Dec/092
Back to basics (part 1 of 2)
I had a typical start in sales. On the first day of my first sales job, I was:
- shown my desk and my phone
- introduced to the person to whom I should give my completed order forms
- handed a catalog of products
- given a list of crappy clients from the just-fired salesperson who left the desk I was to occupy, and
- told “good luck”.
I quickly found my way to a Brian Tracy audiobook, and started a long, iterative process called “the school of hard knocks”. Many of the most successful salespeople I know got their degree from HKU (Hard Knocks University), but it is a painful way to go, and the attrition rate is high.
As I wandered through the sales related blogsphere the other evening, I realized how much easier it has become to find professional input about sales since the start of my sales career in the late 1980’s. But I also realized that a salesperson starting out, or a veteran who scrapped their way to success faces the same problem I faced in my first sales job, and a problem I see in many veterans who are successful, but can’t articulate why or how.
What is that problem? For “newbies”, it is information overload. There is too much information to be found. How can there be too much? Easy, if there is no context. Have you tried to figure out Sales 2.0, or investing strategies or anything about which there is a lot of information on the web? You can find plenty of information, but it has no meaning, no context, no framework within which to fit. Your mind becomes a big bowl of quivering jello as you are bombarded with contradicting information that all comes from “experts”; or that makes sense, but in a vacuum. A technique might make sense, but where does it fit into the whole process? Learning several disparate techniques can’t tell you where to start, and how to finish.
And what about the veterans? In the martial arts, there is an expression that practice does not make perfect, but rather permanent. The results of poor practice is hard to reverse. So when our veteran gets a new sales job, can an adjustments that lead to success be made to a new sales environment, or was the success of the last not fully understood, and as such, not transferrable.
These may not seem like the same problem, but they are, and the solution to both dilemmas is the same. As implied above, it is the creation of a sales “context” which provides a framework for “correct practice”. This blog post is getting a bit long, so I’ll conclude next week.
Dec/091
Strategy Versus Execution
It is that time of year again. After the holiday buzz wears off, many people look ahead to the New Year and vow to make it a better one. Some of these resolutions will be personal, and some professional. Many of these resolutions will not make it past Valentines day. Many won’t make it past the first week of January.
One thing that derails many well intentioned resolution makers is the relationship between strategy and execution. For the sake of this blog, let’s use simple definitions here: Strategy is what you plan to do, and execution is actually doing it. So where is the problem?
The problem comes when these two elements of a plan are done simultaneously. What usually happens is that someone may decide to try something different (such as implementing the sales process strategies from my book “Mastering Your Sales Process”). The planning part is usually not more that a vague idea about how to get started, then the execution begins. Because the plan was not well thought through ,the execution is not done well, and even when a step is done well, the next step is not clear.
I don’t mean to imply that every step can be planned out in minute detail, every contingency planned for and every possibility considered. People who err too far on this side can be rightly accused of paralysis by analysis. For them, the problem is that they never get to execution.
But the other side of the spectrum is also a problem. Failure to take time to adequately map out a strategy and give consideration to the end result, the paths that may get you there and the correct tactics to use throughout the execution of the strategy will also lead to failure.
Strategy and execution should be iterative, but distinct. Map a strategy, then execute it. Learn from your execution, refine your strategy, then execute the refined strategy. The difference seems subtle but it is not. Separate strategy and execution. Don’t do them together. When you make a strategy, do just that, then execute it. You may need to adjust mid-stream in your execution, so then AFTER you are done executing, change back into your strategy hat and refine the plan before switching hats again for execution.
It is analogous to writing and editing. Both need to get done in order to write well, but the activity comes from different parts of your brain. Your brain will write slower if you edit as you go, and your editing will not be focussed if you work on writing at the same time. In this same way, separate strategy and execution so that they dance together like separate partners, not mix together like the gin and tonic you drank too much of on New Years Eve.
Happy New Year, and best wishes for all of your hopes, dreams and resolutions!
Dec/093
How to incorporate a new sales strategy into an already busy schedule
In my book, “Mastering Your Sales Process”, I suggest a new way to structure and execute the sales process towards the goals of increase efficiency and effectiveness. This includes new ways of generating leads, specific time commitments and methods for prospecting, new methods for qualification, needs analysis, proposal writing, objections and closing.
One of the things I often here from salespeople is that their day is already so full they don’t have time to try anything new. If you choose to take this perspective, then realize that by doing so, you are choosing NOT to improve. It is said that the true definition of insanity is doing the same things over and over again while expecting different results. Growth is change, and proactive, self-directed change will require some modification of your routine. Sure something great might happen by chance that will improve your commission checks, but hope is not a strategy.
So what can we do? We want to grow; we need to change; but we are busy. It can seem like a problem.
While it may be true that you are busy now (a time quantity issue), there are probably things you do and ways you do them that are not as efficient and/or effective as some alternatives (a time quality issue). The trick is to identify which things are not working as well as they could, and how to replace them. The goal is not to work more, but to work more effectively.
As is implied by the focus of my book, the solution lines in a more disciplined approach to your sales process. Think through each step, consider new methods and find the most effective way to execute through experimentation. There is no way out but through!
What often happens is that people read a book or meet a mentor and decide to change everything at once based on some new knowledge. While this can sometimes work, it is usually better to take things one step at a time. Unless you are starting with a clean slate, you will need to adjust over time or risk burnout. How can we do that?
The thing that works best for me and what I suggest to my clients is to first scope out the entire program: What are all of the changes that need to be tried. In the example of the sales process, you might want to design a plan for each step, then list out the specific action items that need to be done for each step and in order for you to implement the complete new sales process strategy.
If the list is large, then prioritize it, and address one piece at a time.
Stephen Covey tells a story about “big rocks” in his book “The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People”. The short version is this: If you want to fill a large container with various sized rocks, from melon sized to pea gravel, then you better start with the big rocks first, or you will never fit them in.
The big rocks in the story correlate to the highest priority items on your list of things to change in order to implement your new strategy. The “pea gravel” is all of the tasks that you have on your schedule already. This is not to say that those tasks are not important, but if you want to make proactive, self-directed change, then schedule your big rocks at the start of each week like meetings. The pea gravel will always be there to fill in the gaps. If you make the big rocks a priority, you will work on them and work towards positive change and growth in your sales practice. If you don’t prioritize your big rocks, you will never fit them in, as your days, weeks, months and years remain full of pea gravel, and the same kinds of results that you have always experienced.
Social Media links
