How many times have you sat through a presentation that bored you to tears?  This is a great opportunity to use this experience to improve your own presentations.  Just what did they do wrong?  Was the content interesting?  Was the person boring?  Here are some tips that you can use to improve your own presentation:

1. Keep to an Agenda - people will only listen to what they want to listen to.
2. Speak clearly - don't mumble and don't be shy, you have only one chance at this and one chance at a first impression.
3. Be concise - don't waffle and make sure the audience understands, if the audience goes to sleep, vary your presentation style to suit.
4. Be interesting - find out about your audience before hand and their level of knowledge, vary your presentation to suit them.
5. Engage the audience - ask the audience a question, get them to put their hand up if they have had that problem themselves and then show them ways to solve their problem.
6. Be memorable - do something different or be someone different so that the audience can remember you in positive ways.
7. Give the audience a hand out to remember you including your contact details.
8. If using powerpoint, don't put too much detail on the overheads, provide the detail in a handout or an email address where they can down-load more information.
9. Practice, practice, practice.
10. Keep to your alloted time.

Please use this information to develop your own fantastic presentation and let me know how you go!

 

The trait of a good manager is their ability to delegate tasks to their team or to outsource.  Knowing how to delegate is not difficult and it can make or break a manager.  Many managers are reluctant to delegate because of their own insecurity.  Some of the typical reasons I hear from managers that don’t delegate are:

• It is done quicker if I do it;
• They will just waste my time asking me how to do it anyway;
• I need it done right the first time; and
• We can’t afford to make mistakes.

Working with many different sales organisations, teams and managers I have found that most of the problems that they face on a regular basis are due to the lack of planning by the sales manager.  As the old adage states, “Fail to Plan, Plan to Fail”. So why don't sales managers plan?

Well over the years of training, my students have given me many reasons why they don’t plan and these are the most common:
•    I don't know how to plan;
•    I don't have the time to plan, I am way too busy;
•    I prefer to be spontaneous and reactive and planning stops me from doing this;
•    I spend so much time addressing problems, I don’t have time to plan; and
•    It isn't part of my job description so why should I do it.

The role of a sales manager is not an easy one and I have seen many fail.  Some have failed because of their own abilities but most have failed due to the company they work for.  So in this article I will outline the top 5 reasons why sales manager fail.  This is not by all means the only reasons but the ones that I have encountered the most over the years of training, coaching and mentoring sales managers.  The list is not in any order.

1.    Promoted to Sales Manager because they are an excellent salesperson - Most organisations have the misconception that if a salesperson is excellent in selling then they should naturally be an excellent Sales Manager.  While some are most aren’t and the end result is that the organisation will lose an excellent salesperson to another company.  In my experience an excellent salesperson should continue to sell because that is what they are good at.  In most circumstances they will normally revert back to selling and neglect the requirements of being a sales manager.  
2.    The sales incentive scheme - How a salesperson is motivated is critical to the success of a sales manager.  If the sales team is not making their sales targets or quotas this is a reflection on the performance of the sales manager.  But how is a sales manager suppose to help his team if the incentive scheme is counter productive.  A good sales incentive scheme is essential to the success of sales managers and their team members.  
3.   Teamwork - As salespeople normally operate as individuals they find it difficult to function as a team.  They will fight for the same opportunities and in some cases they act like children.  It is the responsibility of the sales manager to bring the individuals together and this is possible in many different ways.  
4.    Taking sales from their sales team - Normally a sales manager has been a salesperson in one stage of their career and it is their instinct to try and win business. For some sales managers their ego takes over and they believe that certain opportunities can only be won by them, so they take it away from one of their team members.  This also occurs when the organisation forces their sales managers to have an individual sales quota as well as a team sales quota.  
5.    No training -  In most circumstances sales managers are put into this role with little or no training.  Sales management is not the same as selling and the manager should be trained accordingly.

As you can see, sales managers normally fail due to organisational policies, procedures or lack of training.  It is up to the organisation to ensure the success of their sales managers.  Look out for a future articles on how to bring a sales team together and sales incentive schemes for ideas and techniques.

I have worked with many sales managers over the years and I have noticed that the successful ones have certain attributes, traits and patterns of behaviour.   When coaching or training sales managers I get them to do a self evaluation against these key attributes.  So if you are a sales manager lets see how well you measure up.

1. Lead by example -  Do you dress the way you would expect your team to dress? Do you know your products and services well?  A good sales manager will set a good example because as their leader they demonstrate through their actions what is the correct behaviour.  As they copying you? Look at your behaviour before you criticise your team.   Walk the Walk.
2. A good coach - Do you look at every encounter with your team members as opportunities to help them?  Do you get your team together for training and coaching?  Do you go on sales calls with your team members?  A good sales manager is there for their team to help them through the good and bad.  Each encounter is an opportunity to help them.
3. Understand the team - Does your teams performance reflect on your performance?  Do you know what is expected of your team members in their roles?  A good sales manager is only as good as their team.  If the team is failing then it is a direct reflection on the sales manager.   Know what is expected of each team member and help them achieve their go
4. Continually develop staff - Do you have training sessions?  Do you celebrate wins? Are losses analysed?  These are all aspects of developing your team to be successful.  Encourage your team to grow by providing ongoing training, coaching and mentoring.
5. Determined - What do you do when things don’t work out?  Do you give up or keep on going?  A good sales manager is determined and will not give up.  They understand that times can get tough but with perseverance and determination on doing what must be done, success will come.
6. Teamwork - Does your team work as a team?  Do you get them to do things together?  So many sales managers don’t understand teamwork because sales people normally work on their own.  However a good sales manager will get the team together to work on opportunities, share successes and analyse the losses.  You don’t have a team if they don’t work together.  You are part of the team?
7. Trust - Does your team trust you to do the right thing?  Who is more important, you or the team.  As a leader your team must trust you to support and do the right thing by them.  A good sales manager will go to bat for their team when times are tough and share the rewards when times are good.
8. Respect - Does your team respect you?  What do they do behind your back?  Without the respect of your team you will fail as a sales manager.  They will not listen, perform or do what is expected if they don’t respect you.  They will fail and this will reflect on you.  Earn their respect by helping, supporting and working with them.  Be part of the team.  Remember, you are not better than them because your are the sales manager, you are also a team member with a different role to play.

So how did you go? Most of these are common sense, easy to understand, but they can be difficult to perform.  Successful sales manager are no longer salespeople.  They need to be different to be successful in the role.  
Good Hunting.

Why is it that we have resolutions in the New Year when we should be considering what we need to do throughout the whole year?  I invite you to think about what is important to you and to write goals (not resolutions) that encompass all areas of your life.

1. Develop some goal statements.  That is, what do you want to achieve?  These goal statements must be SMART, that is specific, measurable, attainable, relevant and timely.  For example I want to sell $10,000 in product next month.
2. Consider having goals for different areas of your life, one for personal, one for work, one for health, one for friendship.
3. Let others know about your goal so that you will be more committed to it.  For example, let others know that you plan to lose 20 pounds over the next 12 months, they may help you with it by suggesting that you exercise together or may even have some great low fat recipes.
4. If you are going to give up a habit, replace it with something else.  For example if you are going to give up smoking consider some nicotine substitutes (there are plenty available at the Chemist or drug store).
5. Write down your goal so that you are more committed to it.

Many years ago my wife was studying for an exam and she was drawing these colorful diagrams while reading her notes.  At first they didn’t make much sense to me so I dismissed them thinking she was crazy.  Curiousity got the better of me and later I had to find out more about these crazy looking diagrams so I asked her what she was doing.  She told me she was “Mind Mapping” and she quickly explained how it worked.  It intrigued me and I wanted to know more.

Now I am using Mind Maps all the time to help myself and my clients with projects, coaching, sales proposals and nearly anything that needs clearer thinking.  So what is mind mapping?  Well mind mapping is a tool that engages both your left and right sides of your brain and as a result you actually complete activities more effectively and with better quality.  You basically put your thoughts down in a very effective manner on paper or a computer as a diagram that represents the way you think.   They can be used in many different situations and for many different reasons.  Use them during business meetings, when you study, when you plan or to come up with the most innovating ideas.

From my previous article (Effective Proposals), I outlined the main elements of an effective proposal and the five factors required before you should even consider writing one. Once you have decided that the opportunity is worth investing the time to write a proposal you should consider what type to write. There two main types of sales proposals and the one you choose will depend greatly on your relationship with the customer and the opportunity.

In this article I will address the short letter proposal (less than 5 pages) that is especially used when you already have an existing relationship with your customer and the opportunity can be easily covered. Do not consider using a short letter proposal when you are engaging a new customer.

Following on from my "Effective Articles" and "Effective Short Letter Proposal" this article I will address effective formal proposals (greater than 5 pages) that is especially used when you are engaging a new or potential customer or the opportunity can not be easily covered by the short letter proposal.

Formal Proposal (Greater than 5 pages)

A formal proposal is a full proposal that covers the core elements of Problem, Solution and Value (Effective Articles) in greater detail. The framework outlined below is a typical example of a formal proposal. Keep in mind that this is only a general framework and you will need to adapt it to the sales situation. Do not feel compelled to cover each of the categories, especially if the sale doesn't warrant that much detail.

When you are in a sales situation you may need to prove your case to the decision maker. Precisely what you need to prove will depend greatly on what occurred in your discussions. One way of proving your case is through the presentation of a proposal. Effective proposals persuade and are specific. They cannot be generic and they need to speak to the needs and interests of your specific prospect and not those of average, typical or generalised clients.

Many organisations provide their sales people with proposal templates that have been developed over time and have been rehashed by many different people. This causes the resulting proposal to be dysfunctional, difficult to read and ineffective. Sales Managers need to be aware of this and ensure that their salespeople are not blindly following a template that won't results in sales. I recommend that proposal templates be reviewed on a regular basis to ensure that they remain effective.