Unlike other performance athletes ― salespeople are expected to compete forty eight weeks or more every year.

Nearly all performance sports are structured in a way so that the athlete actually competes at a small fraction of their time in comparison to the time spent developing strategy, refining skills and training and recovering.

Sales managers for some bizarre reason believe their salespeople needn’t subscribe to the same approach. This false belief limits their sales people’s success and ultimately leads to fatigue and underperformance.

To be at their best salespeople need to be fresh in mind, body and spirit. When we are tired and under mental stress, not only does our performance suffer but the pleasures associated with what we do diminish, rapidly. I habitually ask salespeople with low motivation levels, ‘if they were succeeding more would they be more motivated?’ The overwhelming response is always a resounding, ‘yes!’

In many cases, it’s not the company nor the role a salesperson is unsatisfied with, it’s the fact they are not receiving validation for effort. As a sales manager, be sure to understand what is truly motivating your team (and individuals within it) as this could mean the difference between a salesperson becoming your best asset as opposed to leaving and becoming your competitor’s advantage.

It’s common for a CFO, or sales manager that possesses little or no relevant sales experience, to be the person who sets the annual sales budget and target. These figures are pulled from the ether and usually based on leveraging costs and profit percentage increases. In this case, there is scant regard for what constitutes a realistic target that also factors in changes in the economy. As a result targets rarely go down from year-to-year, instead they usually track north. Meaning, salespeople are forced to run themselves into the ground chasing shadows without regular timeouts to reflect, refine, and rejuvenate.

The old cliché; ‘people dont leave a company they leave a manager’ is correct. So too, salespeople leave a sales manager, particularly those that set pie in the sky expectations that stifle validation.

Give your best people the support they need with habitual training, realistic goals, related incentives, guiding processes, and most of all inspirational leadership. Let them take some space to rest and refine their strategy when they need it. This will result in greater stamina, enhanced performance and ultimately more sales.

Inspire,

Trent Leyshan

Sales Training

Process is essential to success in all areas of business.

Even creative people have a process for manifesting inspiration. In sales a successful process allows you to work by a consistent set of operating principles that guide and support you towards realising an outcome. This outcome can then be replicated time and again.

A lack of expertise in moving customers through an engagement process is commonly flagged by management as, “poor lead generation or closing ability from salespeople.” More accurate is both these points of failure are merely symptoms of a much larger problem: poor process. In that instance, where the process starts or finishes are determined by the customers and not salespeople.

A Doctor has a proven process for identifying and determining a patient’s appropriate course of medical treatment. A builder has process for moving a project from plan to lock-up. Athletes adhere to processes to maximise their performance. Equally, all salespeople should and are empowered when they work by a simple and well defined best practice process.

Process can be as simple as three steps or as complex and elaborate as you need. In my experience, process works best when it’s simple to understand and easy to deliver. Each step of the process should provide both salesperson and customer with the right information to make the right decision in order to move the process forward.

Your best salespeople are most likely already working by a conscious or unconscious sales process. This needs to be identified and then mapped and demonstrated by all team members. The key word here is: buy-in. “No why, no buy” applies to customers and salespeople. If they don’t understand the benefits they won’t engage with it. Regular training, collaborative strategy sessions and role-playing help to embed a sales process into a team and ensure its consistently utilised.

A process will lend itself to measurement. This makes developing team members more effective as you can chunk down their areas for development and augment their strengths.  The beauty of a successful sales process is that even less experienced salespeople can make it work. Such is the power of process.

Inspire,

Trent Leyshan

Sales Training

The short answer is, no. However, my experience suggests the better you get along with your customers, the more meaningful the relationship becomes.

One this is for sure, if you dont like your customers, you must at the very least share a likeness with them. And the best form of likeness is: their best interests.

“I dont really like you, but I still really care about you.”

Is a powerful mantra I embed into service based businesses.  Even if you don’t like some of your customers’ ― you still better service the pants off them, and enjoy doing so. Is that ‘idealistic,’ you bet! But in today’s hyper-competitive market, anything less is settling for mediocrity and we all know how that story ends.

Without some sort of commonality human relationships are merely surface level, “Eh… take ‘em or leave ‘em” and “easy come ― easy go” ― you know how it goes. These types of relationships hold little intrinsic value to either party, making them transactional at best.

I am staggered by the amount of companies that take an ‘easy come ― easy go’ approach to customer development. It’s as if they believe there is a never-ending pipe of happy customers lined-up with their eyes shut and wallets open. I’m also not surprised by their limited success.

“Customers want meaning; give them that and you will have them for life.”

I make a living by helping companies get the most out of their sales activities and customer relationships, so in my world, ‘sales’ and ‘service’ go hand in hand. Yet so many companies fail to understand this. They try hard to win new-business, and sometimes do, but then someone along the service chain lets the customer down, in a small or significant way ― leaving the self-respecting customer with little choice but to move on. And in the process taking their valuable repeat business and friends with them!

I recently had an experience with a real-estate agent in Melbourne. Initially my experience with this company via the salesperson was great. It’s safe to say if I was to sell a property in this area, this company would have been top of mind. However, I later dealt with the property manager at this company and my experience with her was nothing short of horrendous. She had zero customer service skills and tried her best to bully me using legal jargon in the hope I wouldn’t call her bluff. Well I did call her bluff and she eventually backed down, but not before my perception of this company was completely annihilated. 

A week or so after this incident a salesperson from this same company then called me to explore my interest in buying a property they had listed. You can guess my response, and yes it may have contained the F-bomb! I have also told everyone I know about this real-estate company, so my negative experience has multiplied exponentially.

Does the self-focused property manager care about all this? Clearly not. Does she care about empowering her company and sales team? Absolutely not! Cleary the property manager didn’t like me, I could tell from her tone in our first conversation she considered me a problem, or a waste of her precious time. I appreciate property managers are busy and many under-valued, but I dont care about that because I’m the client and I’m paying! And I am just like every other customer on the planet when it comes to this philosophy. So it’s worth understanding.

The property manager didn’t have to like me, but she could have at least shared a likeness with me. This creates meaning with anyone you deal with, not only customers and it’s the most powerful (zero cost) way that I know of to build valuable long lasting customer relationships.

Inspire,

Trent Leyshan, Founder ― BOOM! Sales

When you get a bunch of ‘Type A’ personalities together who are driven and outcome focused, two types of team states commonly form: ‘Fabricated Harmony’ or ‘Genuine Conflict’.

‘Genuine Conflict’ is when team members don’t get along but willingly live with their differences in exchange for a pay packet. There are no team values or value in the team. Sometimes team members align but it’s usually short lived as the competitive forces and jostling for rewards and recognition takes priority. Attrition is high, but players’ dont seem to mind, as it means one less internal competitor and is part of the game. Managers reward sales success above all else, even at the detriment of other team members and even some clients.

‘Fabricated Harmony’ is when team members’ dont like each-other but pretend they do to avoid conflict. In this type of environment team members seldom engage in meaningful conversations; are afraid to show real emotions; rarely challenge the opinions of stronger personalities, preferring to see how the penny drops and not be accountable when something goes wrong. Team values are stated, but not clearly communicated and demonstrated. When business is good, the values are forgotten. When times are less prosperous the values magically appear as leverage to dismiss poor performers.

Last year, I worked with a successful web development company and sat in on a number of management meetings. What I observed was; ‘Fabricated Harmony’. When a team member expressed an idea other managers disagreed with, they lowered their heads in silent protest and disengaged. Most were not comfortable sharing their emotions and passion with the others. There was little honest and open dialogue around differences of opinion. Their leadership culture was passive-aggressive and no one knew where they stood. After each meeting managers would return to their silos and laugh, bicker and complain until the next meeting. As a result the company struggled to successfully integrate new leaders and suffered high staff turnover.

In the other extreme, yet equally damaging, I recently worked with a retail client who felt the need (for his own valid reasons) to challenge and complain about the behaviour of his business partner, the only problem was he was having these conversations with staff.  He felt he had no one else to talk with who would understand and validate his frustrations, so the staff became his emotional dumping ground. This not only caused confusion and de-motivation amongst staff; it set a (negative) tone for how everyone communicates and engages one another and of course clients. When a company doesn’t control conflict, the conflict controls the company.  In this instance one of the business owners ended-up moving on; but not before several key staff did also.

If I had to choose between being in a team that demonstrates ‘Genuine Conflict’ or ‘Fabricated Harmony’, I would select the former, because at least you know where you stand with this team. What I won’t condone in a team is ‘Fabricated Harmony’: surface level engagement, rumours, gossip and back stabbing towards others not present to defend themselves. I’d rather work with a sales team that genuinely doesn’t get along but is honest, than be in a team that is inauthentic with each other. In a team held together by ‘Fabricated Harmony’ individual success is paramount, making constructive collaboration and team growth impossible, if not always counterintuitive. I wouldn’t last long in a team with ‘Genuine Conflict’ either, these companies churn and burn staff and is not a place for anyone with a thin skin.

There is a third and more powerful choice: ‘Genuine Harmony’. In this team everyone understands collaboration, contrast, debate and constructive feedback. Passionate conversations ensue and fighting for great ideas and grand ideals is encouraged. In these teams, most of the time, everyone plays while they work, but when the hard yards are required there are no passengers. Team member’s dont back-stab, instead they back-each-other and are not scared to voice their opinions and show real emotions. Meetings can sometimes be hostile, but when a decision is made, everyone leaves their agenda at the door and walks forward together. Team members are accountable even if their own idea didn’t fly, this time.

‘Genuine Harmony’ is a higher state of team consciousness that transcends ego and competition. Everyone shares the same values, contributes equally and works together and the team success takes precedence over individual success.

If your team aren’t getting along but are operating in a state of ‘Genuine Harmony’, I say hats off to you as their manager you’re doing your job, so keep up the great work!

Inspire,

Trent Leyshan