Sales is a funny thing–we all have to do it at every level no matter what our position yet I find most leaders believe they are not in sales. The truth is any time you want someone to do something, give something or support something, you are selling.
The better you are at understanding the needs of the other person, the better you will be at representing your thoughts and ideas from their perspective, not yours. I love it when I see teams get “it” and suddenly start soaring. Just recently I had a client going through some major changes, as their leaders shifted to “selling” their ideas from the C Level perspective instead of their own, suddenly resources opened and things started getting accomplished.
Another client in commercial real estate, has had their best consecutive years in sales after their team learned how to sell using Outcome Thinking. They have their highest renewal rate with long term clients and their highest acquisition of new clients–all in a time where most companies businesses have been flat.
So stop thinking of “selling” as something you do and instead start realizing it is a way of thinking. If you are always in the mindset of helping others you will begin to see sales in a whole new perspective.
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Outcome Thinking® Solution
How do I help my sales team be more accountable for their quotas?
by Anne Warfield
SITUATION:
I find that we set our quotas, then when I call they tell me all this work they are doing and that they should hit their quota but when the dust finally clears I find they don’t hit their quota. How do I hold them more accountable and how do I sift through the noise to really know what number we will hit?
OTHER PERSON’S PERSPECTIVE:
Your sales team wants to optimistically believe the best. They want to meet their quota and they believe that their optimism is part of their charm. So they will put all open deals on their log sheet as they don’t want to “jinx” them. They don’t see it as not being factual or as misleading you but instead they see it as optimistic.THINKING IT THROUGH USING OUTCOME THINKING®:
You need to keep morale up, keep people thinking of how to make deals happen, while also making sure you know accurately what will or won’t be coming in for deals. You want them to see their deal through the “client’s eyes” and not their own.BEST HANDLED/PHRASED:
In order to get your sales team to ACCURATELY forecast deals you need to have some clear variables in place:1. A clear defined step process that shows what stage a deal is in. This then should also have a timeline that shows by size of deal where it should be and what should be being done at that point. So, for example, a $100,000 deal will close much faster than a $3 million dollar deal so you need steps that fit a quick deal and a longer term relationship deal.
2. Have clear questions you as the sales leader and the sales person can ask that definitely tell you the true status of a deal.
3. A defined timeline when deals “fall off” or can no longer be counted as in the pipeline. They can pop back on later when they have progressed to a new stage of development and at that time you can count them back in the pipeline. This will stop sales people from having overly large “false” pipelines.
I find that if a sales person can’t tell you clearly how the decision will be made, by whom the decision will be made and what could kill the deal, they really don’t have a deal.
Deal of the Month!
How to Open Doors and Close More Sales
This question and answer style book includes valuable How To’s for the sales professional
How do you develop a follow-up plan that confirms that a session accomplished what it was supposed to?
In a meeting with a sales prospect, you want to close by recapping what was agreed on, what the next steps are, and how you will follow up. Most sales people miss the opportunity to find out from the client how they want you to follow up with them. Some prefer phone calls and some prefer e-mails. If you find out in the meeting exactly how to follow up with them, and agree on when, then you are not pestering the client.
Make sure you have included all the decision makers if you set another meeting! Notice how we went from a mild follow up of, “Sure, I’ll send you information,” to a closing situation where you get in front of the decision-makers. The worst thing you can ever do is to merely send a proposal and hope and pray that they buy from you.
Click here to register for the “Successful Communication, Brain Style Analysis” Virtual Training, a 90 minute training session with a personalized Outcome Thinking® Communication Assessment included, that you can now watch anytime that is convenient for you.
Quoteable Quotes
“Selling is helping to create a better future.”
Influence: Have You Heard This One…
Remember as a child when you ran out of the house in the middle of winter and your parents yelled out, “Put your hat on!” Of course, I was one of those children that was wrapped so tight with a scarf around my forehead, mouth and nose so all you saw was a slit of eyes and puff ball coming at you. My Mom was going to make sure ALL the heat stayed in!!
I remember hearing over and over the fact that you lose 70% of your heat from the top of your head so you need to keep it covered. This fact was used to influence people all around the globe to wear hats.
“I did not put together a Roadmap to engage the audience nor did I have a goal or outcome when I would present at a meeting.
Now with Outcome Thinking® my presentation is more clear and positive. I will be able to move in a positive direction with my clients. By attending Managing Your Message I learned quite a bit about how my current approach was holding back my meeting. It will be very helpful to me moving forward.”
Rebecca Balk, Account Executive, Prime Therapeutics
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