“Nothing happens till someone sells something".
WE HAVE HEARD THIS APHORISM, but it’s a wonder some organisations do anything at all. When you find out the reasons why, their sales people are set up to fail. So it is not surprising then that almost 80% of new ventures fail within 18 months.
And if you are about to celebrate your new organisation’s second birthday and still paying the rent, just, don’t get cocky? It is even worse; 90% of the remaining 20% fail within the next three years.
“But if we were to become better at hiring and developing sales people, would this affect this ratio?” You might ask. You bet!
“So how do we do that?”
“If we know the key reasons why sales people fail, and if we were to do the opposite, is it reasonable to expect that they would therefore succeed?” .
Yes, that is a fair assessment. You say.
“So what are they? I knew those flakey sales people were the root of my problem.”
Well yes; but you might be a little surprised by some of the reasons why those pesky sales people fail.
Here we go.
Top 10 reasons why sales people fail.
1/ It’s Not Their Fault
The primary reason is at the feet of the owners, leaders, senior mangers and sales managers of the organisation.
Not enough thought is put into identifying the role of the sales personnel and the ideal characteristics of the sales people who will take the product to market.
Thousands of dollars go into developing the structure and the marketing strategy, along with the goals and the projections of growth for the new business. Senior managers go to mountain retreats, have SWOT meetings, bring in keynote speakers, consult visionaries and speak in sophisticated terms. Then when all is done, hire a likely someone from a similar industry, maybe because he or she is known to the new sales managers or they are a friend of the owner.
Management then tell their sales newbie their sales budget. Without working through it, or discussing where the business might come from, or the profile of the ideal prospect. Management also does not facilitate the adoption of a sales process designed specially for the products’ market segment.
Even in the most ‘edgy’, out there, advanced and ‘sophisticated’ entities, this process of finding and managing sales people is neanderthal.
No thought given to:
* Ideal characteristics of the sales people - no psychometric testing and benchmarking
* Whether their primary role is find and convert new prospects or service existing clients? (There is a difference.)
* How will they be managed? What are the expectations regarding the way they are to report and their level of accountability?
* What training will they require - technical, personal development, selling skills?
* Whether they are intrinsically or extrinsically driven?
* What are their triggers? Their hot buttons? Their motivators?
* Their level of motivation energy?
* What equipment, collateral, and other support will be needed?
* Ideal prospects and clients for the organisation? Their A class prospect? (All prospects are good. Good for you and good for your competitors!)
* Developing synergy within a sales team with a healthy competitive culture. (Too often it is ‘I win you lose’ esprit de corp.)
2/ They have no or few goals
Selling is one career choice that you will be found out immediately,and out of work if you are not producing. Very little wriggle room. The author worked in managing a direct selling team in the radio industry, and if you had brought in major business that day you were hailed as the hero. However, the following day if you hadn’t continued your winning run, you were well on the way to having your reputation become zero.
If you were to survive such a hot house and pressure cooker you had to be focused; and goals became your life buoy.
What sort of goals? All sorts; both personal and professional.
The obvious ones are the annual goals for sales, profit margin, adding new clients and retention of existing ones.
Then there are activity goals ( daily, weekly, monthly and quarterly) for referrals, asking for referrals, sales presentations, and securing appointments .
Why have goals? Because sales is such an all embracing environment, largely taking place beyond office walls. It is a world full of distractions and competing priorities. Without the talisman of sales activity KPIs (a.k.a. goals) a sales person can be frantically busy, but when boiled down very little activity likely to produce any meaningful sales results .
Of course with goals comes the big “A”. The expletive in the world of selling that is feared and is loathed: ACCOUNTABILITY.
A good, nay, a great salesperson will welcome this expectation. With a positive mind and attitude, spur themselves and use goals and milestones to get the best out of themselves. They have great ego, pride and bragging rights on the line.
Great sales people also have taken time to set goals in their personal life- for family, lifestyle, health, community, learning and financial areas of their life. Failing sales people say they don’t have time.
3/ They have no Plan
For many sales people Hope is the primary strategy they employ.
With half a closed eye on their given budget, they race out, thrash around, and spend plenty with low yielders, ‘never will buy’ prospects and ‘comfort customers’ (they’re the ones always up for a coffee and chat, and of course pick up the odd sale whilst their ‘building the relationship’.).
Simply a lot of wasted energy in pursuit of a few shackles.
Unfortunately, and I say unfortunately, they pick up sales more by default than design, doing just enough to keep the boss happy, them in a job, but worse, in that it gives the false allusion that they are good in their role. Just turning up some days you get lucky and walk into a sale.
Their alter ego, the sales pro, will save his or her energy for the high yielding clients and prospects; being selective of where to spend precious time. He or she will know the characteristics of the best clients for their company and hang out where they do.
Willie Sutton, FBI’s Top 10 Most Wanted man, was once asked by the sentencing judge, why he robbed banks. His answer serves as a lesson in education to sales people. He responded “that is where the money is” (He was also quoted later in saying “Go where the money is; and go there often”).
Do your sales people know where the money is? Do they go there often?
Poor sales people do what Willie never did; leave money on the table.
Failing sales persons it would seem, hang out at the pawnbrokers
4/ They don’t know the sales process.
Maybe you have a young conscientious and promising sales recruit with enthusiasm and positivity, taking to their role. All the attributes saying to you “I have got a goodin’, here.”
You might just have. But without the knowledge of the sale process, all the enthusiasm and positivity is unlikely to get them through. Unless…unless, they quickly realise that each product or service has a sales process- things done in the correct order. Just their great attitude or gift of the gab may in fact be terminal to a long career in sales.
Usually these people don’t stay long in sales and move onto another sales job, lured away or gone into an associated career that doesn’t have the same sort of level of accountability.
You would think it a no brainer, that long serving sales people know the sales process, but in my years of training sales people, 90% of career sales people do not know the sales process or that one actually exists.
Exit stage right.
5/ Lack Enthusiasm.
What has happened to enthusiasm? Or is it me?
It seems to be in short supply today. People seem to have endless issues and diversions; and don’t seem to have the same level of enthusiasm. Or is it an age thing?
Seems to be many sales people with a happy and cheery demeanour; but passion about what they are selling, no!
The first sales books that has had a life long impact, By Frank Betger, brought it home to me and made it memorable these many years later. The second chapter was about the power of enthusiasm.(Straight after the opening chapter, an introduction to the concept of selling.)
Enthusiasm is like a run away locomotive.
Dare stand in its way, or try to halt it.
It will just run right over you. There is no stopping a person packed with enthusiasm.
You know when you have come across an enthusiastic sales person. They are a thrill to watch and be with.
Apple Geniuses come to mind. They love their job. They are passionate. And full of enthusiasm about their products and customers who share that passion.
We have people in our lives that just ooze enthusiasm and you notionally schedule a regular meeting to get a fill up of, from their trough. Such a man that I have in my circle, a long time business associate, Barry Harvey, started and successfully ran a major cold storage. He could literally sell ice to Eskimos (or at least help them with their storage).You walk away from a meeting brimming with energy.
If your sales person suffers anorexia enthusiasm; work with him or her. It might require training, change of scenery (territory) or another job, sometimes for another employer, maybe.
6/ They are disorganised.
Sales people come in all sorts and sizes. It is not uncommon for them to be a tad dis-organised. This is not necessarily a game breaker. In fact, it could be the highly organised person, at the other end of the spectrum, that could be at a more disadvantage as they like 100% control and being organised. With this trait, it will send them bonkers because they can never have 100% control in the selling process, when the customer has the real control.
That said then, if being organised is not a natural trait it is essential for the disorganised to learn .
They must become organised in:
* Time management
* Structure of their Sales Presentation
* Preparation to meet each prospect (beginning with pre call planning before even making the initial contact)
* Their territory management
* Follow up - routine and timely
* Meeting all promises and commitments
* Week’s goals and predetermined outcomes
* Knowing why they are meeting and the wanted outcomes to each meeting.
*preparation of sales reports and expense claims
*weekly update (at least) of CRM system.
To gauge a sales person’s preparedness and personal organisation; a manager might check their:
* Diary
* Presentation folder- current brochures, price lists, order books
* Car
* Personal grooming
Hint to Sales mangers- their outer world represents their inner world.
Failing sales people don’t join the dots and continue to do everything on the fly.
7/ Spend time in their Low Payoff Activities
Failing sales people leave little time for their high payoff activities- if they even know what they are?
Here is a test for your sales people. Ask them to list their 5 highest priority activities.
In some cases, they will not include sales presentations in the list, but if you are lucky, they will list them but not at No 1. Don’t be surprised if they use te expressionbuilding relationships - what ever that means? No cigar!
Their answer should look like this:
* Sales Presentation (which could also be expressed as being in front of a Prospect/Client and discussing their needs)
* Prospecting or getting referrals (which could be networking at industry functions or where other prospects hang out; but only with the clear intent to walk away with one or more prospects)
* Setting up appointments for Sales presentations
* Preparing proposals & quotes
* Follow up proposals
* Attending Sales skills training and Personal development sessions
Their low payoff activities will be represented by them driving across town, doing $10 jobs which could be delegated to assistants or admin staff or outsourcing to courier services. In this day and age of Fiverr and E-lance, there is no excuse for not delegating or outsourcing low payoff tasks.
Failing sales people will be locked into the 80% activity which only generates 20% of results.
8/ No Ongoing Prospecting System
Failing sales people have no process to top up their prospects.
They continually fall back to cold calling.
Sometimes there is justification for cold calling; but the smart sales people move away from this method to generate new business as quickly as possible. Those who don’t move from this area at first opportunity will either resign or be fired.
Ways to get warm to hot prospects:
* Referrals
* Referrals
* Referrals
Oh did I mention referrals!?
If you must, other means include:
* Industry associations
* Channel partners and affiliates
* Trade media (possibly general media)
* Observation
* Strategic Alliances
* LinkedIn connections
9/ Lack of Desire
To succeed you need a high desire and sense of urgency. High desire level has you fired with passion for your role and focused on results. The day doesn’t just end at 5, nor the week end on a Friday arvo. Sales people get paid for the result; others get paid for the hours.
Desire for you to get the deal done, a desire to get the best results for your client, and a desire to be top dog in the yard.
Pride and sense of purpose play a major part of a sales person’s life and success.
Failing sales people see it as a job which pays the bills, and gets them through. If it isn’t this job, it will be another one just around the corner. They hear NOs which can break their spirit at the first utterance of the word. “No the prospect doesn’t want the product” he will tell the sales manger. “It’s too expensive!” (Compared to what?) “They have a preferred supplier” or “they tried us years ago and it didn’t work”.
With a lack of desire, they will hear and accept every reason the prospect offers, without selling with subtlety and purpose to persuade.
10/ In the Long term it’s not their Fault
If we ended up hiring the best of the batch (who answered the advert) to be our next sales people, we finish them off by our lack of supervision, leadership and training.
Our management style might be one of laissez-faire. Then CHANGE IT!
We manage them as if they were another staff member working in the confines of the office. We don’t like others micro managing us and opt not having to inflict this on others. “Quite frankly, we as senior managers have much more important jobs to do than wet nurse to sale people”. We think; a fatal mistake.
"As for Sales meetings, we have one once a month. Sometimes we have a barbecue if we landed a big account (the boss’ Brother in law), so we catch up then. But we speak all the time when they are on the road. I speak with them at least once every day or so, about a client or an issue which often comes up"
Or. "We tried weekly sales meetings, but it seemed that somebody was always late or I was away for every second one or we used to have them Mondays, but then when I was away made it in a Tuesday. Seems that wasn’t convenient, so we call them when we need to."
"No we didn’t have an agenda or format. We aren’t BHP!" You might say. “No we didn’t document who was going to action stuff”.
"Once again we aren’t BHP and the ‘guys’ knew who was doing what. But they get busy and do forget from time to time."
Sound familiar? Someone you know?
“Training; well yes we did a days training a couple of years back; none since”.
(BTW-It was Tom Watson, founder of IBM who said their sales people should never be out of training.)
These are the sort of comments to justify how we manage (poorly) our sales team, which quite frankly in this dynamic marketplace, is just not good enough; and leads to why we don’t get the results we must and should get.
Summary
Appointing a sales team could be the one most important functions of a manager. It is virtually commissioning a money printing press. Sales people are able to turn on or off, the tap which is critical to business success. Yet we take such a cavalier approach to this.
The ones that take a professional approach and only hire the best people and make available ongoing training to their people, will succeed, grow and prosper. Maybe if this is not you, then it could be your competitor.
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