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When we work with sales leaders, we have noticed a common challenge they set for themselves is to double their sales in the next three to five years.
This challenge may be similar to one of your own. If it is, you are probably also aware that there is an underlying challenge connected to that: how do I keep my tenured sales team consistently motivated and excited about the idea of creating sales growth?
It used to be the norm that incentivizing your sales team with the promise of a standard commission and bonus package was enough to keep a salesperson motivated.
We have noticed over the past five years that this is no longer the case.
Just as a salesperson’s idea of what success means to them differs from one to the next, so, too does their motivation for reaching their sales goals.
What motivates an individual member of your sales team is very personal to them.
Take my husband, Tom, for example. For many years, Tom wanted to attend the Barrett Jackson Car Auction. It even made its way to his bucket list. So, in order to justify going on a guys’ weekend to the Auction every year, Tom ensures he earns his yearly bonus.
That motivates him. Call it an incentive trip, of sorts.
Is a yearly trip to the Barrett Jackson Auction an incentive you could implement in your organization to sufficiently motivate your team members to double their sales?
Would your sales team be willing to go the extra mile with their sales performance if the reward was one of these cars?
While this might be great motivation for some, the reality is you cannot take a universal approach when implementing incentive programs.
People are driven for different reasons. The key to inspiring your sales team to perform is to find out what motivates each team member individually and you might just be surprised to discover what spurs each of your team members to action!
Through our work, we have discovered motivators can be broken down into two categories: extrinsic motivation and intrinsic motivation.
Intrinsic Motivation
This type of motivation provides you with a sense of pride or accomplishment in the work you do that is generated from within. It inspires you to perform because the result is naturally satisfying for you. Practically speaking, here is how that might look:
•You enjoy the feeling of accomplishment when reaching a long-held sales goal.
•You take pride in seeing how you contribute to the overall success of your sales team.
•You get great satisfaction from setting consistently higher sales goals and beating your own record.
Extrinsic Motivation
This type of motivation comes from receiving a tangible reward or prize external to yourself. Because what constitutes extrinsic motivation is virtually limited only by your imagination, we have further broken this down into four categories:
•No dollar amount attached (e.g. positive feedback, unsolicited emails)
•Up to $25.00 (e.g. movie gift cards)
•Up to $250.00 (e.g. gift cards for restaurants or spa treatments, sporting event tickets)
•Up to $1000.00 (e.g. weekend getaway, new wardrobe)
•Unlimited dollar amount (1-month travel overseas, new Mercedes)
In our Sales Coaching for Success program and with our tenured sales teams, we delve into motivation. By asking salespeople to consider and list their intrinsic and extrinsic motivators, it helps to better understand their individual motivation.
In leading your sales team, it is necessary to take the time to find out what motivates each team member and cultivate that.
We have created a fun downloadable worksheet that you can have your sales team complete to determine what motivates them.
Once you know the individual motivators of your sales team, you can tailor incentive programs to the individual rather than taking a one-size-fits-all approach.
This is the key to making incentive programs work for your organization and getting the most from your salespeople.
Once you are armed with this information, you can coach them to go the distance with their sales performance.
What types of incentive programs does your company offer? Share your answer in the comments below.
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.
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Perhaps there is no more dichotomous an aspect to a sales professional’s career than the cold call: it is both largely disliked yet highly effective for growing your business.
The objective is simple enough: reach out and connect with your clients and prospects.
Still, whether it’s an aversion to hearing “no” or sounding like a robot reading from a script, cold calling can send even the most seasoned professional into procrastination-mode.
Stop cold calling! Try warm calling.
If you haven’t heard this term before, warm calling is making contact with someone with whom you have had a previous connection. While some of these connections will be warmer than others, generally speaking, it’s easier to approach a warm prospect than your average cold call prospect.
Approaching selling through meaningful conversations develops trust. It follows, then, that a shared previous experience with a prospect is more likely to give you that immediate rapport you need to make a beneficial connection. However, it would be a mistake to think that it is a done deal for that reason alone.
Nobody likes to be sold to, and you don’t want to turn this warm prospect cold with a bad approach.
What might be a legitimate reason for reaching out to a warm prospect?
Perhaps you make a call that is congratulatory in nature. Have you noticed on social media, or heard through the grapevine, that a warm prospect has received a promotion? Perhaps they moved to a new company or a new city. This is a prime opportunity to learn more information about their position and/or have a business conversation to learn more and help them become successful in their new position.
Everybody loves to feel appreciated. Similar to the congratulatory call, let them know that you appreciated the article they published and found it to be informative. Telling someone how their work impacted you is always a welcomed call to receive. Perhaps you want to thank them for their business. So few people take the time to offer their thanks that they will no doubt be impressed by your words.
Sometimes the reason you might call a warm prospect is just plain practical. Let’s face it; life is busy. A warm prospect might have intended to get back to you and, for whatever reason, they have not. Initiate the follow-up whether it’s on a service standard or an estimate you provided. Whatever the reason you have, they may thank you for taking the proactive approach because it had slipped their mind.
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Here are some ideas of why you might call a warm prospect:
- have a business conversation to better understand their business goals for the year
- call to thank a customer for an order
- set-up a meeting
- follow up on proposals
- call your centres of influence
- check in to see if delivery standards were met
- follow up on customer satisfaction
- tell them about a new product that might be of interest
- invite them to an event
- reach out because you’ve been driving by for months and want to do business with them
- congratulate them on their recent promotion
Viewing your prospect as a reciprocal relationship is the right tone to set from the beginning.
The key is to have conversations with them that are relevant to them – not you! Approach the interaction from a place of how you can best serve them first rather than simply what you will get from the exchange. The difference will come through loud and clear.
With a little nurturing, your warm prospect could turn into one of your biggest clients or best source of referrals.
How do you ensure your connections can be used for warm calling? Let me know in the comments below.
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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.
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Love it or hate it, there’s no getting around it. Prospecting is one of the most effective and fastest methods to grow your business.
It’s also one of the most widely disliked aspects of a sales professional’s career. So how can you make it easier? Stop cold calling and start warm calling with centers of influence and referrals.
As the saying goes, it’s not what you know, it’s who you know. The “who” in this case are your centres of influence.
A centre of influence (COI) is a person, group of people or an organization that increases your access to prospects through referrals and that crucial word-of-mouth testimony.
An introduction to a new prospect from someone within your COI is always preferable to a cold call. This automatically qualifies you as a person to be trusted more than your average cold caller because a respected friend or business colleague has vouched for you.
I’ll admit, I never like to name-drop. But after interviewing several buyers on what’s the most effective way to get their attention to secure a meeting, they all stated that it’s a referral’s name. They are more likely to call you back because they usually respect the name you are referencing to warm up the call.
Another great tip is to reference the COI or referral name at the very beginning of the conversation – even before you begin to tell them who you are and your value. For example, “Good morning Jim, its Lisa Leitch of Teneo Results calling. John Smith of ABC Company suggested I give you a call.” Then pause for them to say something about your COI/referral name.
Where can you easily find COI relationships in your life?
That’s easy; they’re all around you – and increasing every day! So who do you know?
Here are some idea-generating sources:
- Happy customers are your #1 source
- Advisors – who recommends your products & services?
- Linked In – who do you know in your network?
- LinkedIn Navigator – a great tool that tracks your leads easily & systematically
- BNI – Business Network International
- Other associations, networking groups
- Previous employers & colleagues
- Facebook
- Other professionals – accountants, lawyers, architects, bankers, financial advisors
It’s one thing to approach a COI relationship and engage them for a referral, but the challenge is to stay top of mind even when you’re not around to get that referral. Consistently and impartially demonstrating your value is the way to do this. Think of your COI relationships as clients who demand nurturing as you would any other connection in your business.
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Here are a few ways you can nurture your COI relationships:
Create your list – you can always think of at least two to three COI. I’m going to challenge you to create a list of at least 20-30! You’ll be surprised at how quickly you can create this list when you just start searching through your database, LinkedIn and Facebook accounts.
Share Progress – Compile the feedback you receive from clients to create a synopsis of the results they enjoyed from working with you. Share that with your COI relationships on a regular basis, perhaps monthly or quarterly. People in your COI may not always have personal experience with the results you deliver and may not be comfortable referring a person for that reason. Receiving a report regularly from an objective party will go a long way in removing the hesitancy a COI relationship might have when it comes to giving that referral.
Show Appreciation – When a COI relationship provides a referral, express gratitude to that person or organization as soon as possible. Acknowledging their effort, be that in written form or with a small token of appreciation, fosters their willingness for future referrals.
The key to making a COI relationship work is to understand that by giving to them freely and regularly, either through time, information or appreciation, you build trust in those relationships and start to see increased referrals.
How do you nurture your CIO relationships? Let me know in the comments of this blog.[/fusion_builder_column][/fusion_builder_row][/fusion_builder_container]
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.
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There isn’t a more ideal time than now to create a prospecting blitz for the next 75 days to fill your pipeline for a successful sales year.
Just like spring, it’s time to plant the seeds to reap a bumper crop of sales.
It can be hard to kick-start the year and re-set our sales numbers to zero. Most companies are expecting double-digit growth each year. The other reality is at least a few of our customers will not buy from us this year – so we have to find at least a few more companies to replace them. This sounds like a daunting task!
Don’t worry, we’re here to help you make prospecting easier, smarter and even fun!
It’s time for a Prospecting Blitz – here are our 7.5 Strategies to rev up your confidence.
1. Know The Goal & Activities – It’s a Numbers Game!
What is your sales goal for this year? What is your closing ratio? If you don’t know, you can use the average of 25%. For example, if your sales goal is $1,000,000 for this year and you already have $300,000 secured for the year with another $400,000 in your funnel at a 25% closing ratio means you’re at about 40% of your sales goal. What do you need to add to your funnel in this next quarter to have a successful year? If you don’t know where you want to end up, how will you know you’ve reached your destination? Setting your goals and getting clear about your intentions before each call will greatly improve your success rate. Do you wish to speak to three clients a day on the phone? Do you want to set up ten appointments by week’s end? Get clear on what it is you’re attempting to do, quantify the result you’re after, and identify the steps you need to take to get there.
2. Make It Automatic – Block The Best Time & Stick to It!
Unless you commit the time and effort required to reach your goals, it will never happen. This may mean scheduling time each day to make a specific number of calls or setting aside an hour for calling every week.
We’ve noticed that the tipping point for an increase in sales starts to happen when ten calls are consistently made each day. Figure out what you need to do to make it a habit, block it out in your calendar to make it part of your workday and do the work, even when you don’t feel like it.
I’ve discovered Thursday mornings between 7:30am and 8:55am are the best time for me to reach my ideal decision makers, as they are typically in the office early and answer their phones before they begin their 9am meetings. I habitually block Thursday mornings at this time in my calendar as Prospecting Blitz so nothing else gets in the way of this precious prospecting time.
The best times to attempt to reach a prospect are early morning, at lunch or after 5pm because that’s typically when they are at their office and the easiest to reach. If you can’t seem to get through to them, approach one of their colleagues or their assistant to find out the best time to reach out.
3. Create Your Hot List
Creating your list of prospects to call in advance will make it much easier when you make those calls. Go through your database, past clients, tradeshow leads, the stack of business cards on your desk corner or drawer. You’ll be surprised how easy it is to create a hot list of one hundred names. I would highly recommend LinkedIn Navigator as a great tool to find more leads. The Navigator advance option allows you to easily track leads and new accounts. Lastly, remember prospects can be existing clients – different buyers, or divisions. It’s much easier to grow your business with existing clients.
4. Set The Mood – Get In Your Zone!
You know what they say about best-laid plans. Interruptions can happen to the best of us throughout our days. That’s why creating the optimum environment for this task is essential to its success so you can eliminate any opportunity for rationalization to set in. You’ve already blocked the time in your calendar, so you’re halfway there. Now you’ll want to shut the office door, eliminate all interruptions and notifications, close your email and focus on the prospect you want to connect with. Ready, set, go, pick up the phone and start the task at hand.
To help me get in the zone, I always do a great work-out or run in the early morning as my confidence increases. You could also grab your favorite coffee to help you enjoy your prospecting time.
5. Make It Count – Double Whammy
The point of reaching out to prospects is to connect with them, preferably live. If you get their voice mail, leave them a compelling message and then follow it up with an email. Even though they may respond via email, very few people get voice mail and if you’re great at leaving a compelling message, it’ll get noticed. You may also consider a LinkedIn Message as it looks different in one’s inbox and gets a higher response rate than a regular email.
6. Track Your Triumphs
As Sales Professionals, gamifying your prospecting can go a long way towards feeding your competitive streak. Start to log your progress and set aside time every few weeks to review how you’re doing. You won’t know if you’re meeting your goals if you don’t measure the results you’re getting. Make it a habit to record all client activities so you know who returned your phone calls and emails, who you connected with, and identify whether or not that connection generated business for you. Create a solid record-keeping system like a CRM system or a good old spreadsheet where you can easily access the information. Be sure to celebrate your wins. After just a few weeks, you’ll start to see the increase in sales opportunities.
7. Celebrate The Small Stuff
No win is too small to celebrate. When you make a habit of acknowledging your wins, it creates momentum that will encourage you to go further. And don’t forget to share your success with others. When you share your success with others and you share specifically what worked for you, your success can inspire success for the entire team.
Each week, treat yourself by sticking to your commitment of your ten calls every week or even every day. Reward yourself with a great long weekend at the beginning of July for your hard work and commitment.
7.5 – Your Prospecting Attitude
If you feel this is a daunting task and not worth it, Prospecting Procrastination will sink you! You have to find it within yourself to commit to this Prospecting Blitz and you’ll be amazed how you start to attract more opportunities. I’ve been doing this for over 15 years every spring and it works, guaranteed!
Below are strategies that you can use for prospecting to keep you on track. While each of them may seem like common sense, what we have found is rarely are all 7.5 of these strategies common practice. Take a moment and ask yourself right now:
- Do you have clear goals to set you up for sales success for the year?
- Do you have good habits that make your prospecting activities automatic?
- Do you have a Hot List to make those weekly calls easier?
- Do you create the right environment to support your mood to make those calls?
- Do you make every interaction count with phone, emails and LinkedIn?
- Do you track your triumphs?
- Do you celebrate your wins?
- And lastly, the right prospecting attitude will attract more leads & opportunities.
If you turn these 7.5 strategies into habits, you’ll be surpassing your sales goals in no time.
What is your best tip for prospecting that we haven’t mentioned here? Let me know in the comments.
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.
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Are you good enough for your customers? Today’s demanding customers expect more than ever, and in working with many sales reps, I’ve realized that many are frustrated. What had worked for them in the past few years is no longer working to the same degree. They aren’t achieving the same sales results they once did. So, if good is not good enough, what do GREAT sales professionals look like in terms of what they do for their customers?
We’ve recently updated our Good to Great Sales Professional Chart to give you some ideas on how you can better reach – and exceed – your customer’s expectations.
| Good Sales Reps…
(focus on Product & Price Conversations) |
Great Sales Professionals…
(focus on Purposeful Business Conversations) |
| • Know their sales cycle & territory goals & plan |
• Know their customer’s buying cycle & goals, and uses a Strategic Account Plan to support their customer’s success |
| • Prepare for their client meeting in car |
• Prepare for client meetings in advance with a list of questions to ask about their business |
| • Provide product solutions with benefits |
• Recommend business solutions to meet clients’ goals & KPI with ROI |
| • Deliver great service & are responsive |
• Are pro-active, and a valuable resource to build partnerships with both new and existing clients |
| • Find 3 – 5 new customers each year |
• Are disciplined to consistently prospect weekly with a compelling reason/value proposition to meet |
| • Ask more and good questions (extensive) |
• Ask great & tough questions about client business/future |
| • Have good product knowledge & share what’s new |
• Conduct Purposeful Business Conversations to move away from product & price conversations |
I’ll leave you with a question to ponder, and I do hope you take action to answer it. What are 2-3 Good to Great disciplines or habits you are willing to change over the next quarter to become a GREAT high performing sales professional this year?
We want to hear how you are putting these Good to Great guidelines into practice. Share your experiences with us on social media or email us at lisa@teneoresults.com
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.
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I’ve recently experienced what it’s like to be demoted as a customer. I used to receive special-status treatment at the local optometrist office. The doctor and staff always made me feel special when I walked in. They knew my name. They seemed to go out of their way to chat, ask about the kids, and compare notes about being a hockey mom. I could send my teenage daughter after school for an appointment, and they would trust that I’d be in the next day to pay for the services. And the best perk, I could send my husband in, knowing they wouldn’t let him leave with a bad pair glasses!
But here’s the thing that changed. They’ve grown. They have new staff, and apparently, new policies. They no longer know me when I walk in. I am now required to give a credit card prior to taking home sample frames (in the event I don’t return them within 5 business days). They call my house asking for “Mrs. Leach”. It seems I need to re-explain my daughter’s declining vision and why I need to come every three months.
Businesses that are growing experience many growing pains. Management focuses on the nuts and bolts of the operation, such as production, marketing, and sales strategies. The customer experience often gets overlooked. Sure, as a customer, there may be more products from which to choose. There may be more employees to provide service. But how has your company growth affected the customer experience? Are you paying attention to those details that make customers feel special? How are you maintaining customer relationships?
As you navigate future change (or likely current change), put the customer experience at the forefront of your thinking. Think about the customer journey. Develop a cross-organizational strategy, create customer-friendly processes, and equip your teams with the skills and tools to deliver an amazing and special experience.
Angela leads Teneo’s “Customer Conversations” and “Purposeful Sales Strategies” programs. Angela is a dynamic facilitator and trainer helping business teams build an engaging consultative customer service culture. As a Certified Sales Professional, she has earned the Certified Training & Development Professional (CTDP) designation that focuses on training needs assessment, curriculum design, and evaluation. Angela has also earned a Masters Certificate in Adult Training and Development from the Schulich School of Business.
