Sales and Running – What Obstacles Do We Need To Overcome?

Blog

I started running almost 10 years ago, as a way to stay in shape and exercise both my body and my mind. My ultimate goal was to complete a full marathon, which I accomplished four years ago. It will probably be my first and last full marathon.

I continue to complete a ½ marathon each year as a way to stay in shape. This fall, I’ll be completing my 10th ½ marathon.

A few months ago, I started to research all the options – cities and dates to do this milestone half-marathon. Las Vegas on November 17th got my attention. They close the Vegas strip for the runners to enjoy the music, lights and crowds to cheer them on. What a great place for a celebratory event!

Wait – it even gets better!

My daughter, Taylor, who is working full-time decided she would complete her 1st half-marathon and would join me.

It has been an incredible training journey since I first started running. I learned many things about myself and how training for a marathon is related to the sales journey – especially when it comes to obstacles.

Taylor and I created our training plan last week. I’ll admit, this past week it would be have been easy to blow off the long run:

• I had a crazy travel schedule and several flights to catch, and I came down with a bit of a cold, sore throat and lack of energy.
• There was pending rain during our run time.
• My daughter had a late night at a friend’s party.

Just like sales, there are always obstacles that get in the way of our goals.

But, we didn’t give in.

We mustered up our best positive self-talk and chose to make it happen, rather than to allow the excuses to get in the way.  It was well worth it! We had great conversation, our energy and strength picked up, and then the sunshine came out in the last 2 km rather than the rain. It was well worth the extra effort to get this done!

As we move into the 4th quarter of sales, what are your goals?

• Slam dunk your sales goal
• Go for the stretch sales goal
• Create a stronger sales funnel in preparing for the next fiscal year of 2020
• Secure a large long-term contract with a client
• Complete business review meetings with your top 3-5-10 clients

What are the obstacles that could get in the way of achieving the above?

• Economy
• Not enough in your sales funnel to achieve your sales goals
• Your own negative self-talk
• Not planning your time for your prospecting calls and/or business review meetings
• Simply, giving up way too soon!

Only 54% of sales professionals will achieve their sales goals this year – that’s pathetic!

Just like running, it takes a positive mindset, tenacity and rigour to make it happen.

I can’t wait to slam dunk our sales goals this year and cross the finish line on the Vegas strip – it will be SO worth it!

Lisa Leitch, CSP2

Lisa is driven by the mantra – Be Strategic. Be Pro-active. Be Brave. – and has been successfully training and coaching sales leaders and their teams to do the same for over 15 years. As the President of Teneo Results since 2003, she has trained thousands of sales professionals at more than 250 companies across North America. She transitions salespeople away from the standard “product & price” approach to having purposeful business conversations with their customers that drive results.

Should Sales Leaders be Teachers?

Blog

Sales Leaders wear many hats – but should they also be teachers?

In a recent Sales Leader Survey we conducted to gain deeper insight into developing our upcoming Sales Leadership, Coaching & Sales Process program – the #2 priority for Sales Leaders (63.64% of Sales Leaders surveyed) was to develop their sales team to be more strategic, proactive and consultative.

The #1 priority for Sales Leaders at 81.82% was, “Growing the business significantly in the next 2-5 years”, followed by the #3 priority, at 63.64%, “Getting the team to prospect for new business growth”

Another great insight from this survey is where Sales Leaders would spend their time if they had an extra hour or two per week.

Here were the top choices:

• More communication and coaching with the team
• 1:1 coaching with the team
• Building a strategy for each separate rep
• Building a pipeline of sales reps who are ready to join our team when an opportunity presents itself

As we move into the Back-to-School – – Back to Business Fall Selling season, it’s important to carve out time to be a Sales Teacher. And if you don’t have time, I would love to be your Sales Teacher, it’s exactly what I love to do as I thought I always wanted to be a teacher when I was a little girl and I always loved (and still love being in sales). Now I get to combine the two to help sales leaders and their sales team “Be Strategic, Be Proactive and Be Brave!”

Lisa Leitch, CSP2

Lisa is driven by the mantra – Be Strategic. Be Pro-active. Be Brave. – and has been successfully training and coaching sales leaders and their teams to do the same for over 15 years. As the President of Teneo Results since 2003, she has trained thousands of sales professionals at more than 250 companies across North America. She transitions salespeople away from the standard “product & price” approach to having purposeful business conversations with their customers that drive results.

High Growth Strategies For Success

Blog

To double your business in the next 3-5 years, who are the players to help you carry that medicine ball briskly and enthusiastically up that mountain?

I’m going to challenge you to think way beyond your current sales team. The reality is, additional resources can help you grow your business – ones you might not have thought of!

Let me introduce you to the Wheel of Choice – one of my favourite go-to coaching tools to get sales leaders & teams thinking outside the box, or should we say outside or inside the circle.

You can do this innovative thinking outside your office or typical meeting room.

I’m doing this on the dock at the cottage – yes, the neighbours look at us sideways when we bring the flipchart to the dock and wonder what we are up to!

In this circle, create 8 slices (just like a pie) that represent 8 different options to grow your business outside your current sales team.

Let me get you started with a few options.

It’s easy to come up with at least 2-3 options, but the best ideas are usually your 6th to 8th ideas. This wheel of choice will force you to think beyond just a few good ideas.

1. Customer Service/Inside Sales Team
2. Product Managers to innovate new products
3. Expanding your Sales Team members with different skill sets & experience or even recent college/university grads
4. E-commerce online
5. Your operations team – how can they help you increase capacity, shipments, efficiency
6. Channel Partners

Now, go back to your Wheel of Choice and rate each option on a scale of 1-10 that will help you double your business. 1 represents the least likely to have an effect and 10 is maximum effect. You are rating them, not ranking them, so you may have a few 5, 8, 9 and hopefully one or two 10s.

It’s the 9 and 10 rating options that will help you build on these strategies and put them into action.

Lisa Leitch, CSP2

Lisa is driven by the mantra – Be Strategic. Be Pro-active. Be Brave. – and has been successfully training and coaching sales leaders and their teams to do the same for over 15 years. As the President of Teneo Results since 2003, she has trained thousands of sales professionals at more than 250 companies across North America. She transitions salespeople away from the standard “product & price” approach to having purposeful business conversations with their customers that drive results.

Is 6.7% High Growth?

Blog

74% of Canadian companies want to achieve high growth, according to the Canadian Sales Growth Report from CPSA. High growth is classified as growing by more than 6.7% per year. In my experience, this is not high sales growth. When we work with sales teams, we want to see at least 25% sales growth.

If you really want to be better than the other 74% of Canadian companies, you’ll have to kick up your game and your team! Here’s the reality – if you want to double your sales in the next 3-5 years here’s what it will take:

Consistently grow your business by 26%:

If that is too aggressive, let’s map out a 5-year plan, based on a +15% increase:

The other staggering statistic is that 40% of Canadian organizations do not have a strategic plan to increase their sales and revenue.

You’ve heard me say this before and I’ll say it again: If you fail to plan you plan to fail.

Use these additional sales stats to your advantage – use them to build a strategic plan to grow your sales and sales team:

• 2 million in the Canadian workforce are sales professionals, representing 6.6% of the Canadian workforce. Only 16% are selling B2B to other businesses.
• Professional sales is ranked as one of Canada’s 7 most in-demand positions.
• 75% of companies are having difficulty finding good sales professionals to add to their team.
• 38% of companies don’t sponsor any formal sales training to their team.
• 32% of Sales Managers said they would spend more time coaching their sales team.

What is your strategy to become a high growth company?

Here are a few strategies to become a high growth company and double your sales in the next 3-5 years:

1. Focus your sales on your ideal profitable type customers and double sales with your existing clients
2. Double your sales team
3. Expand your sales team through your customer service and inside sales team
4. Mergers & acquisition – buy your competition or smaller players in your marketplace
5. Expand your products & services to be selling more consultative selling solutions to offer long term contracts with your customer base

If you want to double your sales, contact me at lisa@teneoresults.com.

Lisa Leitch, CSP2

Lisa is driven by the mantra – Be Strategic. Be Pro-active. Be Brave. – and has been successfully training and coaching sales leaders and their teams to do the same for over 15 years. As the President of Teneo Results since 2003, she has trained thousands of sales professionals at more than 250 companies across North America. She transitions salespeople away from the standard “product & price” approach to having purposeful business conversations with their customers that drive results.

Are You In Canada’s 74% of High Growth Companies?

Blog

There are 1.2 million sales professionals in Canada today – that’s 6.6% of the total Canadian workforce.

With so many Canadians working in sales, it’s a wonder that this significant portion of the economy is often overlooked – but not anymore.

The Canadian Government wants to double the number of high-growth organizations in Canada by 2025 – this will require strong, knowledgeable sales professionals, equipped with the necessary tools to lead them on the path to growth. The lofty goals for growth sparked a focus on understanding the ways that investment in the sales profession can support a high-growth economy in Canada. The CPSA Labour Market Research Committee shared their findings on this in the 2019 Sales Growth Report.

In this blog, I’ll be sharing a few need-to-know facts regarding Canada’s thirst for growth in the sales sector.

1. The Sales & Marketing professions have been among the top 5 most in-demand over the last 10 years.

According to the Conference Board of Canada, the future of Canadian sales professionals and the future of Canada’s economy closely correlate.

2. Over 74% of Canadian companies are trying to achieve high growth (+6.7% growth per year).

Are you among this 74% of the high growth companies?

3. Of the 74% of companies aiming for high-growth, 40% don’t have a strategic plan to achieve it.

If you fail to plan, you plan to fail. Strategic planning plays a highly important role in the success of turning goals into reality. Your plan is your roadmap to success, keeping you on track and making sure you aren’t lost.

Plans to achieve these high-growth goals consist of:

• Upselling to current clients
• Expanding territories
• Utilizing more marketing, communication, and analytical tools

Entering new industry segments

The Canadian government has chosen to invest significantly in the colleges and universities to create more accredited programs to create more interest and demand for sales professionals who are graduating and entering the workforce.

What is your plan to become a high-growth company?

Here are 5 strategies to create a high growth company:

1. Leadership Team – Are you poised for high growth?
2. Existing Clients – The best and most effective way to grow your business is with your existing clients.
3. Acquire New Business – Create a prospecting blitz with your sales team to find net new clients.
4. Strengthen Your Sales Team – Invest in your team, even your seasoned veterans, to have more purposeful business conversations with your customers rather than product & price conversations. Begin developing a farm team with new college & university grads.
5. Customer Service Team – They are talking to your customers every day and can be instrumental in growing your business.

Helping your customers to grow their business, will grow your business as well.

Lisa Leitch, CSP2

Lisa is driven by the mantra – Be Strategic. Be Pro-active. Be Brave. – and has been successfully training and coaching sales leaders and their teams to do the same for over 15 years. As the President of Teneo Results since 2003, she has trained thousands of sales professionals at more than 250 companies across North America. She transitions salespeople away from the standard “product & price” approach to having purposeful business conversations with their customers that drive results.