Mr. Inside Sales

How much time and money do you devote to your company’s sales pipeline? Think about the resources, the software, the meetings, the forecasting, the managing and measuring you do, and the time and effort you give it. If you’re like most CEO’s or VP’s or sales managers, your sales pipeline is your life blood. It’s what you run your company by; it’s how you make decisions, and often times it even drives your stock prices.

While the pipeline is a vital part of the sales process, it is also where the most fundamental mistake is made, and this mistake costs companies millions (if not billions) of dollars every year.

The problem is that most companies spend too much time, money and energy on measuring and managing the pipeline rather than managing and improving the quality of leads that go into – and ultimately come out of – the pipeline.

In other words, most of the leads that go into your pipeline are never going to close, should never have been put in and, as a result, your company wastes hundreds of thousands of dollars generating and then chasing, and measuring and managing leads that will never close. That’s the real problem.

Ask yourself: “What is my sales department’s closing ratio?” I’ll bet you can answer that, can’t you? A typical company will report that it takes an average of 50 cold calls or contacts with decision makers to set 15 appointments out of which 10 will turn into proposals or pitches which will result in 1 or 2 sales.

And once this metric is established (as measured by the sales pipeline, of course) the sales strategy is set – to get more sales, you just have to set more appointments. And if you want more appointments, then you have to get your sales team to make more calls! Suddenly everyone works harder, goes out on more appointments, and…and…the desired results don’t come, do they?

And here’s why: until you address the fundamental problem- the quality of leads that go into your pipeline – you won’t improve your close ratios or your sales. Remember, you can’t close an unqualified lead, so stuffing more of them into your pipeline isn’t going to get you the results you want. In fact, it will just cost your company more money, frustrate your managers and wear out your sales team.

You’ve got to stop managing your pipeline and start training your sales teams how to generate more qualified leads. That’s the only real answer.

In fact that’s the secret of all top sales producers. Look at your own top reps. What are their closing ratios? I’ll bet they are the highest in your company, aren’t they? They would never consider setting and running 15 appointments because they don’t have the time to waste. They would rather spend their time qualifying (I call it disqualifying) out the non-buyers so they can spend their time finding, qualifying and working with real buyers. And they know how to do this because they understand sales. Unfortunately, 80% of your sales team doesn’t.

And that’s why sales training is your only real answer.

But sales training is what most companies don’t do well. In fact, if you want to know how well your own sales training is working, simply shop your sales team. Either call in, or get on your lead list and have some of your reps call you. Try throwing them some objections and see how they do. If you’re like most companies, you’ll be appalled by the results.

Again, this is the real problem. Until you solve this basic problem of training your sales team, having them generate and stuff more unqualified leads into your pipeline won’t get you the results your company needs. That’s why most companies end up spending so much time and effort managing and measuring the pipeline. It’s something they know how to do.

If you want to get out of this unproductive cycle and actually start improving your sales and revenues, then here’s what you need to do: Get back to the basics of sales training and redefine what makes up a qualified lead. Identify all the elements and create a qualifying checklist. Make your reps fill it out completely before any leads are generated. If you’re not sure of a lead, have a manager re-qualify it for them.

The bottom line is you must train your sales force (and sometimes your managers) how to find and qualify real buyers. The more of these you identify and put into your sales pipeline, the more meaningful it will become.

So take the emphasis off managing your pipeline, and start training and managing your sales team. If you do it right, I guarantee you it will finally give you something you’ll be happy to measure – more sales!

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/business-articles/stop-managing-the-pipeline-and-start-managing-your-sales-team-3451517.html

About the Author
Want to sell more with less rejection over the phone? Download the free Special Report, “Ten Techniques to Instantly Become a Better Closer”.

Social Media Marketing Tips

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How can you accomplish your online branding goals as efficiently as possible?

Social Media Marketing (SMM) has become a popular alternative for online business branding. Companies don’t think of social sites (i.e. Twitter, Facebook, Myspace, Linkedin) as “websites for kids”. They are valuable Internet marketing and networking resources for business. On the other hand, there are 4 major issues involved with diving into SMM without the proper knowledge and strategies. These can “make” or “break” your success in social media marketing:

GETTING STARTED IN SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING

Make wise choices from the beginning and move forward with a “plan of action”!

Prior to getting started in social media marketing, you need to nip the urge to join every single social site on Google. It does not hurt to have a presence everywhere on the Internet, though there is no advantage in wasting time setting up a social account that is not used. The site owner may delete it – OR – it will get outdated and look unprofessional. Plus, there is no way that you can “work” them all unless you have a team to help you. You will still want to be discerning and make a “plan of action”. You need this to properly brand your business through social media marketing. You also need this “plan of action” in order to “position” your company correctly from the beginning. This concept holds true in Internet marketing in general.

PROPER SET UP

Meet your social market where they work and play on the Internet!

You need to learn how to “set up” and “position” your company with the “best” social networks and websites. Some initial positioning details to consider: (a) determining which are the “best social sites” for your niche and interests, (d) choosing the right user name for your individual profile links, (c) choosing the most attractive profile information and media to share, (d) developing a knack for filtering activity according to what is appropriate at a particular social site, (e) establishing a time schedule that permits working as many networks as possible, (f) choosing the best initial connections … and so on.

Keep in mind that “Account Settings”, network protocol, niche and viral marketing all go hand in hand throughout time.

Additionally, some social sites have a more playful environment than others; even those with a professional focus. You need to select websites that not only fit your company’s focus, but also the personal interests of the individual(s) that will “work” the social media marketing process for you. Note: Don’t let the “playful” networks defer you. One of the goals of social media marketing is to reach your target markets where they work and “play” on the Internet.

IMPLEMENTATION: WHAT TO DO & WHAT NOT TO DO

Don’t just “wing it”; move prepared to market effectively for your business.

Your activity should include a predefined social media optimization (SMO) strategy. This SMO is a combination of search engine optimization (SEO) and social media marketing (SMM). It expedites the professional results that you require for your business. It is easy to assume that SMM is simply setting up social networks and marketing. Although this is part of the process, social networking is not all that is involved in social media marketing. It is suggested that you have a website and a blog. You need to search engine optimize any personal resources prior to SMM. You need a second set of keywords that do not conflict with your personal virtual properties, though compliment your efforts.
Content is key to this offsite marketing process, therefore blogs, articles, comments, discussions, images, videos, link … everything SMM needs to correspond with the SEO.

There is a fine line to what is considered advertising and marketing; spam or valid content. Some social sites are flexible and others are not. You need to move into a virtual realm with a professional plan of action and work the network according to the infrastructure provided, though with intent to produce rapid conversions.

TESTING, TRACKING & REFINING

You will need to test, tread, track and refine before you can run with a strategy.

As with an offline business plan, your online branding strategy will need “tweaked” and updated for the following reasons:

(a) The Internet is constantly changing, you will need to update accordingly.

(b) Search engine rankings, blog / website traffic and subscribers mean absolutely nothing if you are not able to convert this activity into sales.

You cannot move forward if your plan of action is not working for you.

PRIORITIZING TASKS: MONEY & TIME MANAGEMENT

As the old saying goes, “time is money” …

If you get one major point from this article, prioritizing “time” and “money” is what you should remember. Internet marketing is not easy for most; especially when you are merging into unfamiliar arenas. Time and money are the “double edge sword”. Handling your own online branding is only time and cost effective if it is making you money. The reality is that you will not drive conversions nor make money at first because it takes time to learn Internet Marketing. This is time that busy professionals do not have, therefore you either have to put in the extra hours or hire an expert to do the work for you. If you choose to do your own search engine optimization and social media marketing, then you need to prioritize whether the bulk of your activity is on the Learning, Researching or the Implementation (Content, SEO, SMM) at any given time. The advantage is that you can adjust this as needed.
Regardless, a proper online branding strategy will include both the technical and social, therefore they are all one in the same, time consuming, process.

Online business branding and social networking appear to be easy, on the surface, though not a simple process. There are defined strategies that should include both search engine optimization (SEO) and social media marketing (SMM) in order to create a process called social media optimization (SMO). This SMO is actually the online marketing that you want to do for your business. When done correctly, the SMO will produce immediate responses that are easy to track, increase sales and creates a popularity that contributes to fast branding success. You can change the sales / marketing conversions for your business within a few days or gradually “divide and conquer” your competitive online business arena. In other words, your business can market as aggressively or conservatively as needed. This is based on how your company is equipped to handle growth.

In this generation of Social Media Marketing and Search Engine Optimization, it is to your benefit to learn how to properly brand your business online or find someone that knows how to do this for you.

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/social-marketing-articles/social-media-marketing-tips-3046506.html

About the Author

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About the Author:

Lea Charlton has been a leader in the Organic SEO arena since 2004. She specializes in Social SEO Marketing and Consultative Training Services for busy professionals needing fast branding success and social strategy solutions.

Smart Sales: How to Cope with Sales Rejection

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Any sales person, business or organization that is involved with any form of sales, whether they are services or products, must understand and learn how to cope with sales rejection. An inability to cope with sales rejection results in defeatism, failure and loss. Developing an ability to cope in the face of sales rejection, results in hardiness, persistence, success and profit. Thus, it is important to understand how to cope with sales rejection. In order to cope with sales rejection, it is needful for sales persons to understand the psychological principles of self-concept, social acceptance, and sales rejection.

 

Self-Concept, Social Acceptance, and Sales Rejection

The opposite of rejection is acceptance. The need for social acceptance is an innate human drive which Vohs (2008) compared to an analogy of a hungry man. When food is denied to a person, the desire and search for food is intensified. In the same manner, the drive for social acceptance when is lacking, limited or rejected will intensified the need for it. This explains the psychologies of moderately positive and confident persons who are constantly hungry for more social acceptance. Any service or product that can fulfill or satisfy this hunger for social acceptance has a huge market of innately acceptable clients. Besides these, what else do we know about social acceptance? Reese (1961) research found that:

Acceptance was related to the psychological principle of self-concept. Self-concept is what we think about ourselves or the kind of image we have of ourselves. Considering oneself to be an aristocrat with a taste for anything opulent is an example. One of the motivations of such a person would be to own and utilize branded stuff which to the individual represents his / her aristocratic opulent image. That is why certain products that are made in some backyard sweatshop in a third world country but branded with a first world label can be sold for atrociously high prices to brand-conscious consumers globally.

Those with a moderate self-concept had the highest need for social acceptance, while those with a low self-concept had the lowest need for social acceptance. It would be foolish to try to sell a Rolex to vagabond who is worrying about his next meal. It will be equally foolish to try to sell a wooden boat to a billionaire. And yet as I observe some media advertisements in certain countries, this is exactly how they advertise. It only goes to show that many traditional HR departments of many companies are still using worn-out and out-dated criterias to recruit out-dated marketing professionals who produce out-dated advertisements. The service or product must match the status of the client. Thus, social acceptance in this context refers to an acceptance by peers or superiors, whether they are persons, norms, cultural practices or even individual perceptions. Have you ever wondered why certain staffs are required by certain establishments to wear a complete suite and tie and stand in a blistering hot weather with no air-conditioning to welcome clients? It is because in the organizational culture and belief that dressing represents the organizational image of professionalism. And this culture and belief is accepted by their equally image-conscious clientele. Logic, commonsense or the wellbeing of staffs is sometimes over-ridden by the need for clientele social acceptance. In the case of businesses, such behavior is basically motivated by the need for approval by their clientele that affects the organizational profit.

The need for social acceptance was not significantly different in ether gender or status. Social acceptance that affects self-image, pride, and ego has no borders even in relation to gender or status. Is it possible for an ordinary wage earner who lives from hand-to-mouth to be status conscious? Well, the answer can be seen in everyday life. Just observe the number of fake or counterfeit items that are sold to and purchased by the average wage earner who is image-conscious but can’t afford the real branded stuffs. It doesn’t matter to their self-image even if they are aware that people around them know that they using counterfeit brands. Social acceptance is so powerful that if one can’t afford the real stuff that represents a perceived self-concept even an illusion of it will do.

Acceptance by strangers was considered more important than acceptance by close friends. Have you wondered why a person would pay, listen and accept an advice given by a “professional” while rejecting the same advice given freely by his / her friend or family member? This demonstrates the need for an approval by a stranger rather someone known. We shall see reasons for it later. Let me now extract and emphasis further the four key concepts from the findings of Reese (1961).

What do these findings mean for the business world? It is imperative for the business community and business persons to understand that sales and profit is directly related to people’s perception of their self-concept, social acceptance and sales rejection. A service or product that can create, enhance or magnify the perception of an individual’s self-concept would generate an innate acceptance of it across gender and status. It simply means that any service or product must be designed, tailored and packaged differently to fit the self-concept of different categories of persons. When a person can identify his / her self-concept with a service or product, it automatically and innately generates a tendency of acceptance. If any service or product does not establish this connection to the buyer’s self-concept, that service or product would be innately rejected even before the sales presentation is complete. This is the first key concept in understanding people’s self-concept, social acceptance, and sales rejection.

Business community and business persons must understand that not all persons have an identical self-concept. Those persons with moderate self-concept have the highest need for social acceptance. In terms of sales, these are the type or category of persons that are the ripest sales fruits for harvest, because they have the highest need for social acceptance. When we talk about a moderate self-concept, it includes any average persons who are socially conscious of themselves in terms of image or status. This includes young and newly graduated working adults who due to their newly acquired economic purchasing power become more status conscious. The rich, super-rich, the stars and the celebrities spend lavishly on anything that they perceive as enhancing or magnifying their self-concept in terms of importance, comfort, significance or greatness. The rich and famous are not just interested in money. They also desire universal recognition and power as form of social acceptance. So they way you design and package a service or product for the average image-conscious person and for the rich or super-rich has to be very different. You have to create and built-in a perception of challenge, exclusivity, comfort, universal recognition and power in your services and products to sell to the rich and super-rich. And by the way, most of what you project to the rich and super-rich must be largely real or you will find yourself being sued. This is the second key concept in understanding people’s self-concept, social acceptance, and sales rejection.

I disagree that selling to strangers are more difficult in comparison to selling to friends. Research indicates that people prefer the social acceptance of strangers more than their friends. The reason is very simple. Most people are routinely exposed to the social acceptance of their friends and family members. This creates a psychological satiation in terms of social acceptance. It is like trying to feed a person who just had an eight course meal. Thus, people prefer the social acceptance of strangers as something new, more attractive and desirable. This explains why people prefer imported products over their local ones which can be equally good. It also explains the use of foreign sounding labels and names for products, services and business establishments even in a country where the majority of the population don’t understand basic English and more so a foreign language. Local consumer cultures in many instances believe in the myth that anything perceived as foreign is equated with quality, status and reliability. In these days of out-sourcing, the use of the term myth in relation to certain consumer products is justified. However, from a business point of view, this myth must be capitalized by venturing into new markets globally which are not yet psychologically satiated with certain services or products. Remember that people are in search of social acceptance more from strangers than friends or families. So, be that new person, business, organization, foreign label or foreign establishment to give them the social acceptance through your services and products that have a local twist. If you want to know how to give a local twist psychologically, wait for my next article. This is the third key concept in understanding people’s self-concept, social acceptance, and sales rejection.

Before we look at sales rejection and coping, it is imperative to understand that the psychology of social acceptance is similar across gender and status. In other words, the three preceding concepts are largely applicable to all gender and status. This is the fourth key concept in understanding people’s self-concept, social acceptance, and sales rejection.

 

Sales Rejections and Coping

If the sales of a service or product have been rejected by a client(s), there will be definite reasons for it. The rejection of a service or product by a client does not constitute a defeat or failure of a sales person or business. It only indicates that the client(s) does not identify with or see a need for the service or product. Sales persons or businesses are defeated because they consider themselves defeated or having failed. It is their admission and weakness. The clients’ rejection has nothing to do with any feelings or reality of defeat or failure. So how does a sales person or business cope with sales rejections? The following is a guide to coping with sales rejection.

  1. Identify the reason(s) why the client rejected the service or product? You can directly try to elicit the reason(s) from the clients themselves. If not possible, than a definite sales post-mortem has to be conducted either individually or as a group to appraise the possible reasons for rejections. One can start by previewing whether the above four key concepts have been considered or practiced. The next thing to do is to consider one’s reaction to sales rejection.

  2. Royce (2002) talked about two different kinds of reactions to sales rejection. He called the first as “rejection affection, (RAs).” The RAs kind of reaction results in the sales persons and business re-examining and redoubling their efforts to succeed. Sales persons and businesses that practice rejection affection reactions will move on and eventually succeed. The second reaction was termed as “rejection defections (RDs).” The RDs kind of reactions causes sales persons and businesses to be injured psychologically and physically to such an extent that, they tend to avoid facing situations of rejection, give-up (reason for high rate of turnover), lose productivity and eventually fail. I reiterate that sales rejection does not cause defeat or failure. It is the kind of reactions that one decides to exercise in the face of sales rejection that determines failure or success. So, how does one inculcate a RAs type of reactions to sales rejection?

  3. The research done by Lefcourt (1966), Rotter (1966) and Feather (1968) have given us the following lessons on how to inculcate RAs type of reactions to sales rejection. It is in the awareness and practice of the internal locus of control. Locus of control refers to how we determine any event as being under our control (internal) or out-of-our control (external). If we routinely consider the sales process as still being under our control (internal), we will be practicing the RAs type of reactions in the face of sales rejection. Why? The reasons are simple. If one still perceives of having control over himself and his business even in seeming defeat, it innately creates a hope to find alternative solutions to overcome sales problems. If we routinely consider the sales process as not being under our control (external), we will be practicing the RDs type of reactions. Why? It is because once a person perceives he has lost control of himself or his business, it innately creates a tendency to give-in to hopelessness and defeat. Those who practice an internal locus of control will have a higher self-esteem (confidence) and would maintain a vibrant fighting spirit even in the face of sales rejection than those who practice an external locus of control. As such, those who practice the RAs type of reactions with an internal locus of control will not give-in to defeat or failure easily.

In concluding this article, I would like to encourage businesses and organizations to develop regular in-house seminars that would assist their sales force and staff to develop the four key concepts plus the RAs reactions together with the deliberate development of the internal locus of control. If you want to know how to go about it, wait for the next article. Businesses and sales persons must always understand the basics of human psychology when dealing with their clients. Any sales methods, strategies or techniques that do not include built-in psychological principles of human nature, will not have an optimum success or profit. Understanding the psychology of sales and clients is the route to a successful sales process. So the next time you face a sales rejection, don’t be an idiot who blames the client or external situations. Instead, become a student of human and sales psychology. That would be a wiser reaction that might still make you into a dynamic sales person. The same goes for business organizations.

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/sales-articles/smart-sales-how-to-cope-with-sales-rejection-2963327.html

About the Author

Thesigan Nadarajan

Counseling Psychologist

Th.Dip. (MTBI); Th. B. (MBTS); MSCP (AU)

Winner of Rectors Award, (AU 2010)