THE SALESMANS NOOSE

THE SALEMANS NOOSE

Set up to fail 

I love watching the markets and seeing stocks soar, I can’t get enough of Autobiographies of individuals whose companies have beaten the odds and produced results and I’m comfortable with stories of companies that make their numbers despite their challenges.

However, give me one CEO that turns on his sales staff when the growth is not there and I immediately put on my boxing gloves.

Sales people are an easy target – the business doesn’t grow so it must be sales. Sales people already have a stigma they have to overcome – where’s the business?

While an operator has to comply with the operating procedure they are given, sales people are expected to provide the magic that keeps that operator busy. Is it fair? No, but it’s the space that a good salesperson likes to occupy.

The salesperson has a lot of factors that differentiate failure from another - grab at staying in the game, mediocre to good and good to great. These are all pretty well documented.

Its starts with your domineer, the way you dress, the way you communicate with staff, your activity, your close ratio, your attitude after you close an account and your reason for being there – don’t underestimate the ability of customers and staff to read between the lines.

These are all factors that can be managed by the salesperson – but the one factor, and in my opinion the most important factor, that is out of their control, is the culture they work in.

I worked in a business where they had a high profile Sales Director, a great sales team but a CEO that had no respect for his staff. It’s a tiny piece of the Global company’s contribution so it always under the radar. The CEO had no people or sales skills and the team shuddered when he wanted to go on a call with them and regretted when they did. He got his salary, he was content but his sales team were always under pressure.

So What is the salesman’s noose.

So why am I making such a noise about company culture – surely if you get the job done you should be on track – that’s what drives customer perceptions. The challenge is that in the New Economy, the basics just aren’t good enough. If you aren’t smarter than the thousands of degreed analysts they have or you aren’t positioned to talk about the next shift the economy, somebody else is and they will get the business.

However, my frustration sits in the fact that everything you read about corporate culture and its importance in the organization leads you directly to the same factors – define the type of business you want to be, set your values accordingly and get organizational buy in.

But, how do you get organizational buy in – it’s a suitcase phrase. How do you measure it? Staff surveys (The worst starting point), Customer surveys – I would like to see the stats on requests sent out vs. responses received  - is that measured? The metrics are different per industry and per customer in a specific industry.

“You were born to win, but to be a winner, you must plan to win, prepare to win, and expect to win.” — Zig Ziglar

Now I put a Cat amongst the Pigeons – ignore the wonderful growth statement’s ,how many of your leaders actually support you, take the punch on the ones you lose and let you glow in the ones you win ?

In simple terms it comes down to company culture, leadership and the appetite for change.

Culture

If you work through the literature there are a whole lot of theories, but I want to focus on growth. Why spend time on a myriad of stats if your business is not going forward.

A typical culture will have you working through vision, values, practices, people and how you disseminate the information.

Don’t get lost in analysis paralysis

It’s actually quite simple:

1. Do you have clear and defined targets?
2. Where do your targets form part of the national plan
3. Are you aware of where you contribution fits within the total picture – i.e. what is managements contribution?
4. Are you rewarded for your effort
5. Are you valued for your effort
6. Does your CEO want to be involved in your sales process

• Do your operators encourage you to bring on more business.

A salespersons biggest challenge is the fight they face internally. It’s easy for a CEO to set a growth target, give his sales director an open cheque book and a big target.

I would like to put that CEO with the hot potatoes and see the strength of his character.