Those "Ah-Ha" Moments As A Sales Leader
One time someone asked me what were those "ah-ha" moments I experienced as a new region sales leader. I thought about it for a while and shared these three examples.
1) Understanding that "performance is progressive" was an "ah-ha moment" for me. In other words, recognizing what was good enough last week, last month and last year won't be good enough going forward if you sales team is going to increase their performance and contributions to the company's success.
Companies expect their people to grow and develop year after year. As they gain knowledge and experience the company expects more and better results. Simply put, a Sales Leader must instill the desire in each of his/her direct reports to focus on year over year performance improvement and then drive that sales person to those new levels.
Think about your role and responsibility in the area of "teaching" in everything that you do...use emails, voicemails, region meetings and spend time when you make calls with your ASMs to share best practices and coach your people on sales tactics and behavior that will make them more professional, more productive and more successful. Reality; when your sales people grow and develop so does our company's revenue and profits.
2) "Activity does not equal accomplishment", was another "ah-ha" moment for me. In other words, you need to make sure your team "is all about results not the amount of their activity".
Let me give you an example...sometimes a Sales Leader might direct his/her ASMs to make five calls a week on a certain type of customer. That is describing "activity" expectations but it is not establishing or defining expected results.
Bottom line, as the Sales Leader, you need to be crystal clear on your requests and the direction you provide...when you do, you will ensure your team understands the results you expect. If you are not clear, there is a chance they will focus on activity and not accomplishments and we all know that probably won't result in the revenue and profit growth the company needs.
3) "2 + 2 does not always equal 4" was one more "ah-ha" moment. The thing that you have to realize as a Sales Leader is this...your company can have the most wonderful, comprehensive and "can't miss" price, product, service and quality package in the industry and still not get the order!
The reason why? It is because there is a "history" at every account and that history is an important factor in the customer's sourcing decision.
For example, maybe your competitor took better care of your customer than your company did in periods of tight supply. Maybe they loaned the customer money at some point in time, or gave them extended terms, or allowed them to expand to different parts of the country when your company wouldn't.
The message is this...if you and your team don't understand the history at each account you can't shape your value proposition to address what is really important to the customer. Insisting that your people know the history (defined as: the behavior of your competitors and your company over time) of the customers they serve is fundamental to your sales person and your company's sales success.
1) Understanding that "performance is progressive" was an "ah-ha moment" for me. In other words, recognizing what was good enough last week, last month and last year won't be good enough going forward if you sales team is going to increase their performance and contributions to the company's success.
Companies expect their people to grow and develop year after year. As they gain knowledge and experience the company expects more and better results. Simply put, a Sales Leader must instill the desire in each of his/her direct reports to focus on year over year performance improvement and then drive that sales person to those new levels.
Think about your role and responsibility in the area of "teaching" in everything that you do...use emails, voicemails, region meetings and spend time when you make calls with your ASMs to share best practices and coach your people on sales tactics and behavior that will make them more professional, more productive and more successful. Reality; when your sales people grow and develop so does our company's revenue and profits.
2) "Activity does not equal accomplishment", was another "ah-ha" moment for me. In other words, you need to make sure your team "is all about results not the amount of their activity".
Let me give you an example...sometimes a Sales Leader might direct his/her ASMs to make five calls a week on a certain type of customer. That is describing "activity" expectations but it is not establishing or defining expected results.
Bottom line, as the Sales Leader, you need to be crystal clear on your requests and the direction you provide...when you do, you will ensure your team understands the results you expect. If you are not clear, there is a chance they will focus on activity and not accomplishments and we all know that probably won't result in the revenue and profit growth the company needs.
3) "2 + 2 does not always equal 4" was one more "ah-ha" moment. The thing that you have to realize as a Sales Leader is this...your company can have the most wonderful, comprehensive and "can't miss" price, product, service and quality package in the industry and still not get the order!
The reason why? It is because there is a "history" at every account and that history is an important factor in the customer's sourcing decision.
For example, maybe your competitor took better care of your customer than your company did in periods of tight supply. Maybe they loaned the customer money at some point in time, or gave them extended terms, or allowed them to expand to different parts of the country when your company wouldn't.
The message is this...if you and your team don't understand the history at each account you can't shape your value proposition to address what is really important to the customer. Insisting that your people know the history (defined as: the behavior of your competitors and your company over time) of the customers they serve is fundamental to your sales person and your company's sales success.
One time someone asked me what were those "ah-ha" moments I experienced as a new region sales leader. I thought about it for a while and shared these three examples.
1) Understanding that "performance is progressive" was an "ah-ha moment" for me. In other words, recognizing what was good enough last week, last month and last year won't be good enough going forward if you sales team is going to increase their performance and contributions to the company's success.
Companies expect their people to grow and develop year after year. As they gain knowledge and experience the company expects more and better results. Simply put, a Sales Leader must instill the desire in each of his/her direct reports to focus on year over year performance improvement and then drive that sales person to those new levels.
Think about your role and responsibility in the area of "teaching" in everything that you do...use emails, voicemails, region meetings and spend time when you make calls with your ASMs to share best practices and coach your people on sales tactics and behavior that will make them more professional, more productive and more successful. Reality; when your sales people grow and develop so does our company's revenue and profits.
2) "Activity does not equal accomplishment", was another "ah-ha" moment for me. In other words, you need to make sure your team "is all about results not the amount of their activity".
Let me give you an example...sometimes a Sales Leader might direct his/her ASMs to make five calls a week on a certain type of customer. That is describing "activity" expectations but it is not establishing or defining expected results.
Bottom line, as the Sales Leader, you need to be crystal clear on your requests and the direction you provide...when you do, you will ensure your team understands the results you expect. If you are not clear, there is a chance they will focus on activity and not accomplishments and we all know that probably won't result in the revenue and profit growth the company needs.
3) "2 + 2 does not always equal 4" was one more "ah-ha" moment. The thing that you have to realize as a Sales Leader is this...your company can have the most wonderful, comprehensive and "can't miss" price, product, service and quality package in the industry and still not get the order!
The reason why? It is because there is a "history" at every account and that history is an important factor in the customer's sourcing decision.
For example, maybe your competitor took better care of your customer than your company did in periods of tight supply. Maybe they loaned the customer money at some point in time, or gave them extended terms, or allowed them to expand to different parts of the country when your company wouldn't.
The message is this...if you and your team don't understand the history at each account you can't shape your value proposition to address what is really important to the customer. Insisting that your people know the history (defined as: the behavior of your competitors and your company over time) of the customers they serve is fundamental to your sales person and your company's sales success.
1) Understanding that "performance is progressive" was an "ah-ha moment" for me. In other words, recognizing what was good enough last week, last month and last year won't be good enough going forward if you sales team is going to increase their performance and contributions to the company's success.
Companies expect their people to grow and develop year after year. As they gain knowledge and experience the company expects more and better results. Simply put, a Sales Leader must instill the desire in each of his/her direct reports to focus on year over year performance improvement and then drive that sales person to those new levels.
Think about your role and responsibility in the area of "teaching" in everything that you do...use emails, voicemails, region meetings and spend time when you make calls with your ASMs to share best practices and coach your people on sales tactics and behavior that will make them more professional, more productive and more successful. Reality; when your sales people grow and develop so does our company's revenue and profits.
2) "Activity does not equal accomplishment", was another "ah-ha" moment for me. In other words, you need to make sure your team "is all about results not the amount of their activity".
Let me give you an example...sometimes a Sales Leader might direct his/her ASMs to make five calls a week on a certain type of customer. That is describing "activity" expectations but it is not establishing or defining expected results.
Bottom line, as the Sales Leader, you need to be crystal clear on your requests and the direction you provide...when you do, you will ensure your team understands the results you expect. If you are not clear, there is a chance they will focus on activity and not accomplishments and we all know that probably won't result in the revenue and profit growth the company needs.
3) "2 + 2 does not always equal 4" was one more "ah-ha" moment. The thing that you have to realize as a Sales Leader is this...your company can have the most wonderful, comprehensive and "can't miss" price, product, service and quality package in the industry and still not get the order!
The reason why? It is because there is a "history" at every account and that history is an important factor in the customer's sourcing decision.
For example, maybe your competitor took better care of your customer than your company did in periods of tight supply. Maybe they loaned the customer money at some point in time, or gave them extended terms, or allowed them to expand to different parts of the country when your company wouldn't.
The message is this...if you and your team don't understand the history at each account you can't shape your value proposition to address what is really important to the customer. Insisting that your people know the history (defined as: the behavior of your competitors and your company over time) of the customers they serve is fundamental to your sales person and your company's sales success.
posted by zzzzzzzzzzz at
3:11 AM
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