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.

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.

Handling Questions and Objections

Of the many salespeople that I have trained, coached, mentored and managed, nearly all of them failed when handling questions and objections from a decision maker.  This results in salespeople leaving opportunities on the table for their competition to win.  

As this problem was so wide spread, I decided to develop a process that salespeople could easily use to handle questions and objections during a sales call.  This article outlines the process that I have been teaching salespeople for many years and has helped  them unblock and win many sales opportunities.

It is a fact that when selling, most of the time you will hear either “no” or a strong reason why a customer won’t buy when you ask for the order.   But it is also a fact that most of the time, the tough objections or even “no”, are intended to test your capability as a salesperson.

A Decision Maker may be thinking that it is easier to say “no” so not to change the status quo or take a risk.  Additionally, if the salesperson accepts the “no” then they can’t believe very strongly in the product or service they are selling.  If the salesperson is not enthusiastic enough to be willing to fight for the sale then they why should the decision maker buy from them.  

Common objections such as “We can’t afford it” or “We already deal with someone else” may sound like a “no”, but in fact it may be a question in disguise, intended to test you out and see how you can handle it.  Even a determined “NO” may be a subtle way of asking you to provide more reasons to support your offering.  

Some questions and objections can be easily handled especially when they relate to a strong feature of your product or service.  However when handling more difficult questions and objections I train salespeople to use the “SCORE” process.   

“SCORE” is a process consists of:
•    Search
•    Confirm
•    Observe
•    React
•    Exit

So what do each of these mean?

Over the years of working with salespeople I have found that their most common weakness is asking questions. Most sales people are so keen to make the sale they forget to ask the customer what they really want or need. They simply don’t engage the customer and force feed them the products and services in their sales kit.

In most cases the products and services a salesperson is selling are needed or wanted by the customer, but they don’t get the sale. Why? This is simply due to the fact that they haven’t spent the time to find out more about their customer and tie in their products and services to address their pain points.

Don’t ask a question. Don’t get an answer.

Ask the wrong question. Get the wrong answer.

Ask the right question. You: