Recently I launched a LinkedIn poll that asked the following question on Why most sales professionals fail:
Although I was not surprised with the results, 57% of responses said that a "Lack of Consistency" was the the main reason for the failure. Determination and Accountability were behind Consistency, but this clearly shows that many owners and managers notice a huge epidemic of not carrying through on particular tasks and activities.
Over the years I have noticed that many sales professionals have a high turnover rate and tend to jump from job to job. However, when you look at the Elite few of sales professionals that make good earnings, they typically tend to stay with the company they represent and only leave if they get capped or do not have the opportunity to advance further with their earnings or position.
When it comes to consistency, I wanted to share some hard facts that will explain why Sales Professionals are continuing to fail while providing some insight on how this can be improved.
- It takes an average of 8 cold call attempts to reach a prospect.
- It is important to be quick to respond if your in sales, 30-50% of sales goes to the vendor that responds first.
- 80% of sales require 5 follow up calls after meeting, 44% of sales reps give up after one call.
- If you're not learning you're not growing, continuous training gives 50% higher net sales per sales person.
- It takes 10 months on average for a sales person to be fully productive
So what do we do about this? Why are your sales professionals continuing to be a revolving door for your business with no proven results. Well as much as consistency is an issue, it is important to look from the top down to see where the disconnect is.
I strongly believe accountability from yourself or your management team is an underlying issue for executing consistency. Yes, I say to myself all the time, I am hiring grown adults and they should not have to have their hands held, but at the end of the day this is your business and up to you to set the standards for success.
Let's examine these five key points and address each in detail.
- How to make sure my sales professional is consistently responding past 8 times to connect with a prospect.- This is quite simple, but you have to examine what metrics, CRM, and follow up processes that you have in place to make sure this is happening. Put yourself in the shoes of your prospect. How many times a day do you get an email, phone call or visit from someone trying to sell you something? How many times do they follow up? The key is they don't even make it on your radar if they aren't persistent. Especially if they truly believe in what they sell or represent and how it can benefit your business, ultimately making you more revenue or profit. It is important to have weekly objectives and reports to document what is happening all while revisiting them from week to week and month to month. This way a follow up can be directed and accountability for consistency can be executed in place.
- Are my sales professionals responding with urgency to potential customers that reach out? This is a pet peeve that I have had for sometime. From an early age, I was mentored to make sure when someone reaches out, that I was to respond quickly. Now many professionals think that this creates a negative work life balance, but again if you are in sales and working to drive new revenue streams, why would you not want to be easily available to deliver answers and possibly services/products to a potential clients. This was extremely critical in the restoration industry because of the 24 hour nature of the work. When leading a sales team, it was required that they had their phone on 24/7, including holidays to be ready to respond. I can't tell you how many jobs were acquired simply because a competitor did not pick up the phone in the time of an emergency.
- Why are my sales professionals not following up after a meeting? This is a common issue that many companies face. Sales people work so hard to get a meeting, present, and then do not follow up or engage for additional questions and feedback. Keep in mind your prospective targets do not sit around all day waiting to make decisions that are in line with you. They have a million of other things to do and it is important that you stay on the radar and hopefully an opportunity will arise for the door to open. This again is an accountability issue from the top down, where as an owner or manager you need to be tracking every meeting and how many times a follow up has been initiated.
- What continual training is being provided for your sales team? This tends to be a factor that is holding so many individuals with potential back. We spend so much money hiring and recruiting the right sales person, but fail to provide ongoing industry and sales education thereafter. This is one of the reasons we launched "Restoration Sales University" in the Restoration Industry. Especially for owners and operators that do not have a sales background. But keep in mind we live in an era where information is easily accessible via the internet/books to provide unlimited amounts of education. Yes, it takes time, but successful sales people will most likely use their personal time to learn and grow in their trade.
- Why does it take so long for my sales professional to be fully productive? Patience is a key component with any sales position for your company. Yes there are situations where a sales person moves from another company and has a book of business, but in most cases there is a learning period from hiring, that a new rep has to learn the business, and relevant systems and processes. However, many reps are let go, or they give up if that roadmap is not clearly laid out. I call this selling blind, which is when the accountability for consistency is not put in place from your leadership team. This clearly shows that consistent execution of systems and processes are key for a sales professional in your industry to be productive within the 10 month time frame.
So where do you go from here?
First, it is critical to look within your organization and see if you have the right people in place that can create and execute the systems and processes needed for sales professionals to be successful. It doesn't matter what industry you are in, without a plan, you are designing a system for failure.
Last year, we launched a program called Tier Level Elite that is designed to help on two levels. The first level is a fully, executable remote management program designed to set systems and hold your sales team accountable. The second level is for organizations that have a Sales Manager or Director but looking to build out a system that can be implemented for long term success. The key factors of this program revolve around the three key areas of Determination, Consistency and Accountability. We have seen great results so far and the accountability factor is key for making positive habitual changes.
In some cases you might not have the right people or there are too many bad habits to break. I would be more than happy to do a no cost assessment with you to evaluate your current state of your sales efforts for your business. Email me at [email protected]
and we can schedule a time to speak via zoom.
As we travel into 2022, I wish for nothing but unlimited success for your business. My passion is to help provide educational content and resources that will help make this year the best ever for your organization. Please do not hesitate to reach out at anytime.
