An Important Question

There is an important question that owners and sales manager’s in a successful contracting business ask themselves before engaging in training, coaching or accountability activities.

Here is that question…

“Do I have the right person?”

The difference between mediocre and champion caliber sales managers lies in their willingness to ask this question of every employee, themselves included at any time. The mediocre manager falls in love with the personality of the people they manage and assumes things will turn around eventually.

The winning manager never assumes that the person who they manage hasn’t changed to the point where they might not be a fit with the team any longer. In essence they are asking if the employee is capable of performing the skills and techniques that make up their sales system. Furthermore, if they do have those skills are they willing to take action by using them with a potential buyer?

Always Hiring

When should sales managers start to recruit and hire new salespeople?  You should always be looking for new winning players to add to their team. Only the mediocre or poor sales manager begins to look for top performers after a sales person quits or is fired. In any sales team there are perennial strugglers who never seem to get over the hump. The job of a winning sales manager is to continually take a hard look at their people and continually look for the best possible sales person to put on the team.

No Pressure, No Sales

You may think that you will lose sales people if you put too much pressure on them to meet their goals. The top managers are not afraid of excellence. In fact they expect it from every member of their team and challenge them every day. There are those that respond to this slight pressure by concentrating more and those who quit under pressure. Who do you want in front of your buyer during a tough negotiation?

The internal pressure exerted on the team is the energy that pushes people to compete. Without this pressure, the results are poor, nothing would ever change. Sales people tend to find an economic comfort zone and turn poor performance into a routine. Basically this means that no matter what goals you set for your people, they will adjust their lifestyle to match their income and continue to under-perform unless the sales manager challenges the status quo.

What Are We Looking For?

When hiring your winning team, you must look for the “markers” that are the make-up of heavy hitters. Here is a list of the “16 DNA markers” that the winning manager uses to evaluate new or existing talent on the sales force. Under each marker is a question that can be asked to reveal if the current or potential sales person is in alignment with them.

1. Has Concrete Goals
a. What income do you want to make yearly?
b. How will your lifestyle change 5 years from now if you did earn more?

2. Has a Sales System
a. What is your game plan for your first visit with a buyer?
b. What questions would you ask them?

3. Takes Responsibility For Results
a. When you lose a sale what is usually the reason?
b. How does the economy affect your ability to sell?

4. High Self Confidence
a. Why should I hire you/
b. Why do you want this job?

5. Stays Detached
a. How do you feel when your price is higher than competitors?
b. At what point do you give up on a sale?

6. Emotionally Balanced
a. How many relationships have you maintained with your friends?
b. Are your solutions weighted more towards technical engineering or people?

7. Responds To Rejection
a. How do you feel when a customer tells you no?
b. How do you respond to common “think it over” objections?

8. Money/Value Belief
a. How do you purchase things for your family
b. How do you feel about someone who spends more for something?

9. Not Sold On Objections
a. How do handle price objections?
b. Do you think that a “think it over” objection is valid?

10. Works On Referrals
a. What percentage of sales leads do expect yourself to bring in?
b. How do you ask people for referrals?

11. Sells To The Right People
a. When do you decide to make a presentation?
b. Will you present solutions if decision makers are not present?

12. Good Listener
a. What percentage of your call is talking and selling versus asking questions?
b. What percentage of the call should you spend talking?

13. Connects With Buyer
a. What is essential to learn about the buyer before making solutions?
b. How does the ability to connect with buyers impact their solutions?

Controlling Toxic Behavior

In this day and age of hundreds of TV channels to watch as well as internet videos, I have found a particular show that I run across every now and then. I must say that this television series really fascinates my wife Julie and I.  The show that I am talking about is called the “Dog Whisperer” and it features a gentleman whose name is Cesar Millan. This man who has a such a “magic touch” with our canine friends came, from humble beginnings growing up in Mexico before he eventually transformed into the mega-star he is today.  He counts people like Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith as some of his closest friends.

Each week Cesar faces a seemingly out of control dog whose owners have given up on trying to train their pet and cannot cope any longer with this “toxic” behavior.  These dogs are driving every one crazy, except one person.  An that person is Cesar.

Never Uses Force

His techniques to tame these wild and dangerous beasts never include force.  Instead, his amazing arsenal utilizes principles such as leadership, positive energy, relationships, self-discipline and change. It is truly amazing to see the difference he makes in the lives of those he touches.  He basically helps these dogs feel like a productive member of their family by giving them responsibilities.

I am drawn in by the calm and poise that Cesar maintains in the face of what seems like insurmountable problems that we have all seen in dogs that appear so mad and angry and that tend to do the wrong thing. His amazing arsenal utilizes things like “Giving the dog a job” or “Walking in front of the dog at all times.”  It is truly amazing the difference and the transformation he makes in the lives of those he touches.

Sales Pros Could “Whisper” Too

As a sales manager or a sales person you could learn from watching Cesar and the way he goes about his job. Every week like you, Cesar helps his people (dog owners) overcome their greatest challenges by helping them and their pets find their true potential. He does this not by force, but instead by helping our canine friends “discover” the right thing to do to become the dog they were always meant to be.

As he says at the beginning of each show, he “rehabilitates dogs” and “trains people”. While his approach is meant exclusively for dogs, I have found a lot of his philosophy applies very well to sales people. You will never succeed by forcing anything but by discovering the right thing to do. Here are some of the principle I have “discovered” in his system that may help you reach your dreams.

1. Be calm, poised and assert positive energy.

Cesar tells his clients to establish a leadership role with their dogs by projecting states of both calmness and assertiveness. As a salesperson, no matter how your customer is behaving, you must remain dettached, calm and maintain your poise.

After all you have seen this situation before haven’t you? Why be shocked by what clients are doing to you. Just stay calm and respond assertively and keep your poise. Maintain these states no matter what the situation and problem, customer behaviors “miraculously” evaporate. It’s what we all know to be true: Change yourself and those around you will change too. When you give off a aura confidence and capability, people will tend to go with the flow since you seem so consistent and in control.

2. Live in the state of NOW.

Like dogs, you too can live in the moment. Apparently, dogs don’t care about what happened yesterday. Every day represents a fresh start. Don’t worry things in the past because you cannot control those things any longer. If you keep focusing on bad things that you think are about to happen then you create a self fulfilling prophecy which will indeed make those things come true.

Instead, forget the past, and be like the person who remains focused on getting this job and what it will take to do just that. They key is to listen, and then have a response that makes sense as to why you should do this job. Think in terms of the present and the future and you are well on your way.

3. Practice every day, discipline and passion.

This is Cesar’s secret formula for a balanced, healthy dog. He realized along time ago that a dog without a job is an unhappy one that will act out in terrible and unproductive ways. I would say the same applies to sales people. Remember to never think you are failing. If you lost a job, learn from it and get back home later and practice the technique that will stop the bleeding. Practicing your sales skills, techniques and strategies will release frustration and stress. Have the self-discipline necessary to achieve your greatest potential.

What Is Your Passion To Help Your Team?

Reflect on your passion for doing this work of providing solutions to your customers that are higher quality than your competitor. If you have the passion to think that you are a better choice for your customer then you will hang in there during the toughest objections and get the job when others with less passion would have quit.

Watch the Dog Whisperer on the National Geographic Channel. Watch how the principle of what this show can do for your sales. The one lesson I know you will be amazed at is that even an old dog can learn new tricks.

My First Day At Work

Ah my first day at a new job.  You breathe in and inhale all of the possibilities.  Everyone in your family is excited about your prospects at your new place of employment.  Even your Mom said how proud she was about you landing work so you could provide as everyone should for your spouse and kids.  You think to yourself, “I wonder what the company is like? Will they go over the company system of paperwork? Maybe show me how they want me to sell their services. Who knows? Maybe they’ll even throw a “Welcome to the Company” party for me.  The excitement is so great you can hardly sleep the night before your first day…

Just heard today from a contractor who had the dubious experience of hiring a new service tech. The above was probably what the newly hired person was dreaming BEFORE he came to work.  After all, do we ever start a new job thinking, “This place will probably suck!”  Not at all. Every company is envisioned as a great place to work be fore we begin to work there and then REALITY happens… OUCH!

Why Did He Quit?

In the case of this company the newly hired Tech went through company training on his first day and then on the second day, he turned in his keys and quit.  The contractor, owner called me flabbergasted at this development. “Why did he quit without saying a word?” the contractor asked me.

Well if we can all assume that my description of the anticipation people have BEFORE they come to work for your company is correct, then the answer obviously lies within what happened on the first day. I asked the contractor, “What did this tech do on the first day?”  He told me that he was too busy to talk with him and therefore skipped the planned morning training session.  Instead he gave the newbie the keys to a truck that was recently occupied by a tech who was fired last week.

Technician Or Janitor?

He told him to clean it up and restock it. From that, I knew the answer was clear. Nobody likes to clean up somebody else’s mess.  No there was no welcome party, just go clean a van that was trashed by an employee who had disrespect for the company. If your first day amounts to doing an autopsy on the truck given to you by the last guy who just left, you can imagine what impression the condition of this truck left on him. He probably thought that if a company can let a truck get this out of control to this degree, then it must not be a very good company.  Rather then argue with the boss on the first day, it is simply easier to quit and go find a place to work that will honor their agreement to make me a tech, not a janitor.

Remember that when you first hire a new employee that the REAL training system is what this employee is observing in terms of how the company looks, how clean it looks and how organized it is. Basically when you tell an employee how important it is to be neat and clean and then fail to follow through with your actions on what your words have promised, it is a let down. Walk the walk don’t just talk the talk.

The Guillotine Or the Rack?

Each week I get several calls from contracting business owners asking for some advice on how to handle a “tough situations” with the employees or customers in their business. Each time I hear about one of these supposedly insurmountable scenarios, I am immediately reminded about a chapter I read awhile ago in a book by author Seth Godin titled, “Small Is the New Big.” In this chapter he simply asks,  “Do you want to face the guillotine? Or do you want to be tortured on the rack?”

I think what he means is pretty clear.  Do you want to encourage bad behavior by your team by tolerating or even rewarding it?  Or do you want to end the torture by solving these problems permanently? For example, how many companies do you know that have a de facto sales manager who instead of being fired for poor performance as a sales person was “kicked up” to management because they simply couldn’t sell?” I know, wipe the AFLAC Duck look off your face and think about the madness that business owners sustain because they lack the courage to act on dysfunction.

Whenever you find yourself solving the same problems over and over, being tortured by having to make “King Solomon” type decisions, you have chosen the rack over the guillotine. Stop the self-flagellation and put an end to the madness.  You dishonor yourself, your family and your company if you allow the SQ (Stupidity Quotient) to peg out at the max.

Here are some examples of what I mean…

SCENARIO #1 – Annoying Sales Guy Is a Paid Audience

This is quite a common scene as it involves a sales person who “hangs out” when it’s slow complaining that there are no calls.  Sitting around doing nothing or going from desk to desk annoying co-workers with his complaining and general sloth.

GUILLOTINE - Confront the salesperson and ask them what they have done to prospect this week. That’s right; a salesperson should be required to provide at least 30% of their own leads through referral follow up or prospecting. In fact, if I was the owner I would require such a person to fill out a log to detail their activities in this area until they started to participate. If they did not fill out the log each week, they would not get any calls until it was filled out.

THE RACK - Commiserate with the salesperson and agree with him that people never buy things around the holidays. (Which by the way there is one every month)  This then results in paying the salesperson some sort of salary or loan for way too long.  You do this until it drags on long enough and just before busy season, he quits. When it hurts the most. Your people are the solution to you getting more work. Not the problem. Don’t suffer this torture on the “rack.”

SCENARIO #2 – The Under-performing Service Tech

In this scene we have a new or old tech of your who has demanded and received a pay raise and then starts to under perform because complacency has set in.

GUILLOTINE - You put him on “intensive care” for two weeks. You let him know what the minimum that you expect from him on each call. In fact, you tell him that he is to call you BEFORE he leaves each call for the next two weeks to see if you can help him get back to minimum performance standards.

At the end of the two weeks, you two will meet again to check the progress. You ask him, “What should we do if you show no improvement in two weeks?” Let him name his punishment. (It will probably be worse than what you would do) Let him know that you CANNOT go forward without a certain minimum revenue for the truck to roll.

THE RACK - You look at the revenue numbers versus the company field payroll and you just about do a Danny Thomas “spit-take.” (Spray your first sip of your morning coffee out on the desk) You go around asking all the internal people for the tickets from the worst performing tech and you simply cannot believe it. You rant around the office for a couple of hours longer and then take an early lunch.

You feel that “now is not a good time” to confront this tech because it is starting to get very busy. Next week after a record cold wave hits the area you look at the revenue numbers for the tech in question and you just about faint as they are now even lower. Meanwhile, 3 weeks have gone on since you noticed this trend. You finally confront the tech and he is shocked that you haven’t told him sooner. He agrees to improve but doesn’t tell you how. Next week at the middle of a sub-zero cold snap when he is on-call, he of course quits. Oh the torture!

Choose the Guillotine

Given the choice, I would always face the guillotine in making tough decisions. Think about how hard it is to watch your favorite team when the coach is indecisive. Challenge your people to be successful and they will. Letting things go will only make it harder to face the inevitable.

“Tired” Of Being The Boss

I know I may be dating myself but I remember an old Randy Newman song called “My Life” in which Randy in the song, speaking in the voice of Bruce Springsteen utters these words that still ring in my ears. He sang, “Randy, I’m tired of being the boss. Can you be the boss for awhile?”

Being the boss is difficult and especially so regarding managing sales people or front-line employees who have been given the chore of listening to customer problems that clients have and then selling the solutions.  Of course in the service world, problems are just opportunities to serve.

Over the years I have observed a few characteristics of the mediocre sales manager.  These people are definitely “tired” of being the boss and it shows through their ineffective styles of management which leads to poor results by their people.  Here we begin to explore why these managers are so tired.

Mediocre Managers Are Delusional

The most common mistake that poor managers make is to over-value their team. Vince Lombardi once said that winning a championship begins with the willingness to take a hard look at your team and find your weaknesses before your opponent does.  The same principle is true when trying to build a winning sales and service team.

Looking at the following simple management continuum you can begin to see the weaknesses of today’s managers. This process is timeless because it always works when you honor it. The fundamental cycle of successful management is disarmingly easy:

1. Hiring the Right People
2. Training Them To Be a Winner
3. Coach Them To Stay On Course
4. Hold Them Accountable

Many sales managers are deluded into thinking that they have the right people and rarely question it because they fall in love with their team.  They let the social pressure of friendship win over demanding results.  Accountability or lack of it, is usually a pathetic byproduct because most manage in fear of losing the mediocre performer rather than in coaching or removing them.

The Simplified People Test

Here is a simple test if you think you have the right people working for you.  Next time you walk by the under-performing employee ask yourself if they are worth your time to coach them.  If you look at that person and say to yourself, “I’ve tried everything, they will never change.” Then you have your answer.  Deep inside you know you have the wrong person. The next step is to take action to either coach or remove the employee and find another who will grab the opportunity to succeed.

However, if you think you as a manger may have fallen short in one of the area of education such as training or coaching, then by all means step in a help save the person before it is too late.

Watch this funny video about a sales manager who is trying to describe the most important aspects of selling his service. Although it is hilarious. I think many sales managers can find some of themselves here.

The Problem of Turnover

One of the first questions I always ask new clients who are struggling to get control of their salespeople and increase their results is a very easy one to answer.  Here is the question…

“Of the last 10 salespeople to leave, how many of them quit and how many were dismissed or as I like to say “de-hired?”

When I listen to sales managers answer that question, I don’t only listen for the words they tell me but also watch how hard it is for them to access this information. If a sales manager takes a long time to answer because they can’t remember the last time a sales person left the company, I know they have a turn-over problem. Not enough, turn-over that is.

Accountability For Results

That problem in this case is that when there is not enough turn-over, a company struggles to maintain a successful selling culture or mindset. This means that accountability is poor and that employees feel as if the job they have is theirs for as long as they want to stay. On a championship caliber team, rosters spots have to earned and are not a given.

Here is a matrix of possible answers to the above question and what the hidden meaning is for struggling sales teams…

1. No one ever leaves

     a. Means that salespeople are “milking it.”

     b. Job is a birthright – tail wagging the dog.

2. Most sales people quit

     a. Coaching and feedback is poor or non-existent

     b. Sales system is poor or not being followed

3. Most sales people are fired

     a. Hiring and recruiting system is poor

     b. Too involved with statistical analysis and not improvement

4. Can’t remember

     a. Sales manager is living in  their own world

     b. Not in touch with his people, doesn’t care, self-centered

I think you get the picture.  The successful sales manager is acutely aware of all of these responses and if they start to feel themselves get drawn toward one of the above responses, they immediately correct the problem.

Take a Hard Look At Your Team

Of course that problem is with them and the way they think. In healthy sales organizations it is well defined as to the amount of top performers, mid range performers and poor performers. As a rule, the bottom 20% is cut from the team every year and replaced with new hopefuls that bring a new chance for improvement.

Inside the Bottle You Can’t Read the Label

One of the biggest problems of sales managers today is their loss of perspective when evaluating their salespeople. They immediately start to make excuses as to why results are poor instead of holding their team accountable.

In essence, the sales manager is sold on the excuses instead of trying to train or coach the sales person on different techniques, styles and methods than the ones that are failing.  Start taking a hard look at yur patterns and never be afraid of the truth. If you do, you are the way to reaching the goals you have.

Your Sales “Boss”

I remember the not so distant “good old days” when I made sure that I was home every Sunday night to watch one of my favorite shows.  You would have to be from Mars to not know of or remember the HBO hit show The Sopranos which featured an inside look at some of the “alleged” New Jersey mob figures.

I know it seems like this is a product of the twisted mind of a sales consultant who has been on the road for a few weeks too long. But one evening while watching a re-run of the show, I began to think hmmm…

What if Tony Soprano was your sales manager ?

I realize that there “Is No Mafia” as every Italian family member has told me so passionately.  I also know that crime doesn’t pay in the long run and by all means I don’t wish to glorify any illegal enterprise, but let’s face facts. Business is business. So in that spirit, let’s think about what would happen if “T” was guiding you on your path to sales success.

I wonder how he would address these sales challenges?

1. Sales Person tells Tony that he lost a sale and that he is depressed. – ” Business is business. ” He would say, ” Feh-get about it ! ” I think he would also add, ” What’s wit you ? Work is no place to get your needs met, so stop your whining and get back to being the earner ( Person who brings the boss the money each week ) you’ve always been for me capisce ? ” ( Do you understand ? )

2. Sales Person Wants Tony To Lower The Price To Get The Job – I think “T” wouldn’t put up with that one for sure. He would probably say something like, ” Whoa, ( The reaction that any guy from New Jersey has when he is surprised by what he hears ) what do you think I am Fort Knox ? Grow some stugots (testicles) and learn how to handle objections before I have some friends of ours ( Other people in the mob ) visit you (Harm you in some way) and take you for a swim. ” ( Throw you in the ocean off the back of my boat “Stugots” with cinder blocks chained around your ankles. )

3. Sales Person Asks For Loan To get Them By Until Next Paycheck – Ouch, I can barely stand to watch this one. ” Hey what are you oobatz ? ( Are you crazy ? ) What am I a shylock ? (Loan shark) Maybe if you wasn’t such a mortadella, (derived from an Italian sausage, meaning a loser. As in ” Guy’s a mortadella. ” ) you could provide for your family by getting some referrals from your customers and stop acting like such a cafone. ” (a peasant or lower-class person)

4. Sales Person Blames Lack of Sales On the Weather – ” This thing of ours ( The business of the mob ) only works if you work it. I don’t care if it’s caldo (cold) or boliente (hot) outside. Stop acting like your mezzo morta (Half dead) and just bring your tribute (The money) in like we agreed or I’m gonna have to lower your points (change your commission percentage) and do some spring cleaning (Get rid of evidence that you ever existed) around here.

Would Tony Soprano Succeed?

Actually, I think Tony would have some good attributes along with his obvious dysfunctions as a manager. His organization values revolve around ” taking care of our own ” which indicates his loyalty to giving people a chance as long as they are loyal and give their best effort.

I think that  Tony understands perfectly clear that even though you may be a ” made man ” that your crew can still make or break you.

Also, Tony would do a great job of delegating responsibility, distancing himself from the action and not meddle in how the sausage gets made just so long as it gets made. In fact he could literally watch the sausage get made as he sat outside the Pork store with Pauly and the gang, but instead he is found sipping a coffee and relaxing while others do the work.

Even though this article was written tongue in cheek, you as an underboss (Sales Manager) can still learn a few lessons.

Remember, col tempo la foglia di gelso diventa seta. ( An old Italian saying meaning, ”Time and patience will change the mulberry leaf into satin.“)

Ciao, ciao for now !