Knowing how hard it is to sell and the perception challenge sales people face, I thought I’d write a letter to our prospects on behalf of all sales people, in hopes it might change a few minds and soften the stance of our prospects.

Dear Prospect,

I know you are super busy. I know you don’t have enough time in your day to get the things done that you need to get done, never mind talk to me; a stranger you’ve never met who’s asking you to give up even more of your time. The truth of the matter is, I want to help you. I want to make your life easier. I want to give you some time back. I want to improve your business. I want to make you more competitive, help you grow and create a better work environment for everyone. I believe I can accomplish this and it’s the only reason I continue to bother you.

I know I look like a pest. I call and email you once or twice a week asking for a few minutes of your time. Please understand, it’s my job. Just as it is the job of the sales people at your company. They too are calling their prospects asking the same. But know, despite my pestering, I believe I can really help you and all I’m asking is for an opportunity to prove it.

Here is my promise. If you give me a few minutes of your time, I promise to come prepared. I promise not to ask silly, time wasting questions. I will have done my homework and understand your business. I will be focused on your goals not mine. I promise I won’t pitch. I promise I won’t bore you with my companies history, number of employees we have and how long we’ve been on some list. I understand, it’s not about me, it’s about you.

If you are willing to fill in the blanks and share the information about your business I can’t get on my own, I promise to listen. I promise to apply the information you share to a solution that makes your world better. I promise that if my product or solution isn’t a fit, I’ll tell you quickly and move on. I won’t waste your time by pushing a solution that doesn’t bring value. If there is a fit, I promise to do the work and show you. I promise to bring valuable, unique, relevant information to the table that will help you get the most our of our engagement. I commit to teaching you and your organization how to improve your business and what is available to you to meet your goals.

I get it. Introducing a new solution or product creates change. It creates more work. I will do everything I can to minimize the impact of change. I’m not going to create more work for you.

Let me say it again.  I know I appear to be a pest. But, I honestly believe I can help you. I’ve done my homework. I’m focused on your business goals and objectives. I will help you educate others in your organization. I will prepare you to address the naysayers. I will make sure my solution can be easily measured. I want you to see the value. If I can’t bring value, if my assumptions are wrong, I will quickly move on and give you your precious time back. I’m not here to waste your time, I promise.

So what do you say? Have I convinced you?

Great, then let’s get down to the business of making your business better.

See you tomorrow!

Thanks

Your Sales Rep

I’m not sure why, but I’ve always felt sales people and sales leaders can be some of the slowest adopters and critics of change. When things work, we stick with them. Sales people don’t change very quickly. It’s always been odd to me that people in such a dynamic occupation are so resistant to change. You’d think working in dynamic environment would attract dynamic people.

Sales isn’t changing. The science behind decision making is no different than before.  The “immutable laws” of selling are strongly entrenched. They will never change.

1. There has to be a need for change.
2. There benefit of change as to be substantial enough to warrant the change.
3. The prospect has to have confidence the outcome is achievable.
4. The outcome must be persuasive enough so the prospect can get others on board.
5. The prospect must be able to clearly see the process of the change and how it’s going to happen.

Although the basic laws of selling aren’t changing, how we address these laws is changing big time. The “how” of sales is absolutely evolving.  What we used to focus on, the approaches we take and the tools we use are undergoing tremendous change.  Some of us are embracing them, but just as many of us aren’t and it feels like the chasm is growing.

What do you think? Do you see the same thing? Are you seeing two camps of sales people?  Is the chasm growing?  If the chasm is growing, why? Why are so many of us NOT getting on board with the changes?

Yesterday, I found this start-up curve on Fred Wilson’s blog and I couldn’t help but think it looks a lot like the selling world.

The TechCrunch of Initiation is like the first, super successful meeting that captures a key buyers attention. Everyone is excited and feeling confident.

Wearing Off of Novelty is when other, pressing issues get in the way and the buyer stops calling you back. It’s when the buyers existing, busy world has worn away the luster of your shiny new object.

The Trough of Sorrow is the weeks or months of trying to get back in touch with the buyer with no luck. It’s when other stakeholders get involved who aren’t as excited about your solution as the key buyer. You start feeling the deal is lost.

Releases of Improvement is when the customer finally gets back with you and shares with you all the reasons it won’t work and what they need from you and your company; a lower price, new features, faster install time, longer support, etc. This is where they tell you all the reasons it won’t work, the objectives.

Crash of Ineptitude is when the rest of the organization tells you the client is an idiot and that they aren’t going to lower the price or add the features or support you in anyway. It’s were everyone tells you, as the sales person, are doing a shitty job because the customer is out of control and being unreasonable. It’s when the sales prevention department is at its best.

Wiggle of False Hope happens after you tell the customer that you can’t meet all of their demands and that it might not be a good fit and they return with a more reasonable set of demands.  It’s when you let the sales prevention department know the customer is willing to work with you and someone in the organization softens up and comes to your aid. Despite what appears to be progress, you still end up making little progress battling the customer and the sales prevention department.

The Promised Land is when the customer and your organization finally get on the same page. The customer is making reasonable requests and showing real commitment to buy and your organization is genuinely listening to the customer and responding favorably. The deal looks like it could actually happen.

Acquisition of Liquidity is the moment of close. It’s when the deal is done and the contract is closed. Everyone is happy and have forgotten all the frustration, acrimony and difficulty of getting to the close.

Upside of the Buyer is the moment the customer achieves the benefits they had hoped they would by buying your solution or product and when your organization incorporates the lessons learned from the selling process with this customer, to make for a better selling process in the future.

There is more to the selling process than the linear, staged process we are so accustomed to. There is even more to it than the stepped, non linear approach I espouse. There is an emotional cycle or curve that happens. Knowing the emotional stages and which you are in makes it that much easier to get through them.

Where are you in the sales curve. My condolences if you are in the trough of sorrow. Hang in there, it will pass.

Only 52% of sales people make quota. The reasons why vary, but I can tell you this. Doing these things will make for sure you don’t make quota.

If you are dong these things, STOP! They just make things harder.

1. Not work super hard claiming the economy is still slow 

   Worrying about things you can’t control just wastes time. Whatever the external force is, accept it, adjust for it and keep going.

2. Blame the products for not having enough features

   It’s easy to blame the product. They never have enough features. The competition has more features. It’s too expensive, etc. If you are waiting for the perfect product, keep waiting. Just don’t expect to make any sales.

   Get behind a good product and go sell it. There are no “perfect” products.

3. Say your product is too expensive 

   There is always a cheaper product. The product isn’t too expensive. You haven’t provided enough value.

4. Bitch you have a shitty territory 

   Some territories are better than others. But like most things, there is almost always a diamond in the rough. Rather than bitch your territory isn’t as good as Mary’s or Fred’s, figure out a way to get more out of it. Increase your average revenue per deal. Look for hidden opportunities.

   What ever you do stop bitching.

5. Not make enough cold calls 

   Make more calls. What else is there to say?

6. Not do enough prospecting 

   The amount of business you close can never be bigger than the amount of prospecting you do. So you better prospect more.

7. Avoid starting a blog 

   Blogging is prospecting. Prospects want content. A blog is content. Creating a place where you can be found and prospects you reach out to you is just smart.

   Start blogging, really!

8. Skip key networking events because you never meet anyone anyway 

   How do you now you’re not going to meet anyone? If you are that good at prognosticating, you’d make your number every year and then some. You’d know whom to call. When to call them and what their pain was. But, alas you’re not. Get out there meet people. Offline networking isn’t dead.

9. Not join Twitter because you don’t care what someone had for lunch 

   Your clients and prospects are on Twitter, so you should care about what they had for lunch, and their last press release, and the success of their new product, and that a customer isn’t happy with them and anything else you can learn or they want share, if even if it is what they had for lunch.

   No info is stupid info when it comes to your client base. Get on Twitter. — Yesterday!

10. Not read book a month because you are too busy

    You must be Mensa then. Nobody’s too smart to learn. Nobody knows everything. Read a book a month. You’ll be amazed at the impact it will have on your numbers.

11. Fail to build a sales plan. They are just a waste of time

    People don’t plan because they don’t have a plan. “How” is the key to success. Plans document the how. Figure out HOW you are going to make your number. Write it down, and put dates to it.The probability of making quota goes up 50% the minute you finish.

    Plan!

12. Claim your boss plays favorites

    The only time you need to worry about your “boss” is if your numbers aren’t there. If you’re worried your boss plays favorites, you are already in the hole. Mom’s, Dad’s, friends, everyone has favorites, this shouldn’t surprise you.

    Sally’s getting the better leads? That’s OK. Maybe your boss is giving her the better leads because she knows you don’t need them. Either way, focus on your number!

13. Blame marketing for shitty leads

    Ahhh, here is that blame thing again. If the leads really are shitty, do something about it. Take marketing on a ride-a-long. Let them see what their leads look like in the field. Spend more time with marketing letting them know what a “good” lead looks like.

    If non of that works, stop relying on marketing for your leads. Get your own. See #6 (prospect more)

14. Give the competition more credit than it deserves 

    Yes, you have competition!

    They are going to be a pain in your ass. They are going to attempt to steal deals, cut you out and take your clients. That doesn’t mean they are better than you. Don’t give your competition more credit than they deserve. If they are truly that much better, then go work for them. Otherwise, give them a healthy respect and focus on what’s important.

    Don’t let the competition distract you.

15. Believe you know it all already 

    If you are good, you probably know a lot, but you don’t know it all. Don’t turn your back on reading, blogs, trade-shows, webinars, etc. Don’t think there is nothing you can learn. There is, there always is!

16. Lose the competitive edge

    Keep that fire in your belly.

17. Not give ENOUGH credit to the competition

    You don’t want to give the competition more credit than they deserve. Don’t have a healthy respect for your competition and you’ll wake up and find them in your back yard.

    Have a healthy respect for your competition.

18. Play angry birds

    There are a million distractions in a day. Don’t get caught in time sucks.

19. Ignore your pipeline

    The pipeline is your lifeline. A good one keeps you in the money. Be sure to work all the stages consistently. Don’t get caught in the prospect, close, prospect, close, prospect cycle. Be doing both, that way there is always a steady flow of deals to close. The pipeline will tell you a lot. If you let it. Don’t ignore your pipeline.

20. Lose a big deal 

    You’re going to lose a big deal. So what! Move on. Just don’t lose the next one.

21. Be too nice to your customers

    Customers are like kids. It’s our job to teach them, not be their friend. Take control of the sales environment. Don’t let you customers control you. Like kids, our clients want to be told what to do. They just have to trust you know what you’re talking about and that your credible.

    Don’t be nice to your customers. Make their business better.

22. Think you know your industry

    Like #15, you don’t know it all. Immerse yourself in your industry. Don’t just be a subject matter expert. Be an industry expert.

23. Ignore the CRM

    Your CRM should be your faithful companion. Don’t do anything without putting it in your CRM. Track everything. Then create reports on your activity. After 6 months you’ll know everything you need to about how YOU sell.

    Put it in there!

24. Be a slave to email

    Yes email matters, but don’t use it as a task list. Carve time out in your day to look and respond to email. Don’t check it every 20 minutes. Don’t let it take over your day. You’ve got bigger things to worry about.

25. Play not to lose, not play to win

    Play to win!

    When you play not to lose you, you can only avoid losing. You can’t win! Stop playing NOT to lose. You’ll never win!

    Play to win. You’ll lose sometimes, but you’ll win a lot more.

26. Lack creativity

    Doing what you’ve always done, will get you what you’ve always gotten.

    Think outside of the box. Take in new information and be creative in how you solve your sales problems. Creativity is what separates the selling crowd.

    Do something different!

27. Not find a mentor

    There is always someone better than you. Find them and ask them to be you mentor. Having an honest, open, third party that can help you along is huge. A good mentor tells it to you straight. They impart their experience and wisdom on you. They are killer sounding boards. They are fantastic coaches.

    Get a mentor; they’ll make you better.

28. Not learn how to leverage the power of Linkedin
    

    LinkedIn is a substantial tool for creating leads, connecting with buyers and industry leaders. Linkedin should be a key part of your selling motion. Linkedin is more than a job search tool.

29. Talk too much about your product
    We sell to make our prospects and customers business better. Spend too much time talking about your product and you’re not spending enough time talking about their business.

    Can you sell without ever talking about your product?

30. Not know your customers key goals and how he/she is bonused

    Motivation is at the core of everything. Knowing what is motivating people is how you make the sale. Our customers have goals. It’s what motivates them. If you don’t know what their goals are, you don’t know what is motivating them. If you don’t know what is motivating them, you can’t sell them.

31. Not push your customers

    You are the expert, at least you should be. You know how your products and services can affect your customers business. The customer wants you to push them. They are looking for you to get them out of their comfort zone.

    Get comfortable, making your customers uncomfortable.

32. Do what you’ve always done

    If you haven’t changed your approach. If you have a “system” you swear by. If you aren’t embracing change, your selling is tired. Embrace the changes in today’s sales world. Be adding something new to your “quiver” every year.

    Liesure suits are tired, your selling shouldn’t be.

33. Rely on luck

    Yup, you’ll get a “blue bird.” You’ll close a few deals you weren’t expecting. You’ll also lose a few deals that were “slam-dunks.” Luck has no place in sales. Do your job and leave luck out of it.

34. Say you’re not a “sales person.”

    Be proud of the fact you can sell. Don’t be Judas. Don’t deny the fact that you sell for a living. Most people would give their right arm to do what you do if they could. Selling is a noble, fun, value based career. Sales people keep companies out of trouble. They make companies successful.

    If you can’t say you’re proud to be a sales person, you are in the wrong business. It’s time to go.

35. You’re too busy doing busy work

    Email, the CRM, proposals, client follow-up, reporting, and more fill up our days. But what is really important? What activities actually turn the sales crank? Spending too much time doing busy work is the death of a sales person. It keeps us from doing what is most important. Prioritize your schedule. Knowing what works is most important to making your number. Do that works first. Everything else can wait.

36. Talk too much

    You’re talking too much. Stop talking! Talk just enough to get everyone else talking. Listening first is what makes the sale. Talking slows it down or stops it.

37. Whining you don’t have the right tools and collateral

    You probably don’t. Yup, there are better tools out there you don’t have. Yup, the collateral sucks. Yup, you could have better sales support. And yes, the organization could provide better sales enablement. You are right! And . . .? Whining over what you can’t control doesn’t close deals. Share your concerns and ideas with Sales Operations and move on.

    Stop whining, no one likes a whiner.

38. Wait

    What are you waiting for? No one is coming. There isn’t going to be a better time to cold call. There isn’t going to be a better time to follow-up. There isn’t going to be a better time to start a blog. There isn’t going to be a better time to read that 10k. There isn’t going to be a better time to meet with engineering. There isn’t going to be a better time to input your stuff into the CRM. There isn’t going to be a better time.

    Stop waiting.!

39. Shoot for 100% of quota

    100% attainment is what’s expected. It’s the price to play. Why shoot for what is expected? Why shoot for mediocrity? Why set the bar low? Shooting for 100% quota attainment is shooting to be average.

    Don’t set out to be average. Shoot for 150% of quota. Who wants to be average?

40. Worry about what everyone else is doing

    Learning form others is one thing. Worrying about what everyone else is doing is a waste of time. Pay no mind to others. What their doing, how many leads they have, how big their pipeline is, their territory, the leads they get from marketing etc. should be no consequence of yours.

    Stop worry about what everyone else is doing. Focus on yourself.

41. Hope your deals come in

    Hope is not a strategy.The only one who is going to close deals is you.

    Don’t hope, do!

42. Fight change

    Change is inevitable. Things are not static. Just because something has always worked doesn’t mean it will continue to work. In sales, doing what you’ve always done, won’t get you won’t get you what you’ve always gotten. You’ll eventually get less.

    Don’t fight change.

43. Not think

    Sales is a thinking persons game. There is no autopilot. Don’t turn it off. Don’t put on cruise control.

    Think!

44. Ignore the rest of the of the organization

    The days of the Rainmaker are over. Pursuit selling is here to stay. Sales is dependent on the entire organization.

    Don’t ignore marketing, finance, H.R., sales operations, IT, product marketing, product development, etc. You are going to need them.

    Ignore them and they will ignore you. If that happens your screwed. Show some love!

45. Not have a smart phone

    If you still have a flip phone see #42. We are smack in the middle of the information sale. Information is critical to successful sales. If you don’t have a smartphone you’re tethered to your computer or laptop. That means no access unless you’re sitting at your desk. You can’t get email. You won’t see the latest press release from your largest client via Twitter. You won’t be able to access your CRM. You can’t read the latest industry news via an app. You can’t get on LinkedIn. You can’t do anything until you get to the office or home. If you don’t have a smart phone, you are at least 1 business day behind everyone else who does.

    How’s that working for you?

46. Expect everyone else to create your collateral

    Yup, collateral is sales ops job.See #38. If you need collateral, if you need selling materials that you’re not getting. Do it yourself. Be a doer!

47. Not build a governance plan

    If you manage an account and you don’t have standing, prescheduled meetings for the year with all of your contacts, at every level, you are leaving the door open for you competition. Get commitment from the CEO all the way down to your day to day contact on when you are going to meet, how often you are going to meet and who is going to meet. Then schedule it. A good governance plan ensures you are ALWAYS in your customers face.

48. Lack confidence

    Customer’s can sniff out sales people who lack confidence. And like desperate single people, no one wants to date someone who isn’t sure of themselves. Without confidence, execution becomes almost impossible. You can’t succeed if you don’t believe in yourself. Have confidence in yourself, your products and your company. Without it, you’re dead!

49. You’re married to the CRM

    Yes, use the CRM. But, don’t get married to it. The CRM is a tool to help you sell, not prevent you from selling. If you spend more time using the CRM than you do making cold calls, seeing customers, and visiting prospects, you’re priorities are out of whack.

    If can’t live without your CRM, it’s time to consider a divorce. CRM is your buddy, not your spouse!

50. You’re not agile/nimble

    Stick and move, be quick on your feet. Be prepared to shift gears quickly. Be ready to change strategy on a dime. Expect to throw everything away and start over in a second. Sales change quickly, things transform from one thing to the next in minutes. Months of work can unravel in a blink of an eye. Have the ability to respond as quickly as things change.Jack be nimble, Jack be quick, . . . or else not make quota and earn jack sh*t!

51. You have too many “great” ideas

    Great ideas are awesome. The best and most successful sales people execute on creative, unique, great ideas. You can have one, maybe two great ideas. But too many doesn’t do anything but slow you down. You can only execute on a couple of really good ideas at at time. Get too many and you don’t execute on any well.

    Don’t be a Costco of ideas. Pick one! (OK maybe two)

52. Don’t believe in your company

    If you don’t believe in your company, express yourself and look to make change. If you don’t believe in your company and change won’t or isn’t happening, leave! You won’t be successful if you stay.

53. Focus on the product

    It’s not the product your customers wants. It’s what your product does that prospects and customers are enticed by. Don’t focus on your product, focus on what it does.

    To get real good, focus on what it does specifically for your prospects and customers. They will thank you for it.

54. Ignore the business

    Just as you can’t focus on the product, you can’t ignore the business. What business is your customers and prospects in. Ignore the business and you might as well not have a product.

55. Be afraid

    Fear is good if you’re in the jungle. Fear is good if you’re thinking about cutting a rope while skiing. Fear is good when you’re looking at 20-foot swells the first time you go surfing. Fear is good when you’re life or the life of loved ones is in jeopardy.

    Fear has its place. It just has no place in sales.

56. You won’t ask for help

    You need help to scale. See #55. What are you afraid of? Ask for help. You don’t know it all. You haven’t seen it all. You don’t have all the answers. You aren’t as good if you do it alone. Show a little humility. Ask for help.

57. Not Fail

    If you aren’t failing, you aren’t learning. If you aren’t failing, you aren’t pushing yourself. If you don’t fail, you aren’t being creative. If you aren’t failing, you are not doing things different. If you aren’t failing, you aren’t succeeding.

    To succeed, you need to fail.

58. Quit

    You haven’t lost until you quit. Don’t quit!

59. Blame

    I know! It’s not your fault. But really, it is! Take accountability for your failures. Own your mistakes. Blaming is a cop out.

    Don’t blame!

60. Not have an online presence

    If you can’t be found online, do you really exist? More and more people; customers, prospects, recruiters, hiring managers, etc. look online to learn more about who they are working with. An online presence allows people to find you and your company. It allows people to engage with you before they need what you sell, so when they do need what you sell, they know to call you first.

    Not having an online presence will soon be the equivalent of having been in the 70′s or 80′s and not having a phone number or address on your business. Create a presence. Believe it or not, people want to know who you are.

61. Ignore the signs

    Don’t put your head in the sand. Your customers, the market, the competition, the industry will give you signs. You will get information throughout the year telling you what is going on, here things are good and where things aren’t so good. Don’t ignore the signs. They are trying to tell you something.

62. Ignore this list

    Go on, ignore it. See what happens.

The year is yours, what are you going to do?

Last week, I wrote a post about the information sale and the importance of being an expert. In it, I shared how being an expert and having more information is the key to successful sales. Here is the key quote from that post:

Information selling is quickly becoming a must. It’s no longer a secret weapon of great sales people. Customers and clients are busy. They won’t give up their time for a “pitch.” They don’t want to do the work themselves. They don’t want to add anything else to their plate. They want sales people to bring a lot more to the table than just a “pitch.”

What makes information selling interesting is it requires a tremendous amount of information. Sales people have to know more than just their product. They have to be experts . . .

To be an expert and have the amount of information required to be successful in the “information sale” sales people are going to need help. That help will need to come from marketing and sales operations.

A new role or division needs to be created within marketing. This new role will be solely responsible for providing sales with the teaching materials required for the information sale. This role will be heavily research dependent. It will be their job to provide sales with deep, robust industry information including; where the market is headed, what’s influencing the market, what’s changing, what’s getting old and what’s coming down the pike and more. This role will need to be THE company’s industry thought leader. The role will need to supply sales and its prospects with all the data and teaching material they can.

The role will have to provide more than data. It will need to be creative. It will need to find information and solutions customers are unaware of. It has to find and provide information that is new, fresh and impacting. The role should look and feel like an internal Gartner Group. If done correctly, the company and its sales people will be percieved as a go to resource for critical, strategic decisions customers and prospects make around your products and services.

Supporting sales no longer means providing slick, glossy, product sheets or spec sheets. It’s no longer about providing a cool flash based website.  More than ever, marketing has to bring some substance to the table. Marketing needs to teach the sales team to teach the customer.

Marketing, start thinking like this:

Create videos that shed light on a major external factor such as; a Senate bill, government mandate, new study or economic indicator and how that information could effect their business and the industry as a whole.

Do a study or survey regularly to get the pulse of the industry or it’s clients and publish the results on your website. Then provide an ebook or white paper on how to capitalize on the current industry sentiment.

Produce a monthly “state of the industry” newsletter highlighting what is going in the industry and how it is affecting your customers and their customers.

Do bi-weekly “how to” webinars targeting key industry challenges and how to solve them.

Create a “company college” or resource page on the website and load it up with useful industry information and resources; videos, ebooks, white-papers, links, book recommendations, webinars, podcasts etc. Establish your site as the place to go to LEARN more about what is going in the industry with the products and services you sell AND about the business challenges your company solves.

Teach sales how to use all the information you uncover.

Sales has to change. The information sale is demanding it. Therefore, it’s time for marketing to change. It’s time for marketing to bring some substance to the table. There is still room for flash in marketing, but NOT until there is substance. The substance is, valuable, relevant information your customers DON’T have.

Build a research department. Hire some industry experts, and start teaching your sales team and your customers.

Maybe we should call it the information identification and dissemination department? Nah, but that’s what they need to do. The market is demanding it!

This is a follow up to my post last week where I wrote about the information sale and the importance of being an expert.

Getting this information takes an incredible amount of time and effort and this is why the role of marketing and sales operations needs to change.

The key is to stop moving up!

I created this video to demonstrate what a real sales cycle looks like.  It will be part of the new A Sales Guy U, coming in January. If you are interested in getting the associated white paper on how to manage a real sales cycle, send me an email and I will send one to you.

The more we know how sales cycles work and how deals move, the better chance we have of controlling them.

With all the measuring sales does, there has been one measurement that rarely shows up on our dashboards. What makes it unique is, it is one of the very few measurements that is a leading indicator. It’s not hard to track. It provides tremendous visibility into the capabilities and skills of the sales team and it doesn’t require CRM or some cumbersome process. What wonderful metric are we missing that does all that? — Forecasting accuracy.

It’s not uncommon for companies to manage the forecast. At the beginning of the quarter everyone provides their monthly and quarterly numbers and then at the end of month and quarter the numbers have been hit or not. If the numbers have been exceeded everyone is thrilled. It the numbers are missed everyone is freaked out. Forecasting, unto itself is very common. What’s missing with most organizations is the accuracy component. In other words, few organizations measure forecasting accuracy throughout the year or how accurate their individual reps and sales leaders are in forecasting their sales numbers.

Why should accuracy matter?

I’ll answer that question with a question. How valuable would it be to you as the head of sales, the CEO, COO, V.P. of sales etc, to know within 95% accuracy, EXACTLY what the team is going to sell every month and quarter? How valuable would it be to know which sales reps are consistently 98% accurately forecasting their number and which reps never seem to be able to be anymore accurate than 80%?

Having the ability to accurately and consistently forecast is a key sales requirement. It ensures the sales people have strong grasp on what is happening in the sales cycle, how they are going to bring in a deal and when. Accurate forecasting removes the “thumb in the air” forecasting most organizations are subject to.

This is how I track forecasting accuracy by quarter:

This is for a team. I also track by individual rep this way. The goal for most organizations is to be with in 5-10% accurate on either side of the commit number. I encourage my clients to measure accuracy by quarter and by month. At the beginning of each quarter, each sales rep is required to give their manager a monthly and quarterly “Day 1″ commit. The Day 1 commit is what the final accuracy number is generated from. The managers then role up their commit, the VP’s etc. The goal is for each layer in the organization to consistently meet the accuracy numbers monthly and quarterly.

Holding sales people accountable to what they’re going to do each month and quarter minimizes the vicious swings sales organizations are prone to. It provides an accurate, forward looking indicator. When accuracy is being measured, exceeding the number is just as bad as missing it. Sandbagging is no longer possible. Sales people become more engaged in their business. They focus more on the trends and the buying habits of their customers. Sales reps understand if they don’t, they won’t be able to accurately forecast. They will miss their commit and missing commit is not OK.

Having an accurate, leading indicator like forecasted revenue is gold. Yet, few companies have it, fewer track it, and even fewer hold their sales teams accountable to it.

How accurate are your sales forecasts? Do you know who the most accurate sales reps are? You should, they know their business.

Sales People: How much are you going to do this month? How do you know? How sure are you, 50%, 75%, 100%?  What data are you using to make the call? Are you using the CRM to tell you? Do you use a discounting or probability adjustment method? Do you track your accuracy? What level of accuracy do you try to achieve? How often do you get it right? Can your sales leader count on your forecast?

The best sales leaders and the best sales people know ahead of time how much their going to do each month and each quarter. They know with a high degree of accuracy.

What is your forecasting accuracy; over the past month, quarter and year? Do you know?   You should.

personally i dont think you need to incentivise sales people at all, you dont pay a developer for every line of code.

It was from @dr_sales

I completely disagree with @dr_sales. I think, if possible, every position and every job should be structured similar to sales. Everyone should have a quota! Sales is one of the only jobs I can think of where there is very little subjectivity to measuring success. In sales you are measured against quota. You are making it or you aren’t. Unlike most other jobs sales people aren’t allowed to hide behind “effort”. Effort is where most under performers hide. My kids are pros at this. “Dad, I tried.” “Trying” being the end goal. If we try and try really hard, then hey what else can you ask for.

Incentivising people rewards them for accomplishing critical tasks, objectives and goals. It takes the focus away from trying. To suggest people aren’t already incented is missing reality. Incentives exitist whether or not they are consciously put in place. They are subliminal and overt, implicit and explicit. The desire for promotions, pats on the back, additional responsibility, accolades or the feeling of a job well done are all forms of incentives. It’s the alignment of motivation with effort that makes incentives so valuable. When we don’t provide deliberate incentives we default to varying incentives that are different from person to person and don’t align motivations.

The key to successful organizations is motivated employees. When employees are motivated in a deliberate and explicit direction productivity increases. I think organizations of all types need to consider how to create positions that have definable and measurable goals that can be compensated against. I don’t think all of someones salary should be performance based or variable, but like sales, a good portion of it should be. I also think if folks can exceed those goals they should be able to make more.

In response to @dr_sales, yes coders should be incentivised. Why shouldn’t they be paid on how quickly or efficiently they can code, or how few bugs their code has or how flexible or elegant the code is. I’m not a coder, wish I were, but I bet there is a simple and effective way to build an incentive program for IT organizations. With a lot of creativity and commitment, I can see incentive programs in Finance, HR, Marketing and other operational organizations. I’m not talking “bonus” programs that deliver bonuses over and above base salary, but real, incentive, variable compensation that can be tied to specific employee performance.

Aligning incentives with performance changes the playing field. Trying no longer is the goal. It ensures complete consistency in objectives and goals. It puts the entire organization on the same page. It minimizes the politics and the grandstanding. It makes it harder to hide. I realize this is a difficult effort for some positions and in some companies. But before we say it can’t be done, a little creativity might be in order. Incentives work. We have 100′s of year of sales data to prove it. So, what’s every so afraid of? Oh, yeah. They’d have to be accountable.

Prospect>Qualifiy>Opportunity>Propose>Evaluation>Negotiate>Commitment>Closed/Won

The words can vary, but almost all sales processes or pipelines are linear and offer very little in the way of actually selling value.

Most sales processes are simple and clean phrases designed to tell management where a deal is in relation to closing.  What they should be is an outline of the specific steps, decisions, requirements and processes that are part of your customers buying process.  Every company, product and service is naturally bound to a buying process or a set of steps that are almost always present during the selling process.  A good example of this is the test drive.  If you are a car salesperson, what do you think the chances are you will sell a car without a test drive?  I suspect the probability is rather low.  Therefore, the test drive is a critical step in car selling, sales process.   Not understanding the importance of the test drive in evaluating the probability of selling a car is a huge handicap.   In the example above, where is the “test drive”  What stage should it be in?  Why?  Without the test drive specifically called out in the sales process the pipeline model above does very little to give context to the actual selling elements.

If you want to build a really good sales process, you have to understand how your customers buy.  You have to know what’s most important to them, how they evaluate new products and services, how and when they allocate budget, who needs to be involved, how decision are made, how terms and deals are negotiated, etc.  Knowing how the customer buys gives you the ability to map your sales process with the buying process of the prospects.

If you know that 80% of the time you sold your widget, you gave a demo, it was put in the customers lab, marketing had to sign off, and you had to get procurement to buy off, you have the beginning of your sales process.  These real world, buying triggers can now be put into a stage like above, taking a linear process and making it vertical as well.   Demo could be under “Qualify,” preventing any unqualified customer from moving to an opportunity that didn’t get a demo.  Lab implementation could be part of the evaluation phase. Marketing sign off could be in the propose phase.  Each phase consists of real world buying actions or triggers that outline HOW the actual buying steps prospects and customers take occur.

A well crafted sales process provides more insight about the customer than it does about your sales organization. It measures how well your sales organization is aligned with the buying habits of your customers. It prevents sales from selling the “wrong way” to the right people.

We’ve spent years with a narrow, introspective view of a sales processes.  They’ve been designed to help sales organizations get a handle on close rates, probabilities of close, forecasting etc.  The problem is, they rarely map to how the customer buys.  They haven’t aligned with the customers buying process. Customers buy the way they want. They have evaluation and decision processes. They have authority hierarchies. Therefore, to have a sales process that truly provides the accuracy and data to run an efficient sales organization, requires a sales process that looks exactly how your customers buy.

Know how you customer buys. It makes all the difference.