Recession Proof Your Sales Team in the Next 90 Days! - Part 3

Unpacking The Formula

For many sales managers, communicating one on one with their salespeople takes place either ad hoc, on the run, in the car, at sales meetings or at performance appraisal time. When you think about it, truthfully, how often do you really actually sit down, one on one, with each of your salespeople?

The twenty three words solution demands that you get together with your salespeople, no less than once every fortnight. Ideally you will get together with them WEEKLY. Then, "In detail unpack the week just gone by and in detail plan the week coming up with each one of your sales people"

The "Weekly Debrief"

This regular session becomes your "Weekly Debrief." When distance is a hindrance, then complete the "Weekly Debrief" with your people via the telephone.

The "Weekly Debrief" is a discipline that both you and your salespeople MUST invest the time in. As the sales leader you need to make sure they happen and continue to happen indefinitely.

These one on one "Weekly Debrief" sessions will become the cornerstone of your sales leadership effort. Applied regularly, the results of this powerful weekly practice will absolutely stagger you. Apply the practice weekly for just one month and you will be sold on the benefits of doing it forever!

"But what about the weekly sales meeting?" I hear you ask.

The weekly sales meeting has become an institution with so many sales managers that many of them are reluctant to let them go. There is a place for the sales meeting...only it shouldn't be weekly. If you are holding "Weekly Debrief" one on ones with each member of your sales team, then getting your whole sales team together for a meeting once a month is more than sufficient.

Yes, there is still a place for the sales meeting. Your sales meeting should be used to recognize

individual performance and to celebrate team performance. The sales meeting also provides a great platform for corporate communication, guest speakers, group problem solving and brainstorming. Your sales meeting can be a terrific forum for sharing "stories from the trenches", competitor updates and industry news.

Experience has proven that the more you utilize the "Weekly Debrief" one-on-one coaching sessions, the less you will need and want to use the sales meeting.

To prove my point as to the true lack of value your current weekly sales meetings are providing, I suggest you take a really hard look at the following:

• Observe the body language of the participants in your current sales meetings. Are they interested or have they switched off?
• When you are debriefing an individual at that meeting, notice the rest of the group. Where are their minds? Are their lights on or off?
• Ask yourself... who is the meeting really designed to benefit, you or them? If your sales team were your customers (which they are), would you keep going with your current approach?

Deconstructing the "Week Gone By!"

Meeting with each salesperson one-on-one weekly will allow you to cover off any pressing "corporate" issues first off and then get down to the business unpacking the details of the week just gone by and create detailed plans for the week coming up. Unpacking the salesperson's week that has just gone by requires that you go through each sales activity, in depth, to understand:

• what happened,
• what was said,
• what was the result,
• what worked and...
• what needs work,
• what could be done next time,
• what are the next steps to move the sale forward?

Having listened to what transpired you will be able to determine the following:

• Skills and performance gaps
• Lost or wasted opportunities
• Activity gaps
• Remedial actions to get the salesperson back on track

By unpacking the week just gone by in detail, you are now in the greatest position to offer relevant feedback and training using real live examples as required.

Here is a dialogue example of unpacking a sales activity taken from my book Bulletproof your Sales Team - The 5 Strategies Guaranteed to Turbo-Boost your Sales Team's Results!

Example: un-packing the week gone by!

Sales manager: So your first meeting on Tuesday was with Bob Smith at ABC Co, how did it go?

Salesperson: Alright I guess, not as good as I was hoping for!

Sales manager: Okay, let's review, what was the goal of the call?

Salesperson: To get the Credit Application agreement signed.

Sales manager: So what happened?

Salesperson: Well as you know I'm still waiting to get it signed. I met with Bill, but he told me that his boss had been out of town last week and for most of this week and as a result he hasn't been able to get it signed off.

Sales manager: Just refresh my memory, why does Bill need his boss to sign the Credit App?

Salesperson: Well when I met with him last time he told me he wasn't authorized to sign it off.

Sales manager: Other than his boss, is there anyone else in the group who could authorize the App?

Salesperson: Not that I know of!

Sales manager: Meaning?

Salesperson: I never asked him?

Sales manager: (Silent)

Salesperson: I guess I should have asked him if there was anyone else shouldn't I?

Sales manager: Let's just review your last discussion with Bob. Looking at my notes from last week, when I asked you what needs to be done to get the application form signed. Last week you said that Bob had been given authorization to get the job done and all we had to do was to get the paperwork completed. What, if anything, has changed?

Salesperson: Nothing. Bob still wants us to do the job. Unfortunately, according to him, his boss is the only one who can sign the paperwork.

Sales manager: What are we talking about here? Are we talking about signing the order to go ahead or just filling out the Credit Application form?

Salesperson: Both

Sales manager: I understand how come the boss needs to sign the order, but why does he need to sign the Credit Application form?

Salesperson: Cause that's what Bob told me!

Sales manager: Well let's just look at this a bit closer for a moment. What is a Credit Application form?

Salesperson: The Credit App. allows us to capture all the details of the customer as well as trade references. Oh, and it also spells out our trading terms.

Sales manager: Correct! Why do we need it?

Salesperson: Because if they are going to open up an account with us they need to be aware of our trading terms, but mainly we need to check that they are a good credit risk.

Sales manager: OK. Do we need an order before we will open up an account for a customer?

Salesperson: (Blank look)

Sales manager: What I mean is, can a customer apply for credit with us without necessarily ordering anything?

Salesperson: I suppose so!

Sales manager: Ok, so let me ask you another question then. On a scale of one to five how sure are you that Bob wants us to do the job?

Salesperson: I would say a four but until I have the order signed by his boss I will have to say maybe three and a half.

Sales manager: So, if the Credit App. is only an Accounts Department thing and a customer can apply for credit with us without even necessarily ordering anything, why do you need Bob's boss to sign the Credit Application form?

Salesperson: Cause that's what Bob told me!

Sales manager: Of course that's what he told you. He doesn't know how we operate. My question to you is, does Bob know he can go ahead and apply for credit in the mean time whilst we wait for his boss

to come back?

Sales manager: (Without waiting for an answer) In actual fact his Accounts Department could fill in the Credit App. As a company we only need his boss to authorize the purchase. We don't need his signaturefor the Credit Application form. Do you get what I am saying?

Salesperson: In other words either Bob could have signed the Credit App. or he could have had me take it over to his Accounts Department to get it signed?

Sales manager: Correct! So let's assume you had gotten Bob to authorize the Credit App, or you had gone to the Accounts Department to get it filled out, how would you rate your chances of them going ahead with the job, on a scale of one to five?

Salesperson: I would feel much more confident, probably a four and half. Maybe even a five!

Sales manager: So having said that then, what's the where to from here with Bob?

Salesperson: Well, I will give Bob a call today and tell him that you and I have spoken and that he doesn't need to have his boss sign the Credit App. And that in fact if we can get the App. filled out before his boss gets back, we will be able to expedite his order a whole lot quicker. This will save him in both time and money, because it's costing them around $750 a day in excess packaging costs the way they are currently running their system.

Sales manager: Do you foresee any issues he may have with that?

Salesperson: No I am pretty sure he will go for it!

Sales manager: What if he doesn't?

Salesperson: Then I guess maybe I have read the whole thing wrong. Maybe he is not as sold on us doing the work as he has made out.

Sales manager: Which means what?

Salesperson: Which basically means I have more selling to do

Sales manager: What are the chances of us meeting with his boss?

Salesperson: If he turns me down on the credit app, I will make a plan to get in and speak to his boss.

Sales manager: Is there anything I can do at this point to help you further with this?

Salesperson: No thanks. If I can't get into meet with Geoff, his boss, I will ask you for some help. I really think Bob signing off on the Credit App. will bring this one home.

Sales manager: Before we move on, what exactly is the action step from here?

Salesperson: As I said, I will call Bob today and see if I can get over there on Wednesday when I am in the area to get the Credit App signed off.

Sales manager: Alright then, (Making a note on the coaching log) lets move on to S.A.F. Company, what's happening with them?

Note: Go back and review the dialogue above and make a note of the following:

• How much "telling what to do" was there from the sales manager?

• How many questions did the sales manager?

• What was the end result of the discussion?

• How did the sales manager finish up the discussion?