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I spend a lot of time on the road with a number of sales teams and I have to tell you… the swagger factor out there in the marketplace is low. That’s right: SWAGGER. That quality of confidence that provides patience in the face of stupidity, no-blink nerve when looking into the eyes of challenge and the slight strut of knowing you’re the best.

As I’m talking to sales leaders in a variety of industries who are absolute best in class and working with top-shelf branded clients, they are still committing these party fouls when approaching new prospects:

• They run test-proof cycles for the most basic products and services.
• They waive engineering, design, drawing, setup and installation fees for first-time buyers on small orders.
• They fulfill tiny initial orders as a way to “prove” themselves.
• They agree to long “try, wait and see” cycles.

Let’s be honest. At least a third of your sales people probably need to go… now.

Why are you holding on to them? Are you scared of their relationships with key clients? Do you feel guilty that you haven’t given them all of the tools, training and attention they needed to be successful? Is the process of hiring new salespeople so painful that you would rather hold on to these people than go look for new ones? All of the above and more?

Never show fear to animals, children or sales people — they can sense weakness and they will take advantage of it.

Let’s get rid of the fears first:

You have more power than you think. Remember “Jerry Maguire?” Jerry gets fired and tries to take all of his clients with him — and almost none go. Why? Sales people have a distorted picture of the power in the relationship they have with customers. Just like Jerry’s boss, all you have to do is pound the phones – you’ll preserve the accounts, take over the relationships and move on. If you don’t have relationships with your company’s key accounts, fix that. Regardless of how good the sales rep is, you’re the CEO and you need to know your company’s key account contacts personally.

Forget about fault. You cannot own the issues of success and failure with your sales person. If he is not hitting his production goals, you don’t “owe it to him” to give him one more chance. If you weren’t good at developing him in the past, you won’t be any better in the future. This just isn’t the place for him to be successful. Let him go bloom in someone else’s garden.

Affection follows performance. Love your producers, loathe the rest. After an appropriate and defined on-boarding period in which you invest heavily in a new sales person, your time and attention should follow the winners. Create a great place with great products and services. Bring on good people, launch them well and then let them run. If they don’t hit their marks according to schedule, part ways.

So how do you know when it’s the right time for a separation? Follow these three steps:

1. Look at the milestones and minefields. From now on, when you hire a new sales person, I want you to draw up an expectations agreement. It’s rather straightforward: Specify what you want by what dates. Break it out into 3-month, 6-month and 12-month milestones. Usually, I like revenue numbers from current clients that they will be managing, new revenue that they are responsible for generating, and some target clients we want to land. Mutually agree upon it and review it at those dates. I don’t know any CEOs in the thousands I have spoken to who lay out a performance expectation agreement with numbers for the first year, which is crazy because it is the most important year in knowing what that person’s future performance will look like.

2. Review two quarters in both directions. After a sales person has been with you for a year, review the last two quarters and the next two quarters on a quarterly basis. It’s a rolling review and keeps your sights on recent performance and near-term performance. Don’t evaluate performance as an “end of the year” event. Don’t evaluate each year with a “clean slate.” Run this rolling evaluation quarterly and you will know your sales person’s real performance.

3. Don’t Be Sold. There is a reason why I advocate an objective sales process: It’s measurable. Sometimes the highest close ratio that sales people have is internally, with you. They convince you that deals which are dead are just about to land, that their pipeline is robust and that the big one is coming in. Are you going to believe someone who’s paid to be persuasive and convincing? Let the numbers do the talking and you won’t go wrong.

I rarely find people who have parted with a sales rep and felt like they did it too soon. We usually hold onto people out of hope and fear. We hope that they will get lucky and land something; we fear that getting rid of them just leads to a risky process of trying to find someone to replace them. I get it. But the real fact is that managing sales people to the numbers and according to the process takes away a lot of the uncertainty.

As to the fears — get over them. You probably need to turn over 20-35 percent of your sales people every 12-18 months. Get used to that idea, build a plan for active recruiting and work it into your leadership and management process.

This post by Tom Searcy was originally published on CBS’s BNET blog.
Date Published: November 16th, 2010
View this blog post on BNET

“He who can destroy a thing, controls a thing.”

- Muad’Dib as quoted in Frank Herbert’s book, Dune

In the 90’s, geeks owned the world. The rise of the uber-nerd was embodied in the power given to all things tech. CIOs and CTOs were included in most high-level decisions and rightfully so- with the installation of enterprise management platforms like ERP, SCM and CRM systems, the point of constraint was with technology. In addition, the promised performance for reducing waste, managing Six-Sigma initiatives, just-in-time inventory models and so on all hinged upon IT people. They were absolutely the most powerful people at the decision-maker’s table.

Things have changed.

It’s now the time of the bean-counters. The finance people have all of the purchase power. To think otherwise is to deny the simple fact that the power to say “no” trumps the power to say “yes.” In the modern complex sale, “no” always wins over “yes” at the final hour of decision-making. The biggest, most powerful “no” out there today comes from the CFO.

An interesting point of reference: Boards of Directors hire 2 people who both report to the Board, the CEO and the CFO. Everyone else in the publicly traded companies reports to one of these two people. The CFO no longer typically reports to the CEO.

For this reason, I advocate starting all large account sales hunts with the strategy for landing the CFO. It does not matter if that is your first point of contact or your last, he or she is the only decision-maker when it comes to signing the deal who will matter. Every other person involved in the process is a preamble.

The language of CFOs is relatively simple. They talk money and safety. When it is time to sell to the CFO, how are you selling money and how much confidence are you giving the CFO that the money will actually show up?  What to talk about is simple. Let’s talk about some of the guidelines of how to talk about it-

Guidelines –

1. You are in court – Just the facts, no hearsay, conjecture or editorializing. If you can’t prove it, consider not bringing it to the conversation or including it in the email.
2. Never represent yourself – Bring your money person with you. Money people speak their own language and what trust they give they are more likely to give to another money person.
3. Make it safe before you make it interesting – The finance people are more concerned with the downside than they are with the upside. What can go wrong, in what ways can results be delayed, are there things that will increase costs and so on are all issues foremost in their minds.
4. Timeline the results and expenses – It’s not just about the totals. How the money moves in the cash flows, the quarterly performance projections and other considerations are important. A CFO once told me, “I’m not worried about what you’re doing as much as I am worried about where it’s going to show up.”  I swear a chill went down my spine when he said it. I understood at that moment that these guys aren’t counting the beans, they’re playing Mancala with them.
5. Have your supporters in the wings – Most of your supporters are hoping that you will win over the finance person, because if they could have they would have. They’ll support you and encourage the finance person to agree to the purchase if it looks like you are winning. You need to keep encouraging those supporters to feed information and support to the finance person through the process.

Old school thinking was that the finance person came last in the sales process and he could be strong-armed by the business unit leaders. Not so anymore. You might as well build your case for the finance person up front, because he or she has all of the decision power.

Let’s be honest. At least a third of your sales people probably need to go… now.

Why are you holding on to them? Are you scared of their relationships with key clients? Do you feel guilty that you haven’t given them all of the tools, training and attention that they needed to be successful? Is the process of hiring new salespeople so painful you would rather hold on to these people than go look for new ones? All of the above and more?

Never show fear to animals, children or sales people- they can sense weakness and they will take advantage of it.

Let’s get rid of the fears first:

You have more power than you think – Remember “Jerry Maguire?” Jerry gets terminated and tries to take all of his clients with him- and almost none go. Why? Sales people and you have a distorted picture of the power in the relationship they have with customers. Just like Jerry’s boss, you pound the phones, you preserve the accounts, take over the relationships and move on. If you don’t know the key relationships with your company’s key accounts, fix that. Regardless of how good the sales rep is, you’re the CEO and you need to know your company’s key account contacts personally.

Forget about fault – You can not own the issues of success and failure with your sales person. Your fault, their fault, no one’s fault- bottom-line is that they are not hitting their production goals- and I don’t care what your wannabe-a-social-worker human resources person says, we don’t “owe it to them” to give them one more chance. If you weren’t good at developing them in the past, you won’t be any better in the future. If our company let them down, we’ll do it again- this just isn’t the place for them to be successful. Let them go bloom in someone else’s garden.

Affection follows performance – Love your producers, loathe the rest. After an appropriate and defined on boarding period in which you invest heavily in a new sales person, your time and attention should follow the winners. We are not the mission, we aren’t trying to save everyone. Create a great place with great products and services. Bring on good people, launch them well and then let them run. If they don’t hit their marks according to schedule, part ways.

When is the right time, when do you know that the appropriate step is separation?

1. Milestones and Minefields – From now on, when you hire a new sales person, I want you to draw up an expectations agreement. It’s rather straightforward- Specify what you want by what dates. Break it out into 3 month, 6 month and 12 month milestones. Usually, I like revenue numbers from current clients that they will be managing, new revenue that they are responsible for generating, and some target clients we want to land. Mutually agree upon it and review it at those dates. I don’t know of any CEOs in the thousands I have spoken with who lays out a performance expectation agreement with numbers for the first year, which is crazy because it is the most important year in knowing what that person’s future performance will look like.
2. 2 Quarters in Both Directions – After a sales person has been with you a year, review the last 2 quarters and the next 2 quarters on a quarterly basis. It’s a rolling review and keeps the sights on recent performance and near-term performance. Don’t evaluate performance as an “end of the year” event. Don’t evaluate each year with a “clean slate.” Run this rolling evaluation quarterly and you will know what the real performance of your sales person is.
3. Don’t Be Sold - There is a reason that I advocate an objective sales process- it’s measurable. Sometimes the highest close ratio that sales people have is internally, with you. Convincing you that deals which are dead are just about to land, that their pipeline is robust and that the big one is coming in. Whose word are you taking….oh, that’s right…someone paid to be persuasive and convincing. Let the numbers do the talking and you won’t go wrong.

I rarely find people who parted with a sales rep who felt like they did it too soon. We usually hold onto people out of hope and fear. Hope that they will get lucky and something will land, fear that if you get rid of them, you have to go through the risky process of finding a new one. I get it. But the real fact is that managing them to the numbers and according to the process takes away a lot of the uncertainty. As to the fears- get over it, you probably need to turn over 20-35% of your sales people every 12-18 months. Get used to that idea, build a plan for active recruiting and work it into your leadership and management process.

When I was a kid, my dad would take each of the kids for one week each summer on the road with him as he was doing his sales trips. My dad was a territory sales rep in Iowa, Nebraska and Kansas. We would ride with him, talk on the CB radio to find out where “smokies” were, (I have already dated myself in a rather sad way), keep track of his appointment book, pull samples for his meetings and so on. We’d get chocolate shakes for lunch and go see movies at the movie theaters in the little towns we’d stay in at night. More often than not, he’d take us in the appointment and get to watch him sell and work with customers. I learned an amazing amount. Like most things you learn when you are a kid, I didn’t have any appreciation for what I was learning until I was much older.

One of the things he taught me was that success in sales is 90% process and 10% magic. “If you work your process, you earn the right to do your magic.” I heard that a thousand times. Nutty thing to say then, now I understand he was brilliant. The point is even more valid when it comes to sales management. Sales management is about process. Process, when done correctly, is boring. The 90% of the time that a sales manager spends on process creates the opportunity for him or her to be magical the 10% when sales leadership is necessary. This week I want to talk about the 90% process, next week I’ll talk about the 10% magic.

How to Manage Sales People
The first thing I want to say is that management and leadership in the role of sales are not the same thing. Different goals, different skills and different muscles.  For sales management, I believe you are working on the execution of a process. Think of it like manufacturing. There is a design and engineering phase and then there is a production phase. The production phase is about efficiency and quality control. Sales management is what happens in the production phase of sales. To successfully manage sales people during this production phase I recommend the following:

1. Drive to a Step Process - Just like manufacturing, when you go to production, you set up a series of linked processes. In each process there are requirements to be completed in one step before you can go to the next step. Sales management’s role is to ensure that we are following the process and that this execution is efficient and meets quality standards.
2. Only Focus on the Gaps - It is tempting to try to armchair quarterback every deal in a weekly meeting with sales people. Don’t. The sales management process should be pointing out gaps in either the information that is supposed to be gathered in a particular step of the sales process, the people who are engaged or how long that step is taking in comparison to your expectations. Focus on just those gaps. If there are no gaps, then the process is working. Focus on only those accounts with gaps.
3. Compliance and Coaching Are Different - Coaching to solve gaps is a different exercise than ensuring that the machine is working. If you are brainstorming a solution for handling a thorny prospect or a stuck deal, set a separate meeting time. Production discussions are about running the machine, period.
4. Own the Time - Have your sales people bring their calendar with them. Their calendar is not their own, it is yours. Working through the next week or month’s schedule is a part of the meeting. Where will they be next period, are they going the right places with your right expectations, are they visiting to visit or are they advancing the sales process along the steps? These are the questions that sales management must ask as a part of the regular meetings.

Running the Sales Management Machine

1. Meet with sales reps 1:1 - As a sales manager, you have to drive sales process compliance and efficiency rep by rep and account by account. I advocate a 30 minute meeting every week with each rep for whom you are responsible. Set it for the same time every week and run it the same way. I know, it’s not sexy, but it is enormously effective.
2. No group meetings for sales people - There is a self-delusion that sale managers have. This delusion is the belief that sales reps learn from each other as we go through a sales meeting and discuss accounts. The only person learning in a session like that is the one sales person who owns the account. In addition, he or she is usually evasive or defensive when put on the grill in front of his or her counterparts. Group meetings are for product and process education, recognition and market planning.
3. Thirty minute rule - All sales reps have ADHD, (unless they are the one talking), so don’t have long meetings. A simple rule is 30 minutes of prep for you per rep meeting and 30 minutes of meeting with each of them, done every week. If you have 5 reps, that’s 5 hours per week to run the machine. If you run the machine, the machine will run and get better, but it is boring. That’s OK. Run the machine the right way and you get to make more magic, which I’ll talk about next week.
4. Be consistent - If you want to train someone to think like you, ask them the same questions every time and they will soon anticipate your questions. This means that they will prepare to answer your questions and begin to ask those questions of themselves every time. Soon you will have people who think like you. If you play “gotcha” by asking all sorts of different questions, they will give up because they can’t get it right. By working to a process, you can develop your series of management questions. By asking those consistently, you will soon get a group of sales people who are following a consistent process. That’s an efficient machine.
5. Get commitments, take notes - By running this meeting every week, you should be able to implement rigor and impeccable follow-up, which is what is necessary for a good sales process. Take the notes of what is to be done each week by each person and start off the following week with where the person is on their commitments from the prior week. Sounds simple, right? This is one of the biggest mistakes we see- a lack of consistent rigor around commitments.

We have seen as much as a 40% lift in productivity of sales people over a less than 90 day window in the companies who have implemented just this set of practices.

It’s boring, isn’t it? That’s why so few sales managers do it- they want to do the magic and they forget the need for the rigor. You get to do your magic because you earned that right by following your process.

I recently sent this email to the head of sales for a company with whom we did our Accelerator 1.0 program. He is a new “Shaman,” (a little whale hunting speak from my book “Whale Hunting: How to Land Big Sales and Transform Your Company” with Barbara Weaver Smith), and he has decided to change the roles of one of his people to that of a “scout.” A scout gathers information and is the first contact lead qualification and interest generation.

Here’s what I sent:

“As you get started in your first Shaman role over your scout, consider the following:

1. Keep him on a short leash. He needs you to set daily goals on information (dossiers), and eventually people and calls. This isn’t over-management, it is just holding onto the bike while the kid gets used to riding without training wheels.
2. Feed him. You need to be in the media information flow around your key markets. Do a quick Google search every day, and send him an article or a new key word to add. Do something that keeps you connected to leading him in the work he is doing in the market.
3. Take the first hits. If he is going to make his first calls to prospects, make them with him on a conference call. Let him listen to you. He needs to get confidence in this new space.
4. Keep your foot on the gas. At this point, you need to change planning into action, so keep the intensity up of your expectations.
5. Read and react, Manning style. Look at the information you are getting from the process and make the recalibrations to what the market is telling you. Reset the dossier, the script, the benefit language and so on, but wait until after the first quarter to do it. You can’t run one series of plays and think you have it all figured out and blow up the gameplan. Get the data, then recalibrate.

Finally, I’m on your team. All of this is new or newer. Let’s stay connected, especially on the ‘what ifs?’ that invariably come up when implementing new approaches.”

I often see the sales process get stalled out in the scouting process. We build a fantastic sales process, great market message and approach but then no one makes contacts into the market. It’s like leaving a Ferrari in the garage and wondering why you are not enjoying it. (I have a couple of clients who are probably reading this right now and cringing. And yes, I am talking to you. Out of consideration, I won’t name names, but the states are Ohio, DC and California). The easy fall-guy for this situation is the sales person, but the real accountability goes back to leadership and management one-layer up. It is our responsibility to drive the planning into action.

By Tim Searcy

Nothing beats the real world for reminders about sales process challenges. During a recent seminar when I asked people to name members of the Buyer’s Table, a participant chimed in with, “The idiot who thinks he knows everything and for some reason, everyone in the client company listens to him.” Of course, when we push down on this type of person just a little bit, we realize that they are the smartest kid in the remedial class. The rest of the firm turns to the only light of information they have and trust . . . one of their own. As the smartest person the client knows on the topic in question, they are trusted implicitly and completely. For this reason, the one-eyed man in the land of the blind really is king, and we better know what to do about him. We can:

1. Eliminate the expert from consideration. This almost never works unless your champion has always suspected that the expert was not that knowledgeable. Be very careful. An expert enjoys protected class status, and the attempt to eliminate them by showing them up can have consequences. The expert is on site or in the firm, and has relationships both professional and personal. The “nobody picks on my sister but me” mentality can take over and you will be shut out.

2. Ignore the expert. Sometimes this is wisest. Until you know the lay of the land, simply treat the expert as another member of the buyer’s table. Their questions and comment have equal merit and weight as everyone else, BUT NO MORE than anyone else. This play works well if you can keep the expert looking informed but not smart. It is advantageous to agree that the expert from their team in knowledgeable, but that the expertise exists in your team.

3. You can marginalize the expert. This involves creating clear boundaries for where the expert’s knowledge ends. In this way, the individual can feel validated about their knowledge and can even receive compliments from you while at the same time, their potential impact on the overall process can be minimize.

4. Engage the expert. This solution is fraught with peril. To engage the expert is to let their opinion dominate the dialog. Unless the expert is your firm advocate AND clearly has the ear of the polar bear, this individual can become dictatorial from your endorsement of their knowledge. If you choose to engage the expert, you must educate them from their current point of information until they actually do achieve expert status. In this way, you solidify their power base and at the same time make yourself indispensable to their future role.

5. Convert the expert. This strategy is for the expert that has clearly chosen a different solution or has “seen it all”, and just knows that your solution is not going to be effective. Instead of coercion or conversion, it is best to attempt collaboration. In this scenario, bring the expert closer, and ask lots of questions. Provide no statements or rebuttals until all of the thoughts are out on the table. Use questions to encourage the expert to move to your way of thinking.

The experts often rely on their role as expert. They are not easily replaced or eliminated, and although their true knowledge of the subject matter may be limited, their knowledge of the organization is greater than yours. Craft a strategy that puts the expert inside your circle managing the decision making process with you instead of outside your circle directing the process towards you.

I’m working with a team of sales people right now—good sales people—who have one teensy-weensy problem: follow up.

The sales process for all of us includes a large number of transactional communications. They may include coordinating a meeting, securing a key piece of information, getting approval from Procurement or Purchasing, sign-off from a superior, the review of the proposal, signing the contract and so on. Every one of these communications must be completed in order to land the deal. If you participate in the sales process, you understand that rarely have you suffered more indignity or unprofessionalism than in this cycle of unanswered, unreturned or ignored emails, voicemail messages and sent and unsigned documents.  And it’s done WILLINGLY.

I’ve watched frothy-mouthed-screaming-at-officials-soccer-moms, who when faced with following up with a prospect who agreed to an action and hasn’t done it, say “Well, I’ll just give it another week.  I don’t want to be too pushy.”

I’ve seen bar-pounding-get-me-my-beer-now-guys wait for weeks for a response on a proposal. Weeks!

What is the right amount of time to wait before following up with a prospect? Not just any prospect, but a big prospect.  I know that you don’t want to be pushy or desperate.  I get that.  But you also need to keep moving the process along. We are looking for the Goldilocks “just right” level. Here are some pointers before I give you the timing guidelines:

• Ask. My favorite approach came from a guy in Ireland pitching me some commercial real-estate. He said, “Thomas, the line between persistence and annoyance is a fine one, and I wouldn’t want to be crossing it. When should I be getting back to you so I’ll know you’ll be picking up the phone.” In every direct communication, ask when they want to have you get back to them and be specific. “Early next week” is not specific. “Tuesday at 10am” is specific.
• Set expectations. It starts with setting expectations. In voicemails, emails, face to face or by phone, never end the conversation without setting the next time. Tell them when you will be calling or sending an email, specifically.
• Be impeccable. Never miss a time or date. Not by a minute. If you are going to set the time for follow up with precision in your email or voicemail, then you have to hit it. You are creating a perception of attention detail and reliability. Just because they are not impeccable does not give you a pass not to be.
• Allow some leeway. Sometimes, my calls for appointments and follow ups are missed by the person whom I am calling. I leave this message, “I have us scheduled for a meeting today at 9am. I probably just missed you or one of your other meetings is running over. I will call back in 15 minutes to connect. I look forward to our conversation. Thanks.” Then I call back. If I don’t reach the person, my message sounds like this, “I’m sorry we didn’t get connected today, I was looking forward to our conversation. Your day may have just gotten away from you, I know that happens to me sometimes. I’ll call you back at end of day today, say 5:00pm, to reschedule this call. Thanks.”  Don’t wait for a call back or an email.  Keep pressing forward.
• Drive, don’t ride. I don’t expect that people will be calling me back. I’m driving the process, so it’s my job to drive the communication. I am always willing to be surprised in a good way with a responsive person, but my control needs dictate that I can’t be waiting.  I have to drive. How about you?
• Walk away. Like the movie title says, maybe “He’s Just Not That Into You.” At some point, continued follow up is groveling. Don’t grovel. (see Brando Don’t Audition)

If they are not responding, it means that they have moved on. I send an email or leave a voice message that sounds like this:  “I’ve been in this business a long time, and when I stop being able to connect with someone it usually means that the timing for us to work together is not good. This is my last call to you for 6 months. I’ll circle back around then to see if timing is better for us to work together. If something changes for you between now and then, please feel free to call me. “

Having said all of this, here are some guidelines for proper Hunt Big Sales Prospect Follow Up Etiquette:

Prospecting Calls

• 1st Prospecting Call- You can call or email an unresponsive person within 48 hours.
• 2nd Prospecting Call– Within 48 hours of last call
• 3rd Prospecting Call– Within 48 hours of last call
• 4th Prospecting Call– Within 72 hours of last call
• Final Prospecting Call– Within 72 hours of last call

Trade Show Follow-Up – This gets trickier depending upon the volume of contacts.

• Pre-Set Personal meeting – Within 48 hours of trade show closing.
• Good conversation on floor – Within 48 hours of trade show closing
• Passing conversation on floor – Within 72 hours of trade show closing
• Fish bowl business card – Within 7 calendar days of trade show closing
• Prospect listed in program – Do you really have time to chase someone who you never met at the show? Don’t be a psycho stalker. Let it go.

Proposals. Assuming that you are sending a requested proposal, rather than an unsolicited one, your follow-up cycle should be declared in the cover letter. It should be within 24 hours to confirm receipt and distribution if appropriate. The time should be set at that time for a full review of the proposal within 72 hours. The house goes on fire outside of 8 calendar days—you must get connection and confirmation of interest and progress within 8 calendar days or you are dead.

Contracts. Who is driving? You are. Contract cycles within clients are a misty and dark area of the sales process. Lawyers think of themselves in this process as the stewards of their company’s risk, which they probably are. Because of this, they are slow, methodical and indifferent to you. First, get an understanding from your champion how long the cycle usually takes. Cut this time by two-thirds and follow up at the one-third mark in the cycle. Work both the attorney and the champion. Your approach should always be helpful: “What areas are of the most concern in the agreement? Which parts of the agreement are we going to be able to leave the same? How can we help to work through this agreement?”

Getting the prospect’s team to move. Stuck. I hate being stuck. Usually it’s IT, but not always. The process gets tends to get bogged down while your champion of your new client is waiting for someone in his or her organization to do something. Now everybody is waiting. Your follow up here has to be vigorous and consistent but friendly. You are working within 4 hour cycles of commitments. Any time that a time or date has been missed on a commitment, you follow up within 4 hours. If they are not missing commitments, then your follow up is within 1 hour of commitment completion to thank them for completing the commitment. 20 commitments? 20 thank you’s.

Information requests. Use the same guidelines as “Getting the prospect’s team to move.”

Guidelines are not laws.  When in doubt, use your own judgment. Always remember though, YOU ARE DRIVING.

By Tim Searcy

Ahh meetings—those wonderful illusions of productivity, collaboration and focus.  Meetings are the standard reaction to sales management crisis just as running an IV is the standard answer in an emergency room.

OK, you are going to have a meeting because you are in a crisis. What are you going to meet about?

Enthusiastic yelling, leading and hours of meetings will only create the illusion of problem solving.  Instead, you need information.  There are three types of information you have to get a stranglehold on right away in a sales crisis: pipeline, prospects and potential.

1. Pipeline. The pipeline is defined as the list of real opportunities for which you have credible, verifiable information including all of the following:

• Dollars. How big is this, how soon can we see it, and how long will the opportunity continue to pay us and is there a bigger payout later?  But even more important than that is the rock solid assurance that a trigger event has occurred that will make certain this deal happens, and an unshakeable knowledge that a budget of sufficient size has been allocated to do the work. Without these, the dollars are dreams, not dollars.
• Dates. When the deal is going to close is less relevant than when it will bill.  More importantly, what control do we have on moving the dates forward versus waiting for things to happen?  Sometimes a prospect will make accommodation or we can directly impact how quickly actions can take place by what we do.
• Decision Making. You have to know the criteria upon which the awarding of the work will pivot.  If we don’t know how the fears that the deal will alleviate in the client’s mind, we don’t know enough to win.
• Decision Makers. Is the economic buyer involved and have we personally engaged with them yet?   What do we know about these people as individuals, and what research do we have on them and their history in decision making?  Again, do we know what has triggered the choice to change providers or move outside?

The goal of the pipeline information analysis is to trim down the pipeline to a 30-60 day action cycle. Clean out everything that does not provide the information you need, set it aside for reconnaissance work and now focus on the remaining pipeline over which planning and energy can have impact.

2. Prospects. What if your remaining pipeline is ‘thin’? The crisis may not be able to be addressed with the opportunities in the pipeline even if we close at a slightly higher rate than we have in the past.  We have to look above the pipeline to find out where we can hope to see more opportunities.

• Source. Often a crisis is at least in part about our own expenses. As a sales leader, you will be asked to address things like trade shows, advertising, sponsorships, client gifts and T &E.  You need to have a great sense of where your best leads are coming from.  In a crisis, there is nothing you have to do.
• Rate of flow. What is the pace of demand generation and does it have seasonality?  Trade show season is often touted as the best time to get new leads.  However, every marketing activity has a lifecycle, and someone needs to work through a calendar to give you an expected number of leads for each cycle.  Then you need to determine if the lead flow will be sufficient, and if not, what expense trade offs are you willing to make to gain a greater or different yield of leads.
• Distribution. This is no time to play fair.  If you have been using a standard distribution of leads to sales people, you need to rethink this.  In a time of crisis, you need your best people chasing the best opportunities.  Crisis by its nature means you will have to sacrifice something, and unfortunately the feelings of your less productive salespeople may need to be ignored.

These steps are all valid if the pipeline is too small to overcome the gap that is creating the crisis. If you have a big enough pipeline, however, WORK THE PIPELINE and leave the fresh prospecting efforts until you have exhausted the pipeline.

3.    Potential from current clients. Often the place we go first is our current clients.  We know them, and they know us, and it is likely that we are not getting all the business from them that we should.

• Current status. With which clients are we currently in good standing?  This is not the time to chase someone who is angry at us to ask for more business.  As a sales leader, it will require nerves of steel to face down an owner or boss and say “No, it is not time to ask for more business from this client, because they are already on the edge of firing us.”  I have seen many organizations in which the CEO is completely unaware of the current relationship challenges and the severity of those challenges.
• State of Triggers. It is very difficult to pull a trigger that is not there.  We have to assess whether we have a good story other than our need for why we should be getting more business from a current client.  If the client does not have their own rationale for giving you more, you will need to take one with you.  Ask yourself, “What problem do I solve for my client or fear do I alleviate for them when they give me more business?”  Conversely, you need to assess what problems or fears you create when they give you more business.

With this information, you can begin to make the most important decision any leader can make: what not to focus on.  That’s right, this is a reductive process.  Get rid of the lower impact items and drive the things you can manage like a ten penny nail (That means really, really hard!)  Many times, the answers you get from your investigation will drop that pit in your stomach to depths you had not realized existed.  However, from real truth comes real change.  You need to design a plan that takes into account Pareto’s law, and focus on the 20% that can give you the 80% you have to have to get out of the crisis.