Author: mike

Your 4-Step Plan for Prospects Who Aren’t Calling You Back

by mike

We’ve all got a pipeline full of them: prospects who sounded good in the beginning, but now there’s no news from them. Are they still interested? Have they found another solution? Was it something we said or is the price too high or have they changed their mind? Who knows – they simply aren’t responsive. So what should you do?

The first thing you should do is relax. Take a deep breath. Just because they haven’t gotten back to you doesn’t necessarily mean they aren’t still interested, nor does it mean they aren’t going to still be a deal. Some won’t, but some still will. It’s frustrating, I know, but there are a couple of things to understand and to do so let’s take it from the top:

#1: The first thing you need to remember is that prospects buy according to their schedule – not yours. As a sales rep, I know you want, no, you need the deal today. We all do. But your prospect usually isn’t under the same urgency as you are to get the deal done. There are many other initiatives, activities, people, processes, etc, they are dealing with and your product or service is just one of many things they have on their plate. So again, don’t take it personally, just relax and plan your next move.

#2: Your next move should be the one you both agreed on during your last conversation. You did make a firm appointment for your next conversation, didn’t you? This is rule of engagement number one, so if you’re not in the habit of doing that, please begin today. If you did make a firm appointment and they missed it, then send a gentle email acknowledging that they must be as busy as you are and you understand. Do not be accusatory, don’t assign blame and don’t under any circumstance sound hurt or make them feel guilty. Instead, be professional and use something like the following:

Subject Line: Our meeting

John,

So sorry we missed each other today – I know how time can get by us. When you have a moment, please shoot me an email back suggesting some better times later this week or next that would be better for us to connect.

You can either respond to this email or leave me a quick message here (your number).

Looking forward to hearing back,

Mike Brooks

#3: Talk to secretaries, assistants or others in their department. If possible, always form a relationship with anyone else answering the phone or working in the same department as your prospect. When you next attempt to reach them, ask that other person what your prospect’s schedule is like and what’s going on with the department or company. Using this method, I’ve found out that some of my prospects were travelling for two weeks, or they were at company conferences, or on vacation, etc. Once I learn this, I reference this in my next email attempts to reach them.

The best rule of thumb is to acknowledge what your prospect is going through and to never pressure them. Always let them set the best time/days to reconnect. If you are persistent and respectful in this way, real prospects will always get back with you and let you know.

#4: If you have been patient in the ways described above and a month or so has gone by and you’ve still not heard from your prospect, then it is time to use the “Should I Stay or Should I Go” email I’ve written about before. Remember, the power of this email is that you are giving your prospect a way out with option number two and this will almost always get them to respond to you. It may not be the response you want, but believe me, if your prospect has found another solution or won’t be a deal, it’s always better to know it and move on. Here’s the email for you in case you missed it:

Subject line is: “Should I stay or should I go?”
“_________ I haven’t heard back from you and that tells me one of three things:

1) You’ve already chosen another company for this and if that’s the case please let me know so can I stop bothering you,

2) You’re still interested but haven’t had the time to get back to me yet.

3) You’ve fallen and can’t get up and in that case please let me know and I’ll call 911 for you…

Please let me know which one it is because I’m starting to worry… Thanks in advance, and I look forward to hearing back from you.”

Following these four steps should restore you to sanity in regards to your sales cycle. Remember, closing a sale is a process and you must let it unfold in the way that best suits the buying habits of your prospect or client. Don’t be desperate, don’t pressure, and don’t let your prospect see you sweat. Instead, use the four steps above to deal with the process professionally and confidently. That attitude will come across to your buyer and they will respond accordingly.

How to Improve a Bad Script

by mike

If you missed my workshop on writing a killer prospecting script last week, then you missed a golden opportunity to take an ineffective script and turn it into a script that engages your prospects and helps you build the rapport you need to determine whether or not you’re dealing with a true buyer for your product or service. (The good news is that you can purchase a replay of the workshop by clicking here).

One of the things we did in the workshop is we began with a typically bad scripted opening, and we changed it into an opening that creates interest and allows you to interact with your prospect. Here is the example we used for a bad opening (by the way, this is a real example of how bad some company’s scripts actually are – I hope yours isn’t like this!):

“Hi my name is _______ _______ with ABC Merchant Solutions and we work with local business owners such as yourself and we help you process your credit cards more efficiently while also offering a host of value added services such as gift cards, reward cards and other services that can help you operate more profitably.

The reason for the call is that I would like to schedule an appointment to find out who you are using now and to show you the kinds of services that we can help you with. Would you have time later in the week or is there a day next week that may work better for you?”

Whew! This script is terrible because (among others things) it doesn’t make any connection with the decision maker – in fact it alienates them; it pitches at the prospect giving them no opportunity to respond or engage; and you can just feel the prospect waiting for the sales rep to take a break so they can blow them off.

Again, this is how many prospecting scripts are structured. In the workshop, we changed this opening to this:

“Hi __________ this is ________ ________ with ABC Merchant Solutions, how is your Thursday morning going so far?

[Listen and respond appropriately!]

Briefly __________, we specialize in working with local businesses like yours helping them process credit cards more cost effectively. Let me ask you a quick question…”

This new opening is much improved for many reasons. To start with, the sales rep is engaging in a conversation and is actually speaking with someone instead of ‘at’ someone. They are also allowing time for the prospect to interact which allows them to gage the level of interest of the prospect. The value statement is short – just one sentence – and it ends with a qualifying question which once again allows the prospect a chance to speak and the rep a chance to listen to what and how the prospect responds.

We followed this up with a list of four sample questions (of course there are many others and many different kinds of questions depending on how receptive the prospect is and what your product or service is). Here is a list of sample questions:

“Besides accepting credit cards at your business, do you offer any kind of a rewards cards or gift cards to your customers?”

OR

“You do accept credit cards there at your business, don’t you?”

OR

“If I could show you a way to increase your revenue right now and offer you better service and support, would you be willing to invest 5 minutes to find out how?”

OR

“How do you currently process the majority of your credit cards – there in the store or do you also do business online?”

By asking questions like this early in the process, the sales rep can develop a consultative sales approach, build rapport with the prospect, determine their level of interest, get valuable information on what direction to go in next and a lot of other information that most reps never get. This approach also sets up the next part of the script which involves handling any initial resistance or objections that may come up.

In addition to this first part of the script, we then moved on to other qualifying, exploratory questions, additional objection handling, and then we moved into the importance of qualifying for the “big four” areas of identifying a qualified lead. We then completed the call defining a commitment and recap and then proceeded to get buy in on the next steps.

These (and other areas) make up the definition of a qualified lead. It’s still amazing to me that many sales reps use ineffective scripts that are almost devoid of any true qualifying questions, but they do. In fact, we also had a discussion on how most sales companies have the philosophy of stuffing as many leads into their pipeline as possible and seeing how many come out the other end. This is why the national closing percentage is roughly 2 out of 10 leads (and that’s of leads that have supposedly been qualified and sent information!).

I know this is all sounding like a shameless endorsement of you purchasing the replay of this invaluable webinar, and, well, OK, it is! The bottom line is this: If you’re not using proven and effective methods and processes to earn the right to speak with decision makers and you don’t know how to build rapport and qualify them when you do, then you’re simply not going to make many sales in your business. In fact, you’ll struggle and end up hating your job (or wonder why your company isn’t succeeding). And that can easily be changed by investing a little bit of money and time in learning better techniques.
Eighty percent of sales reps will never do this, but 20% will. And it’s that 20% that end up making all the money and living the life that others only dream about. I’m here to tell you that you can get better and move into that elite group, too, if you really want it.

If you do, you can start here.

One Crucial Lesson My Manager Taught Me

by mike

If I asked you what the most important tip, technique or strategy is that you learned in your sales career, what would you say? I easily remember the one that I learned early on because I’m reminded of it nearly every day. In fact just last week I read a story about Gary Emanuel, the defensive line coach for the Indianapolis Colts, and I was reminded of the first lesson my sales manager taught me which was, “No matter how discouraged you get when cold calling or prospecting, never give up – because the very next phone call you make can change your day, or your career.” Here’s what happened to Gary:

Earlier this year, Gary wasn’t working in the NFL. In the last 31 autumns, he had been the typical football journeyman, working on 10 college staffs (including the likes of Plymouth State and Purdue) and only one pro staff (49ers, 2005-06). Gary’s dream was to return to the NFL but there were no teams banging down his door to interview him. So what did he do? He took action and began cold calling…

Call after call resulted in nothing but the typical, “You can send us your resume,” but he kept calling. Finally he reached the General Manager of the Colts, Ryan Grigson. Grigson told Peter King of Sports Illustrated:

“He cold-called me.” Grigson texted me (Peter) after the 17-14 win over Cleveland. “Getting (Emanuel) was like finding money in the street. We had all kinds of big-time recommendations, and after Chuck (Pagano – the head coach) and I met with Gary, we didn’t even want to talk with another DL coach.”

How’s that for a successful cold call? Now I’m sure that Gary, like you or me, got discouraged from all the other calls he made to teams that gave him the brush off. I’m sure he got tired of sending out his resume and calling back only to hear the same old brush off, “Oh, we’ll get back to you if we’re interested.” I’m sure the phone was heavy to pick up after a while, and I’ll bet there were times when he thought about giving up. But he persisted and he made that next call. And look what that persistence resulted in for him.

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been calling and calling (both as a sales rep and as a sales consultant), and how much I’ve wanted to just give up. But I always remember what my manager taught me about how you never know what that next call can bring. And because I’ve made that next call, I have many stories of my own, and I can tell you now that many of my biggest clients came because I was willing to keep calling. In fact, here’s one of my favorite results:

Years ago I decided that I wanted to try and get a 30-year Tampa Bay Buccaneers anniversary patch for a new authentic jersey I had purchased. I didn’t know anyone at the Buccaneers so I did what I had been taught to do – I started cold calling. First I looked on the official team website and found out who the head trainer was. Using the techniques I teach and write about – being polite to gatekeepers by using ‘please,’ being assumptive and using instructional statements – I got through to the training room and was told that the trainers and team were in their final preseason work outs offsite and that I needed to call back in a few weeks. After several more calls to the department, I finally got the head trainer on the phone but he told me that he was too busy now preparing for the season, and that I could try him again in a few weeks. I did. When I got him on the phone again, I explained what I wanted and he said he would see what he could do. He took my name and address down and I waited.

After a couple of weeks, I still hadn’t received anything. Now, many people might have given up by then and thought that just getting through was victory enough. Not me. I kept remembering what my manager had taught me and kept remembering all the good results I had achieved from being persistent and from continuing to cold call. So I called again.

By this time the season had begun and the Buccaneers were winning. By now the trainer knew my name and was getting used to my call. By this time there were some things to talk about besides the patch. This time he took my name and address again and seemed to be paying more attention as he did it. A week later I got a package from the Buccaneer training room and when I opened it I found two jersey patches – one home and one away – and a complete decal set with helmet sized Buccaneer flags. It was a pretty cool package. So what did I do? I kept calling…

After a few more weeks and a few more victories, the trainer and I developed a friendly relationship. When I explained to him that I would be flying to the 49er game in a few weeks, he said something that has changed my experience as an NFL fan. He asked me if I’d like to work as part of the training staff and assist one of the coaches on the side line of that game. I can tell you now that experience was one of the highlights of my life!

I arrived in San Francisco the same day as the team, and that evening I went to the team hotel and met the trainer and he introduced me to other coaches and team members as they went through the lobby. He gave me an official coaching shirt and cap (that I still have), and a coach’s pass and parking pass for game day. The next day I arrived at the stadium at 9:30 am as the first bus of players and coaches arrived. I went through the player’s entrance and into the locker room and spent the whole day as a member of the Tampa Bay coaching staff! I don’t have time to relate all the memorable experiences I had – like patting Chris Sims on the shoulder pad after his first NFL touchdown pass or the memorable after game speech by a fiery Jon Gruden – but trust me, it was an amazing experience. And all because I was willing to keep calling.

I remember that experience and many other successful, unexpected calls and results even today when I have to make cold calls. I remember my first sales manager teaching me the importance of being persistent no matter what and of the value of making that next call – or next 100 calls. I remember this lesson when I read stories like Gary Emanuel’s, and I’m constantly on the look out for similar stories of the pay off of persistence and of never giving up. And I always find them.

Today as you face a day of cold calling or prospecting, I hope that you, too, remember the crucial lesson I learned all those years ago. That no matter how discouraged you get when cold calling or prospecting, never give up – because the very next phone call you make can change your day, or your career.

Experienced Sales Reps – Should You Hire Them?

by mike

Who would you rather hire for your inside sales team – an experienced inside sales rep with experience selling different products or services across several companies, or someone new to sales, say a college graduate, or how about a waiter or bar tender or someone one else new to sales? The proper answer here, of course, is it depends on the individual circumstance. But as we’ll see, if the proper systems are in place, it’s usually a wiser choice to go with someone new to sales. Let’s find out why.

While conventional wisdom would lean towards hiring someone with specific inside sales experience, what common experience tells us is that that choice is rarely a guarantee of good performance. In fact, after hiring or being involved in the hiring of thousands of experienced inside sales reps, I can tell you from personal experience that it is very rare to hire an experienced sales rep who turns into someone truly exceptional. It’s more common to find mediocre sales reps who continue to produce down to their level of past production. There are many reasons for this.

To start with, most sales reps have never received the kind of sales training that leads to consistently good results. Sales training, and its constant reinforcement, is an area that is either under developed or an effective extension of product training. After initial orientation and training, most inside sales reps are left to either figure it out on their own, or to sink or swim. This leads to a lot of sales reps who develop poor sales skills that they repeat over and over again as they ad lib their way through their jobs. It’s these very same unsuccessful reps that are looking for work when they answer your job posting.

This has been my experience, and I’m not alone. In fact, in their book, “How to Hire and Develop Your Next Top Performer” by Greenberg, Weinstein and Sweeney, the authors compared results from hundreds of thousands of assessments that were conducted over several decades with actual sales performance measurements and found:

55 percent of the people earning their living in sales should be doing something else.
Another 20 to 25 percent (of salespeople) have what it takes to sell, but they should be selling something else.

They concluded that based on these statistics, the practice of hiring experienced sales candidates will produce an unsatisfactory result as much as 80 percent of the time! That may seem a pretty dire pronouncement, but it once again rings true in my experience and, I’m willing to bet, in the experience of many of you reading this article as well.

Now before you throw your hands up in the air and decide to abandon your sales efforts completely, the good news is that there is a solution. The solution is to invest the time, money and effort in defining your sales process, developing a solid training program that teaches the best practices of your sales process, and then to give your front line managers the tools to manage your rep’s adherence to these defined sales processes. You can see a video of me describing this process on my website.

Once you build these processes, you will be in the unique position of being able to hire and successfully on board new talent into your sales team. The great thing about hiring someone new to sales is that they are a blank slate without any poor sales skills and habits. Rather than trying to undo years of poor performance and attitude, you can spend your time actually training someone the right way from the beginning. After that, your time can be spent reinforcing and measuring adherence to your best practices. The major benefit here is that you can shorten the time it takes to evaluate whether or not the person you’ve just hired has the ability and desire to succeed in your sales environment.

Another benefit of using this method is that since you are hiring people who are new to sales, you can now recruit from almost anywhere. Rather than being handcuffed to running the same old ads and attracting the same old suspects, suddenly you will be free to find and recruit new talent anywhere you go. When I was actively managing and growing a financial service team, I would carry my business cards with me everywhere and would constantly be on the lookout for people who were bright and had winning personalities. I’d chat up people working in department stores, waiters, bar tenders, and anywhere else I found engaging and motivated people. In fact, some of my top producers where found in this way.

Now, let’s get back to the question at the beginning of this article. Is it better to hire an experienced inside sales rep or someone new to sales? Again, it depends on the circumstance because you obviously don’t want to hire someone new who doesn’t have the temperament or desire, and you don’t want to not hire an experienced sales rep who might do well in your environment. The way to be successful with both of these hires is to have a solid training program and follow up mentoring and measuring system to evaluate them. Only in this way will you be able to successfully hire and develop the right candidate.

Three Simple Rules for Success in Sales

by mike

If you want to know what truly separates top performers in sales, then look no further than these three simple characteristics below. Each and every top professional I know practices these habitually, and when I focused on these early in my career, I, too, became the top producer in my office of 25 sales reps.

These “rules” as I call them are essential for your success, and you should make it a point to incorporate and work on them every day of your professional career. If you do, you will easily rise to the top of your company and your industry. Read them over now and commit to incorporating them into your daily routine:

1) Invest in your attitude every day. You absolutely must do everything you can do to develop, protect, and nurture a contagiously enthusiastic attitude. Now more than ever, your attitude will be the biggest determining factor affecting your success in your profession of sales. Think about all the negative people you’re going to run into today, this week and this month. Are you going to infect them with your positive, can do attitude, or are you going to get more and more negative with each phone call? IT IS UP TO YOU!!
Starting this week, get into the habit of feeding your mind and attitude daily with affirmations, by listening to motivational CD’s, by reading two pages a day in a positive book, and by goal setting. If you haven’t read books like, “The Success Principles” by Jack Canfield, or “Beyond Positive Thinking” by Dr. Robert Anthony, then go to Amazon and order them today.

An all time favorite of mine is an 8 minute DVD I’ve watched over and over on my lap top called: “Finish Strong” by Dan Green and can be found at their website: www.simpletruths.com That book/DVD alone will be a great investment in your attitude.

2) Sharpen Your Sales Skills. Let’s face it – there is no room for error in today’s competitive sales environment. Sloppy sales presentations, poorly qualified leads, and just plain lazy and bad habits are going to make you miserable in your job. You must, and I mean must, learn, practice and use effective sales techniques that will allow you to identify buyers and then deliver effective presentations to close business.

The Top 20% will do well because they already use effective skills and spend time getting better, but the bottom 80% are going to sink like a stone. I’d say that up to one quarter of all sales reps will lose their jobs in the next 12 months because they won’t improve enough to make it in this environment.

What are YOU doing now to improve your skills each day? Obviously there are many things that will work for you, but one of the easiest and least expensive ways to do that is to go to Amazon.com and pick up a copy of my book, “The Real Secrets of the Top 20% – How To Double Your Income Selling Over the Phone.” It’ll be the best $14 bucks you’ll send this year…

3) Start Listening To Your Prospects. Now more than ever, it’s crucially important that you learn how to connect with your prospects and show them you really care about what they’re going through and what their needs are. 80% of your competition is going to pitch and pitch and pitch, and this turns off the people they are trying to sell. The Top 20% take the time to understand the difficulties their prospects and clients are going through and they find ways to help them. And it all begins with listening.

People are going to buy from people they like, know or trust, and the best way to build this rapport is by asking questions and actually listening to their answers. I’ve written many articles on listening skills, and you can read them in my Blog, or invest in my book and read successful techniques that will help you become a better listener. But whatever you do, you must begin showing your prospects you care, and best way to do that is by listening.

Trust me when I tell you that these three simple rules are the bedrock of success in sales. Eighty percent of your competition won’t do these things, but if you will, you will smoke them in sales. In fact, you can become a Top 5% or even a Top 1% producer if you will just take the time to make these rules daily habits.

Remember – first we form habits and then they form us.

The Easiest Way to Evaluate Your Inside Sales Reps

by mike

Do you know the name, Phil Emery? He is the G.M. of the Chicago Bears and his rise to this prized position – there have only been five G.M.’s in Bears history – is one of the fastest in all of the NFL. Emery started out as the strength and conditioning coach at the Naval Academy, and only 14 years later, he is running one of the NFL’s flagship franchises. How’d he do it?

Much of Phil’s success comes from his seemingly uncanny ability to judge talent and to be spot on in his evaluations. According to the NFL 2012 Edition of Sports Illustrated, when asked how he does it, he says that “almost everything you need to know about a player can be culled from tape. When it comes to receivers, for instance, he believes that you can glean something from how hard a player runs, whether he takes plays off, whether he’s a willing blocker, whether he’s competitive for the ball, etc.”

I believe that Phil’s right, and I believe that almost everything you need to know about an inside sales rep can be culled from listening to a tape recording of their calls. When cold calling, for instance, does the rep handle the gatekeeper’s blow offs well and get through to the decision maker? When they get the DM on the phone, are they able to build relevant rapport and earn the right to present their value statement? Do they ask questions and actually listen to the DM? Do they properly qualify or do they just want to send emails and follow up (to unqualified leads)?

The same is true when listening to recordings of rep’s closing attempts. How well do they open their calls? Do they earn the right to enter into a conversation with the prospect or do they ask closed ended questions that allow the prospect to put them off? Do they engage the prospect and allow them to ask questions or do they simply pitch at them? Do they try to handle objections or are they easily put off?

As a business owner or sales manager, everything you need to know about your sales reps is on the recording of their last call. Everything you’ll need to do to help them succeed or evaluate if they are progressing once you give them the proper training is there on tape. If you’re not recording or listening to these recordings, then you are missing the most important tool you have available to you. Just imagine an NFL team that didn’t watch and use game tape!

Here are three suggestions to help you get the most out of the recordings you may have of your reps (and if you don’t have any, then make it your priority to begin recording them ASAP!).

#1) Listen to all of your reps and grade them A – F on both their qualifying calls and their closing calls. An easy and objective way to grade them is to grade their adherence to your scripts. Ask yourself, “Are they using the tools you’ve provided them or aren’t they?”

After you’ve graded them, ask yourself two things: One: What can you do to turn your B reps into A reps, and Two: How quickly can you replace your D and F reps?

#2: Learn from your top producing reps. Listen for how they best handle the objections and stalls that the rest of your team struggles with and script out what they say. Then give these scripts to your other team members. If you want all your reps to sound and produce like top closers, then get them to say and do what your top producers are already doing! Then grade their adherence to these new scripts (see #1).

#3: Use your better recordings in your sales meetings to help teach and reinforce the best ways of qualifying and closing sales in your company. Again, just like in the NFL film rooms, players learn by watching themselves and others do what works. It’s the same in inside sales. By constantly playing good recordings for your team members, they, too, will begin to get better.

So what’s the easiest way to evaluate (and train and improve) your inside sales reps? Just ask Phil Emery. He’ll tell you, “it’s all on tape…”

Three Words to Close More Sales

by mike

Any Top Closer will tell you that the secret to closing sales is in getting your prospect to disclose to you whether or not they are going to be a sale and getting them to tell you what you must do or say to close the deal. The reason this is key is because only your prospect knows what it will take for them to buy your product or solution, or even if they have the authority, budget, or if they are in the mood, if they like you, if they need it enough, and many other reasons. Again, only they know what it will take for you to get their business. This is the great secret all Top Closers know.

Unfortunately, 80 to 90% of sales reps don’t understand this. Because of this, they continue to pitch at prospects, push their material onto them and then hound and beg them to do business with them. This is why most sales reps hate sales and why most prospects hate sales reps. If you find yourself (or the majority of your sales team) in this position, then I’m going to share three words with you that will get your prospect to reveal their true buying motives (and why they might not be buying from you as well.)

Because the key to closing sales is to get your prospect to disclose what it’s going to take to close the deal, you’ve obviously got to find ways to get them to open up and start talking. I’ve written many scripts and techniques to show you how to do this, but today I’m going to share with you three simple words you can use to get and keep your prospects talking.

Here it is: Whenever your prospect begins stalling or any other excuse for not acting today, you simply reply: “What happens next?”

Now before 80% of you dismiss this – while the other 20% nod your head with wisdom – try it and hit your mute button. I guarantee that you’ll learn more in what they say next than you would if you just kept talking and pitching…

Here are some other things to say to follow up on what they might disclose to you:

“How does that process work?”

“How involved in that are you?”

“What would you like to see happen here?”

“When does a decision on this need to be made?”

“If you had to move on something today, what would you do?”

“Out of everything you’ve seen from other companies, what do you think?”

“What’s the biggest thing you can see that is standing in the way?”

I guarantee that if you ask all of the above questions to a prospect – and truly listen to what they tell you – you’ll know whether or not they are going to be a deal.

There are lots of other techniques you can use, and if you haven’t invested in my Best Selling book: “The Ultimate Book of Phone Scripts” then you should do so now. You’ll get over 220 other proven tips, scripts and techniques just like this to turn you into a Top Closer as well.

I encourage you to use some of the techniques above to get your prospect talking (and to get you to shut up and listen). If you get good at this you’ll be amazed by how much more successful you’ll be.

Summer Sales Slow? 5 Things to do NOW!

by mike

I don’t know about you, but in the middle of July business slowed down and after that it nearly stopped… We do have business, of course – very much like you – but the pace of business, the new leads and especially the urgency of the first half of the year seem gone…

What happened??

Summer happened, that’s what. As I speak to clients and colleagues (those who aren’t on their family vacations that is) they tell me the same thing – many of their bosses, co-workers, suppliers or business partners are either on vacation, just coming back from a vacation, or just about to take a vacation.

In fact, many people I know are taking as much as three to four weeks off! (I just spoke with a potential coaching client, and when I asked him when he was thinking of starting our coaching relationship, he told me it would be after his month long vacation in August). He and his wife will be back right before Labor Day.

So there you have it. Business is seasonal. Kids get out of school and the weather changes. Heck, I can’t even reach half my Canadian clients until mid way through September! People have worked hard and are now ready to take some time off. Business changes, people relax, and they won’t start thinking about their initiatives until right before the fourth quarter.

Does this mean companies aren’t buying or planning for the fall? Of course not. It just means that they are going to begin doing things on their time table right now, not yours.

So here are 5 things you can do to not only make sales right now, but also to set yourself up for the strongest end of the year you’ve ever had:

1) Don’t let up. Keep working hard – if not harder. Make more calls. Send more emails, stay later and come in earlier. The time you put in now may not seem to pay off right away, but in the fall you’ll see the fruits of this labor.

It reminds me of the “dog days of summer” in NFL training camps. I still remember what Bill Parcells told his players in late December when they were about to begin a drive that would determine whether they got into the playoffs or not. He looked at his exhausted linemen and said: “This is why you lift all those damn weights!”

The effort you put in now will make the difference at the end of this year…

2) Connect with established clients. This is the perfect time to send a card, to make a call, and to talk with clients about things other than business. For example, where are they going for summer vacation?

Face it – if things are slow for you, they are probably slow in their business as well. How about asking what they are doing to deal with this period and what they are doing to get ready for the fall. And how about asking what you can do to help them?

3) Work on improving your sales skill set, or work on a new product development or other part of your business that will make a difference in the second half of the year. If any of you have thought about developing a greeting card campaign to stay in front of your customers and prospects, this is the perfect time to do it!

Some of you know that I use sendoutcards.com to keep in front of my clients and prospects, and did you know that you can now use that same system without a sign up fee? Click Here to find out how. Just use this number to try this system out for free: 83661

Why not design a card with a picture of yourself and family on YOUR vacation and send it to all your clients and prospects. That’ll give you something to talk about when you call in September.

4) Make goals for September through December and develop a plan of action to accomplish them. Develop an affirmation card and goal sheet of what you’re going to earn, what it’s going to feel like over the holidays to have accomplished it and begin smiling each day as you feel the feelings of having done it.

Remember, “Fear Pushes, and Vision Pulls.” Use this time to create a compelling vision of the rest of the year for yourself and let that vision pull you through the summer. If you would like some help with Goal Setting, Click Here.

5) Feed your mind a positive daily diet. This is the time to feed your mind every single day (and many times during the day as well). My favorite book to re-read during each summer is: “Beyond Positive Thinking” by Dr. Robert Anthony. You can get it on Amazon.com

I’ll bet you have your own list of positive reading material you’d like to finally read. Pick one book tonight, put it on your desk and commit to reading it before next holiday. That alone will make a huge difference for you.

The most important thing to remember during the summer is that “This too shall pass.” If business has slowed down, that will change. And if you take advantage of any of the five suggestions above, you’ll be more prepared than your competition to prosper when it does…

The 5 Secrets of Great Vacations

by mike

Have you scheduled the rest of your vacations for this year? I have, and boy am I excited!!

After I did, I remembered an article I published years ago, and I thought about all the positive feedback I had on it. So I decided to reprint it here.

If you follow the advice I give, I assure you you’ll enjoy your work more and you’ll be more successful at it!

Here it is:

At a company I consulted with a few years ago, there was a manager, Brad, who would never think of taking a full week away from the office. “Much too much to do, and I don’t really need it anyway.” He told me.

“When was the last time you did take off on a real vacation?” I asked.
“Heck, I can’t tell you. Got to be over six years.” He said.
“Aren’t you burned-out?” I asked.
“Naw. I take three-day weekends occasionally, and there are holidays. I get by I guess.” He answered.

On the other hand, a woman I’d been coaching at the same company, Mirna, who is now a Top 20% closer, had just returned back from her first trip to Hawaii. She took her three kids and her husband, and when she came back to the office, she looked like a new woman.

She was tanned, relaxed, excited and she was energized! She talked about the fun her kids had, about how incredible Hawaii was, and about how she couldn’t wait to go on her next trip!

Vacations are the key to staying energized, focused, rested and motivated. And when you are energized and motivated, you perform better on your job and are happier overall. All work and no play make Jack, well, you know the story.
But just like in sales, there are guidelines and “best practices” to ensure that you get the most out of your vacation. After years of perfecting the vacation, I offer, “The 5 Secrets to Taking Great Vacations” — enjoy!

Secret #1 — Schedule and pay for your trips at least six months or more in advance.

Don’t wait till the last month to take a trip because it will never happen. You will always be too busy. By planning, scheduling and paying for your trips far in advance, you’re almost certain to actually take them. July or November or March will always come and if you’ve already paid for a trip — you’re going!
Benefit: When you plan that far in advance, you get to look forward to it for months! It’s a great motivator.

Secret #2 — Go somewhere special.

Make a list right now of the six places you and your family would love to go to. Then enlist their help! It’s a great family activity.

Next, pick one special or exotic place this year and — that’s right — book it now. Go ahead, buy the airfare, book the hotel and car and pay for it. And then, have everyone mark it on his or her calendar.
Benefit: Watch the attitude of your family change — for the better. Suddenly there’s something bright, fun and enjoyable you are all looking forward to. Gee, the kids sure are nice to be around again!

Secret #3 — Don’t return to work until Tuesday!

Even though you get back Saturday or Sunday, don’t go right back to the office. Give yourself time to readjust, run errands, and settle back in. Nothing ruins of good vacation more than going back to work the very next day. Vacation? What vacation?
Benefit: Taking Monday off is like getting another “bonus” vacation.

Secret #4 — Take at least one mini vacation per quarter.

Besides your large vacation, plan to take at least one extended weekend, holiday or other three or four day break per quarter. Hitch a Friday and Tuesday onto a Memorial Day weekend, and voila! — you’ve got a bona fide vacation using just two personal days.

Try to go somewhere on at least one of these, and spend the others around the house getting things done or just relaxing.
But all the previous rules apply: plan, schedule, and pay for it in advance!
Benefit: Even more to look forward to!

Secret #5 — Don’t work while on vacation.

Your vacation is exactly that — a vacation! Leave your laptop, blackberry, and paperwork at the office. Resist the temptation to check in with your office. This is your and your family’s time.

Train your sales manager, VP of sales, or assistant to handle all business while away. They will do fine without you, and it will all be there when you return.
Benefit: You will actually feel like you’re on vacation and you’ll enjoy it even more!

So there you have it — the 5 Secrets to Great Vacations. I guarantee that if you follow these rules, you will not only enjoy your life more, but you’ll be more productive at work as well.

Imagine that — more successful and happier!

When is your next vacation?

Why Daily Bonuses, Spiffs and Contests Don’t Work

by mike

IntroductionAfter you’ve chosen the best compensation plan for your inside sales team – either straight salary or commission or a combination of the two – the next step is to determine how best to keep them motivated and focused on making their daily and monthly revenue goals. Many business owners and managers choose daily spiff programs or contests to develop or keep sales momentum going, but how effective are these initiatives?

The Pros and Cons of Daily Spiffs
Providing daily bonuses or “spiff” programs, or other weekly or monthly contests, have long been a part of the inside selling environment. Most sales reps and managers have experience with handing out or receiving cash for the first deal on the board or for the achievement of a daily sales goal, or of handing out or receiving lunch vouchers or even DVD players for month end “top dog” status. The reason these daily bonuses are still around is because they work on some level.

There is no denying that sales reps will work harder if there is a special bonus attached to the work they are already doing anyway. As long as the bonus is truly reachable by all the sales staff, a percentage of the team will temporarily try harder to earn the additional spiff. The key words here though are percentage and temporarily. Again, although many managers can attest to the increase in effort and sometime production, in the end the consensus is that after a while the spiff programs lose effectiveness.

Some of the inherent problems with spiffs and contests are a perception by some of the sales team that no matter how hard they try, the better reps will still dominate and win the awards. There is a lot of truth to this as top reps are often in the position to win with better pipelines, higher quality leads and better selling and prospecting techniques. Because of this, half the sales team tends to check out and ignore the contests and can even become de-motivated by them.

A more practical problem with daily spiff programs, however, is that they tend to become more expensive as last month’s $500 dollar overall bonus often needs to get bigger to get the same result. Sales reps get jaded easily and the top reps are quick to voice their disappointment at the same low bonus paid out for all the extra work they feel they have to do. “Is that all you’ve got?” is their often tacit reaction to next month’s bonus. So up goes the investment on management’s side, yet as the investment goes up the effort and results often go in a different direction.

At the end of year, many business owners and managers look back at all the additional money they paid out in daily spiffs, bonuses and contests and come to the same conclusion – the investment wasn’t worth the bottom line result. According to CSOinsights.com, 48% of inside sales teams still fail to reach their monthly production goals despite the contests and bonuses offered. Fortunately, there is a better way.

A Better Way to Compensate and Motivate
A better model for driving and compensating production begins by focusing on and rewarding overall production itself. Rather than focusing on short term effort or the achievement of daily or weekly goals, companies always benefit more by focusing on monthly and quarterly production numbers and getting their sales reps to think more in alignment with the company’s goals. Here’s a case in point:

Recently we consulted with a company selling healthcare products over the phone. The sales team consisted of a seasoned group of about twelve reps, and we added three new reps during a 90 day period. There were many issues to be addressed, but coming up with a new compensation plan was at the top of the list. This company had relied on the daily spiff and bonus program for years and overall the team was spoiled, unmotivated and ultimately unproductive. To get them motivated again, we made two primary changes.

The first was to discontinue all daily spiffs and cash bonuses and replace them with a controlled monthly bonus program that was based on goal attainment. In other words, if you didn’t hit your monthly revenue goal, you didn’t qualify for any of three new month end bonuses. The immediate result and benefit of this new program was to take the rep’s focus off the daily, “What’s in it for me?” attitude and instead refocus them on the company’s goal of overall monthly revenue attainment.

Aligning the rep’s focus with the company’s focus changed everything. First, the reps were no longer focused on a series of short term goals, but rather, were now focused on one month at a time. This had the immediate benefit of keeping them motivated during the entire month. Secondly, by not rewarding them for achievement of incidental benchmarks, (daily production, first deal in, etc) reps had to work harder and stay focused longer to achieve the one goal that mattered – their overall monthly production.

As reps remained more alert to their overall production goal, managing them became easier as well. Rather than deal with the daily bonus programs and the attitudes that came with them, the front line managers were now able to focus on the one thing that mattered – monthly revenue goal attainment. Once the focus on bottom line numbers was renewed, managers could get back to the basics of sales management. This meant less time babysitting attitudes and more time driving pipelines and sales. With management and reps more evenly aligned, production steadily rose.

And, of course, with the elimination of daily cash bonuses and spiffs, the company also saved money.

The second change was to give the sales reps an internal advancement plan based on their production and goal attainment. In taking a page from larger, often public companies, what we find is that people are more motivated when there is an opportunity for growth within their own company. Employees will work harder, stay longer and experience more job satisfaction – and be more productive employees – if they feel their work and efforts are appreciated and rewarded.

Because this company wanted to scale their sales team and grow market share, it was easy to develop an internal management advancement program. What they did was develop a program whereby if a sales rep hit their numbers for 6 consecutive months, they became eligible to become a team leader. A team leader in this company would manage up to four reps and would receive a small direct compensation based on production and other factors. In addition to this, a team leader who hit their team numbers for 10 consecutive months became eligible to be a unit manager, thus managing a larger team. Additional compensation would be available. Once this level was attained, further advancement was possible as a sales manager, sales director, etc.

One important point is worth noting here – just because the advancement plan was there didn’t automatically mean that all who attained their production levels were automatically moved into positions of team leads or managers. It was all based on company need and availability of positions. As the company grew and production progressed though, eligible candidates were promoted.

The result of having the management advancement plan was a measureable change in attitude and effort from every member of the sales team. Top producers took their jobs more seriously and became more active team players. As team leads assumed roles of responsibility for groups of sales reps, more peer pressure was applied and the sales group grew more cohesive as a whole. Managing required less effort and hiring and on boarding of new reps became more of a focus and the sales team was able to grow and scale at a much more predictable pace.

Conclusion
While daily bonuses and spiffs remain an important part of compensating and driving production with many companies, their long term effectiveness don’t always justify their expense or their continued use. There is a better way. Think about the attitude and attention of your current inside sales team and ask yourself: Are they more in it for themselves or are they truly invested in your company’s goals and long term growth? If you find that their attention and focus is not aligned with yours, then you should consider making some of the changes we’ve outlined here.

But please be aware that both of these changes involve detailed planning and forethought. The elimination of the daily bonus and spiff program has to be handled carefully and the design and roll out of the monthly bonus program must ensure it will motivate all members of the team. Obviously the development and roll out of the management advancement plan involves many elements including skill development, identification of duties and responsibilities and compensation structure. Never make these kinds of changes without careful consideration of the ramifications and long term consequences, and always design them with your long term grow goals in mind.

Advice To My Peers
One thing I’ve learned in my own business is that getting help from someone outside my direct industry has been invaluable in saving me both time and money, and in helping me implement changes more successfully. During the development and implantation of any new project, there is often a large amount of time and effort required, and I’ve always been happier when I’ve enlisted the help of an experienced consultant, contractor or vendor to help me handle the initial work load of a new project.

Another reason to leverage outside help is to access the new perspective they bring from outside your industry. Also, if changes involve getting buy in from others within your company, it’s much easier for them to accept them if they come at the suggestion of an outside, unbiased professional. The new perspectives, ideas and experience they bring to you and your team really help promote out of the box thinking and lead to solutions you may never have come up with on your own.

In regards to making any changes to sales procedures or policies, make sure that the people working on the project have a sales background and preferably experience selling your product or service. This experience will be especially useful in the roll out of the project. Sales reps are always thinking, “What’s in it for me,” and if you approach them with this in mind, you’ll be more likely to get their buy in. Remember to show them how this and any other new plan benefits them.

I wish you success in designing and rolling out a new bonus plan. I know that once you take the focus off short term goals and put it on the overall production and growth of your company, you and your team will be aligned and in a position to achieving the vision you have.