By ForceLogix CEO Patrick Stakenas
One aspect of being a senior sales leader or vice president just does not seem to change.
Each month or quarter when senior sales leaders meet with the CEO or get invited into the boardroom, substantiating why the number was missed or why the number was made is always a difficult challenge. The challenge becomes even more difficult when the conversation shifts from process and deals to salespeople and sales management teams.
CEOs and boardrooms have little choice but to trust what is often the vice president’s opinion or what is a consolidated opinion based on conversations with sales management. While having subjective input is necessary, facts speak much louder in sales.
Senior sales leaders must track both the facts (objective) and the gut/emotion (subjective) and have a succinct operating plan with backup data to support the direction they are providing.
CEOs and boardrooms are under immense pressure to deliver to shareholders and investors. It’s in the best interest of the senior sales leader to deliver the truth. The key, however, is that senior sales leaders really have to know what the truth is related to sales performance and their salespeople and be able to stand behind it.
In a recent article published by MarketingProfs.com headlined “Lies, Damn Lies and Dashboards,” it was sighted how CRM and business intelligence dashboards are often manipulated by managers and marketing to present a positive outcome that doesn’t necessarily promote the truth.
This can happen understandably as the person delivering the message wants to find the positive in the situation and the data is typically delivered to the manager level in Excel spreadsheets. These are easily manipulated.
The key is putting in the process and technology to lock down the truth about how a representative or team is doing against expectations and locking down the process and technology that tracks, measures and reports on both the leading and trailing indicators to achieving set goals.
Providing this information in an easy-to-use fashion is extremely important. If it adds work to a manager, they will not use it.
The process and technology have to eliminate tasks, reduce downtime and provide actionable insight into what is happening. It also must allow a manager to input how a salesperson is progressing against coaching and training. The data must roll up to senior sales management untouched by mid-level management.
As the business sets organization goals and revenue requirements, there is an assumption that sales will just deliver it. This is often a disconnect between what the CEO feels they must have and what the vice president can deliver.
However, senior sales vice presidents can manage what happens between the two points. If the proper process and tools are in place to manage sales and the people who must deliver, it is possible to connect the sales function to the rest of the organization in strategic terms and create a common format through which the sales process is formulated, executed and monitored.
Organizations must have a mechanism that can create a cohesive sales team. This should be managed by the same set of messages and reinforced through coaching. Senior sales leaders must be able to identify, communicate and respond to the needs of the organization.
This is not possible without an ongoing process that defines, measures and analyzes salespeople.
In order to gain trust with CEOs, senior sales leaders can no longer deliver smoke-and-mirror communications from the sales department. CEOs make the connection between fluff and what matters. You must have a system in place for understanding, refining and measuring your sales process and tracking your salespeople.
Done properly, senior sales leaders can deliver the truth that CEOs can and want to handle.
If things are going well, the vice president should be able to explain why and what is driving the success and how it will be sustained. If it is a rebuilding model, the same applies. The vice president must be able to show where the good news is, what is happening and why and the plan to correct the situation.
Monday, October 19, 2009
Friday, October 16, 2009
Coaching Results Speak Louder Than Words
Coaching Results Speak Louder Than Words
By ForceLogix CEO Patrick Stakenas
Behavioral research suggests that the most effective salespeople are those who understand their actions and understand their strengths and weaknesses.
Companies that understand this are typically the companies that have winning sales organizations. It is these same companies that understand the value of measurement of leading indicators and coaching to greater success.
Increasing awareness of the significant impact of sales performance management as a set of processes and information technology is leading organizations to focus on methods to coach sales talent to generate optimal performance. Winning sales organizations are providing a methodical approach to defining, analyzing and managing sales performance indicators.
The coaching of sales individuals and leveraging the experiences of existing talent to improve the performance of the entire sales organization has become a requirement.
As a result, management can examine the required skills that need to be sharpened to deliver the results rather than just focusing on the state of the pipeline or the end of the month’s results.
Using technology to manage the coaching process saves companies weeks and months of time as each coaching session and the score associated with the session can roll up to monthly, quarterly and annual reviews. When done, the chance of sales improving is dramatically increased.
Overall, any company can benefit from having a consistent process for understanding qualitative and quantitative metrics. Once understood and technology is put in place, coaching becomes a daily occurrence rather than an annual event. Improvement on leading indicators can now be tracked and coached on and a resulting increase in revenue is naturally evident.
Patrick Stakenas is president and CEO ForceLogix, which is a Chicago-based company that builds on-demand sales performance management solutions.
By ForceLogix CEO Patrick Stakenas
Behavioral research suggests that the most effective salespeople are those who understand their actions and understand their strengths and weaknesses.
Companies that understand this are typically the companies that have winning sales organizations. It is these same companies that understand the value of measurement of leading indicators and coaching to greater success.
Increasing awareness of the significant impact of sales performance management as a set of processes and information technology is leading organizations to focus on methods to coach sales talent to generate optimal performance. Winning sales organizations are providing a methodical approach to defining, analyzing and managing sales performance indicators.
The coaching of sales individuals and leveraging the experiences of existing talent to improve the performance of the entire sales organization has become a requirement.
As a result, management can examine the required skills that need to be sharpened to deliver the results rather than just focusing on the state of the pipeline or the end of the month’s results.
Using technology to manage the coaching process saves companies weeks and months of time as each coaching session and the score associated with the session can roll up to monthly, quarterly and annual reviews. When done, the chance of sales improving is dramatically increased.
Overall, any company can benefit from having a consistent process for understanding qualitative and quantitative metrics. Once understood and technology is put in place, coaching becomes a daily occurrence rather than an annual event. Improvement on leading indicators can now be tracked and coached on and a resulting increase in revenue is naturally evident.
Patrick Stakenas is president and CEO ForceLogix, which is a Chicago-based company that builds on-demand sales performance management solutions.
Thursday, October 15, 2009
A Book You Have To Read Dirty Little Secrets
A book you have to read… Sharon Drew Morgen, Dirty Little Secrets.
While many companies adapt specific sales processes, they are often using criteria that are too complex, too simplistic, or promote the wrong behavior to selling.
Pick up this book… Dirty Little Secrets.. it is a clear and concise outline of how to approach getting deals done through understanding the mindset of the buyer or the systems they work in. www.dirtylittlesecretsbook.com
An excerpt from the preface, of which I am in 100% agreement!!!!
“In Dirty Little Secrets, her groundbreaking work, she takes us
inside our buyer’s decision-making process to a level we’ve never
been before. We discover all sorts of factors that have to be
addressed prior to making any changes. And most of these issues
have absolutely nothing to do with our product or service offering.
When our prospects disappear into a black hole, that’s what
they’re dealing with. And, as Sharon Drew points out over and over,
our sales cycle is as long as takes our prospects to figure these things
out. Often these challenges are so daunting, that they decide it’s easier to stay with the status quo—even if it’s not a smart decision.
Up until now, we haven’t had strategies that taught us how to
deal with these “systems” issues that our customers face. We know
how to get them interested in our offering. We know how to uncover
their needs. We know how to showcase our solutions. But we don’t know how to help them get “unstuck.”
Patrick Stakenas President and CEO, ForceLogix, www.forcelogix.com
While many companies adapt specific sales processes, they are often using criteria that are too complex, too simplistic, or promote the wrong behavior to selling.
Pick up this book… Dirty Little Secrets.. it is a clear and concise outline of how to approach getting deals done through understanding the mindset of the buyer or the systems they work in. www.dirtylittlesecretsbook.com
An excerpt from the preface, of which I am in 100% agreement!!!!
“In Dirty Little Secrets, her groundbreaking work, she takes us
inside our buyer’s decision-making process to a level we’ve never
been before. We discover all sorts of factors that have to be
addressed prior to making any changes. And most of these issues
have absolutely nothing to do with our product or service offering.
When our prospects disappear into a black hole, that’s what
they’re dealing with. And, as Sharon Drew points out over and over,
our sales cycle is as long as takes our prospects to figure these things
out. Often these challenges are so daunting, that they decide it’s easier to stay with the status quo—even if it’s not a smart decision.
Up until now, we haven’t had strategies that taught us how to
deal with these “systems” issues that our customers face. We know
how to get them interested in our offering. We know how to uncover
their needs. We know how to showcase our solutions. But we don’t know how to help them get “unstuck.”
Patrick Stakenas President and CEO, ForceLogix, www.forcelogix.com
Wednesday, August 12, 2009
Your Sales Management World Has Changed, Get On Board Now or Risk Getting Thrown Off.
Patrick Stakenas, President and CEO ForceLogix. www.forceLogix.com
The world of Sales management as we know it has changed. The current economic situation has sales people and sales management doing extraordinary things in these challenging times that are often unnatural. It is time to take control of your selling environment before someone else is asked to.
Companies are looking at their strengths and taking profitability over growth which often means the need less sales people to get the same or better result. They are re-evaluating their priorities and forcing sales management to be accountable and handle more with less; they are putting in structure that when embraced have the highest likelihood to prosper in this difficult economic climate.
Over time, sales people and sales management will become accustomed to this and eventually learn to appreciate and value a more structure selling environment.
What can your company do to ensure it will still be relevant?
Embrace Structure in the Sales Function
This will show your employees that you are in tune with the changing times and are willing to put structure around sales that you already have in your factories, warehouses and other functions of you business. It is essential to get your message out to the company in a clear, concise manner that you get it. .
• Put in a Sales Accountability System
• Hold Sales Management to clear expectations on not only the numbers but on building a quality team.
• Force the issue through using a systematic approach to tracking both lagging and leading indicators.
Reduce Wasted Effort
With the proper system in place your sales managers will not be hunting for data or spending needless hours analyzing team performance. Analysts statistics show that having an Accountability System in place reduces Sales Management administration downtime by over 30%. Sales Management should also focus on where they can add value on those that are coachable. If you have build a strong team, your Sales Managers should not have to be on every big call with the A players.
Consider the Alternative
We in Sales all have a responsibility to shape our future, drive revenue and profit and Sales Management specifically has the extra task of managing morale and coaching while holding sales people accountable.
Status quo never works, the hammer never works for long and the alternative to putting in structure is to do nothing. This will most likely be a bad choice as without a structured process you will not be able to explain who is strong and who is weak and what you are doing about it to better the team.
The trends of the selling marketplace have shifted towards a more structured, accountable, coaching, more responsible-to-the-company environment. If your company genuinely lives and breathes these values it will be in a position to thrive today and in the future.
The world of Sales management as we know it has changed. The current economic situation has sales people and sales management doing extraordinary things in these challenging times that are often unnatural. It is time to take control of your selling environment before someone else is asked to.
Companies are looking at their strengths and taking profitability over growth which often means the need less sales people to get the same or better result. They are re-evaluating their priorities and forcing sales management to be accountable and handle more with less; they are putting in structure that when embraced have the highest likelihood to prosper in this difficult economic climate.
Over time, sales people and sales management will become accustomed to this and eventually learn to appreciate and value a more structure selling environment.
What can your company do to ensure it will still be relevant?
Embrace Structure in the Sales Function
This will show your employees that you are in tune with the changing times and are willing to put structure around sales that you already have in your factories, warehouses and other functions of you business. It is essential to get your message out to the company in a clear, concise manner that you get it. .
• Put in a Sales Accountability System
• Hold Sales Management to clear expectations on not only the numbers but on building a quality team.
• Force the issue through using a systematic approach to tracking both lagging and leading indicators.
Reduce Wasted Effort
With the proper system in place your sales managers will not be hunting for data or spending needless hours analyzing team performance. Analysts statistics show that having an Accountability System in place reduces Sales Management administration downtime by over 30%. Sales Management should also focus on where they can add value on those that are coachable. If you have build a strong team, your Sales Managers should not have to be on every big call with the A players.
Consider the Alternative
We in Sales all have a responsibility to shape our future, drive revenue and profit and Sales Management specifically has the extra task of managing morale and coaching while holding sales people accountable.
Status quo never works, the hammer never works for long and the alternative to putting in structure is to do nothing. This will most likely be a bad choice as without a structured process you will not be able to explain who is strong and who is weak and what you are doing about it to better the team.
The trends of the selling marketplace have shifted towards a more structured, accountable, coaching, more responsible-to-the-company environment. If your company genuinely lives and breathes these values it will be in a position to thrive today and in the future.
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