Sales: A Force For Good

Please join us every 2 weeks at Sales: A Force For Good, 1700-1800 (UK)

https://www.dhirubhai.net/groups/12530021/

This article is intended to spark debate and thought. None of what is written here is set in stone around the movement #SalesAForceForGood . Please give some serious thought to what you believe is needed to build the future of our profession and turn sales into an infinite game where our purpose is to keep the game going and increase the size of the pie for all, not a finite game where we win, you lose, or worse, we play not to lose.

?Here are some initial ideas and values which are up for discussion. I intend for them to act as catalysts to fuel debate and I hope, inspire you to put forward your ideas:

1.????The pie gets bigger when all our decisions and actions start with the customer at their heart and we have an infinite mindset

2.????We exist because of the customer, not in spite of them. We create value for customers.

3.????Customers are our partners. Partners help each other get better. We hold each other to account with equal business stature and mutual respect.

4.????We will behave as to elevate sales into an aspirational career choice and salespeople as the drivers of value in the world economy

5.????Sales doesn’t exist in a vacuum. Marketing, sales and customer success must be aligned to help the customer achieve their intended outcomes

6.????We need to think differently about the customer to prevent entitlement and complacency from creeping in. Perhaps we can consider customers as paying prospects to maintain our sense of urgency, curiosity and service

7.????Recognition systems in the future will drive positive behaviours & ethics, rewarding all who contributed to success for the customer. We will design out unintended negative consequences from our compensation & recognition schemes such as unethical selling, transactional pressure, politics, selfish-selling, selling to hit quota instead of because it is right for the customer

8.????Motivation varies from person to person. Managers must be equipped to understand and adapt to the individual drivers of each of their salespeople

9.????Good sales management is not negotiable. Managers deserve to be trained BEFORE being promoted to management

10.?Good coaching is every great sales manager’s superpower. It is too important to allow other pressures to get in the way of a regular cadence with each salesperson

11.?Accountability is every salesperson’s personal responsibility. It is not something that is done to them. They hold themselves to account

12.?Quarterly reporting cycles in privately owned companies make no sense. That is putting the financial cart before the “building a better future” horse

13.?Investors should invest only because they want to help the company to be successful, and in doing so, they will reap a healthy return

14.?We should only prospect for lifetime customers. Hitting our quota is not an imperative for the customer

15.?A strong sales pipeline is the lifeblood of every salesperson’s business. It is the number 1 responsibility of great salespeople. Nothing and no one must take precedence over the need to maintain a healthy, qualified sales pipeline

16.?Every great sales leader has an operating rhythm. If you don’t know what one is, ask for help to develop one.

17.?Bad hires in sales are often the highest hidden cost in any business. Recruitment is too important to leave to chance. Managers need to be trained how to recruit effectively, predictively and to take recruitment and hiring seriously. It is THE most important part of their role and not an unwelcome interruption to their day job.

18.?Candidates need to be respected, treated fairly and reasonably, and not exploited. They need to derive value from the recruitment and hiring process. They should be paid for undertaking project work and never milked for free consulting or competitive intelligence

19.?Companies should be honest about their intentions surrounding hiring and recruitment.

20.?Onboarding is too important to be left to chance, is more than cursory product training and a quick run through the employee handbook. Onboarding should help EVERY new hire know

a.????What they need to know

b.????By when they need to know it

c.????Where they can find it

d.????What standard they are expected to meet

e.????How they will be measured

f.?????What the red flags are

g.????The consequences of performance and non-performance

h.????How non-performance will be escalated

21.?Onboarding should take at least 120 days which is the time a new hire is putting the company on probation – “Is this the job I was sold?”, “Is my boss an arse?”, “Do I like the people?”, “Am I a fit?”, “Is this the company they told me it was?”, “Will I be better off elsewhere?”, “Have I made a mistake?”, Can I do this job?”, “Do I like the customers, the products, the culture?”

22.?Sales training is not product training. Customer rent outcomes for as long as they deliver what they need. They do not buy products or services, They do not buy features and benefits. Product training needs to answer the questions “Why?”, “So what?” and “Who cares?”, “How does that relate to the customer’s needs and desired outcomes?” and “How do I use that information to sell it?”

23.?No salesperson is EVER the finished article. Anyone who considers that they don’t need ongoing training AND coaching is a liability to your business

24.?Prior planning prevents piss poor performance. We believe that we must put in at least 3 minutes of preparation for every minute we are speaking to or in front of the prospect. Lack of preparation due to bad planning or ineffective scheduling on our part is a disciplinary offence.

25.?7:8 first meetings on average never make it to a second meeting. This is a problem given the cost, time and effort (between 33 to 46 dials to secure 1 effective and 1 in 14 effectives on average result in a first meeting) it takes to secure a qualified first meeting. It is an act of gross incompetence, perhaps misconduct to turn up unprepared and to fail to agree a clear next step.

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Please add your suggestions.

What do we need to fix? To change? To keep?

Everything is up for discussion. Then I suggest we pick 5 areas that we are going to work on as a community over the next 90 days to fashion into a mission.