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Category Archives: Sales Blog

Successful Coaching: How to Be a Better Manager

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I’ll say it right up front.  I love coaching.  I’m very passionate about it, and the reason is that when coaching is done successfully, the coach can see the results as they happen.  My first real experience as a true coach came in my first sales management job, and in that experience, I realized that successful coaching is a partnership between the coach and the coachee.  My most recent coaching experience reminds me of that, and in this article, I’ll outline how to make coaching work.

First, I’d like to point out one critical aspect of coaching.  Coaching is an individual process and a collaborative process.  That means that coaching is not training (which typically is a group experience with a defined curriculum), nor is it discipline and dictation (which is a “do this or else” process).  Successful coaching requires investment of energy from both parties, and if either party drops the ball, their efforts will not be successful.

With that said, here is the basic coaching process:

  1. Seeing the coachee in action: I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. You can’t coach from your desk.  The only way to coach sales behavior is to observe them live and in person.  That means doing ride-alongs, listening in on phone calls, or watching them on video calls (whichever is their main venue).  Only seeing them in action gives you the real-world perspective you need to be able to coach accurately and fairly.
  2. Identify a behavior (or behaviors) that, if changed, will increase the coachee’s success. Everyone has behaviors that can be improved upon.  Your job, as a coach, is to identify those behaviors and come up with a plan for improving them.  One word of caution here.  The rule of three applies – never ask your coachee to change more than three behaviors at a time; if you do, they will likely just shut down.
  3. Sell the new behavior to them. The best coaches are also salespeople; they understand that the best route to change is through selling the benefits, not dictating.  Explain how it benefits the coachee (not you) to change the behavior, how they will be more successful, have more fun on the job, etc.
  4. Gain the coachee’s buy in. Now, ask the coachee how they feel about the new behavior, and if they agree that it could help.  Failing that, ask if they at least buy in enough to give it a full-throated try.  If you’ve done a good job of selling the behavior to them, gaining commitment to give it a whirl shouldn’t be difficult.
  5. Role play the new behavior. Now, role-play the new behavior with them to see if they grasp the basics.
  6. Put them in a situation to implement the new behavior as soon as possible. Now it’s time to get real; they should be placed in a real-world situation ASAP to use that new behavior.  It’s even better if you are present to again use this as a coaching opportunity.
  7. Follow up periodically. Make sure that the new behavior is now part of their professional repertoire; also, make sure that the change is generating the results desired.
  8. Re-coach. A coach’s work is never done.  Now it’s time to continue the coaching process by finding new opportunities.  Remember, even your very best team members can improve.

If your coachee is open to change and improvement, trait-fit for the job (this is critical), and is willing to put in the hard work and effort, great things can be accomplished.  A client of mine recently had this experience.  We had identified two sales managers whose performance was marginal, and frankly, they were potential turnover candidates.  We made the decision to invest time in coaching them.  My client did a great job of coaching them up, and now, a year later, those same two sales managers are being groomed to be given more responsibility in a promotion to Regional Manager.  Those are the moments that make any coach proud.

People are not disposable.  Yes, sometimes we have to terminate substandard employees – but it’s usually worth the time investment to attempt to coach them up first.  I don’t have patience for employees who won’t do the hard work that the job requires, but I do have patience with employees who simply haven’t been given the skills to succeed yet.  Successful coaching is the most critical skill that any manager has, and the most gratifying.  Make sure you take the time to be the best coach you can be.  I do, and I love it.

How to Make Classroom Training Effective

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A few days ago, I saw a post on LinkedIn asking, “Is classroom sales training effective?” Unfortunately, like most of these threads, it quickly devolved into post after post of sales trainers saying, “Well, no, most isn’t – but MINE is!” I honestly hate that, because some people are looking for real information about this topic. So, I’ll answer as best I can and I won’t mention my training; if you want to learn about it, you’re more than welcome to, but that’s not what this article is.

The truth is that classroom training gets a bad rap. If classroom learning didn’t work, why would we spend all those years going to school? And don’t give me that “but adults learn differently” stuff. They might – a little – but classroom training still can be very effective. But making it effective requires work – on the part of the trainer, on the part of the trainees, and on the part of management. I’ve been doing classroom training for 20 years, and here are the key elements I’ve discovered.

BEFORE THE TRAINING:

• The trainer should learn about your company, what you do, and what specific functions your people perform, and how that will impact the training.
• The trainer should prepare enough to be at least conversant with the language of the trainees. He/she doesn’t need to know as much about the specific work environment as the trainees – that is unrealistic – but at least the basic terminology; the trainer should incorporate this into the training materials.
• The manager should be open to conversation with the trainer. Sometimes, managers will want to hold back on their true impressions of their staff a bit to have the trainer ‘evaluate’ their people during the training. This is the wrong approach. The trainer’s job is to educate, not evaluate; if you want a second opinion on your staff, this should be a separate project. Sure, all trainers – myself included – will gain impressions and will probably share them, but this shouldn’t be their prime mission. If you want the best training experience, help your trainer help each person get the most from the experience.
• The manager should set expectations with his or her staff. Those expectations should include sharing the trainer’s bio, their agenda (the trainer should provide you with these items), and what the expectations for both learning and conduct will be. For instance, staff should know beforehand that phones should be silenced, side conversations kept to a minimum, etc.

DURING THE TRAINING:

• The training should be as interactive as possible; nobody wants to listen to a talking head all day. The trainer should break up the lectures with exercises, role plays, and other ways to get staff involved.
• The manager should be in the training session. I can’t emphasize this enough. Talk to any trainer – myself included – and they will tell you that the worst and least productive training sessions they have ever done have been those where the key manager is absent. This means that the manager doesn’t know what’s being taught and doesn’t know how to follow up later, and it means that the conduct of the staff can be unproductive.
• Which leads me to this. The staff’s conduct should be professional and they should participate. It’s okay to have fun – good training should be fun – but the primary mission is to learn. On a (fortunately very) few occasions, I’ve had training programs that felt like Romper Room. The trainees just basically played around, talked among themselves, etc. “But it’s the trainer’s responsibility to control the room!” Not really, to be honest. I’m there (and other trainers are there) to help staff learn important techniques to help them succeed. I’m not there to babysit, and frankly, if your staff needs much “controlling,” you have deeper problems than a training program.

AFTER THE TRAINING:

• Most training fails to affect behavior because the training ends when the trainer walks out of the room. To make sure that the training bears fruit, the manager (who was in the training, remember) should reinforce what is taught with follow-up exercises, role plays, and on-the-job observation. Most of the time, less than 20% of what is taught makes it into the actual workplace. Good follow up can radically raise this number.
• The trainer should give some tips or guidance on how to follow up with staff. This can be written or verbal, and it can be as simple as showing the manager how to use the workbook to create future training and dialogue. If the trainer has an advanced program, milestones can be set up to trigger when that program is appropriate.

As a trainer, the most gratifying aspect of my work is when a trainee tells me that they have used my training to make money. The worst aspect of my work is finding out that the training died in the training room. In either case, proper preparation, in-training conduct, and follow up makes all the difference in the world. You’re investing the time and money in training. Invest just a little bit more and make it stick in the workplace.

Five Tips for Maximizing Video Selling

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Last time out, I discussed the top trends in selling coming out of Covid-19.  If you haven’t read that one, you should read it now.  But, the #1 trend that I have identified, and that I think will be evergreen (meaning it will outlast Covid-19 and the aftermath) is the increasing use of video in selling.

With everyone working from home, more and more people have gotten comfortable with video conferencing, whether it’s a Zoom call or a different platform.  And many of those people have found it to be a time-efficient way to have meetings.  Those people may want to continue to use video conferencing when you are selling to them – so you might as well make it good.  Here are five ways you can maximize video as a sales tool.

  1. Ask for the upgrade. I said before that video selling lies between two-dimensional (phone) and three-dimensional (in person) activity.  So, when your contact wants to set a phone appointment up (you are making appointments for your phone calls, right?), ask for an upgrade.  “I’d be happy to have a call with you at that time – but would you rather have a Zoom call?”  Remember, more people are familiar with this technology than ever before. On video you can get more cues to and from your buyer – so the more calls you can upgrade from phone to video, the better off you’ll be.
  2. Respect the request. On the other hand, if your customer requests that you meet through video instead of in person, respect that.  Right now, many people are still leery of face-to-face meetings, and if your customer is one of them, you could put them off by pushing for a face to face meeting.  Accept the video call.
  3. Make sure your video is right. The great thing about video is that you have control over the visuals.  Think through your equipment and your backdrop.  Today’s laptops and phones have very high quality HD cameras on them, so that’s not a problem – but the camera lens should be at eye level (so you are making quality eye contact with your customer) and you should be looking AT THE LENS instead of at the screen.  That one’s difficult.    The backdrop should be interesting but free of anything off-color or distracting.  The lighting should be at your front and not your back.  You may want to get a good quality external microphone (mine is a Blue Yeti).  The best way to ascertain all of this is to set up as you would for a call, and then shoot some video of you talking.  Practice and get comfortable.
  4. Learn the technology. Right now, there are many different technologies out there.  They all have their pluses and minuses.  My best advice to you is to pick a technology that you like, get really comfortable with it, and then when you do schedule a video call, you be the person who does the inviting, rather than expect the customer to do so.  I will freely admit that I myself have been a bit tardy on this one.  That said – if your customer already has a preferred tech, go with it – which means you need to be conversant with many platforms and not just your own.
  5. Show up ten minutes early. The same rules apply for this as for a face to face call.  If you’re going to participate in a video call, you should log on ten minutes early, whether it’s your tech and platform or theirs.  If you’re on early, that means that when they log on they don’t have to wait for you; if it’s theirs, that means that if there are any technological hoops you didn’t know about (such as an app to download), you have time to do it before it’s meeting time.

Video calling is something we are going to be working with forever now, at least until someone invents a hologram so we can project ourselves into the customer’s office.  Do these things and you’ll be very effective at it, and you’ll beat salespeople who aren’t.

How to Make Rules For Your Sales Team

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How to Make Rules For Your Sales Team

This is another short clip from a Las Vegas speech a few years back.  What I said is still true – there is a three-part criteria for determining the value of any rule you have, or make, for your salespeople (or any other department), and you need to pay attention to it.  If you don’t, you’ll have lower sales performance than necessary, higher turnover, and all the negative effects of those two things.

How to Onboard Salespeople in 3 Steps

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How to Onboard Salespeople in 3 Steps

Onboarding salespeople is one of those activities where “act in haste; repent in leisure” certainly applies.  There’s a big difference between “doing it” and “doing it right.” If you rush onboarding now to get them out in the field quickly, you’ll probably regret it later.  This also goes, by the way, for industry experience hires, as I explain in this video.

In this video, I explain how to build a 90-day, three-step process for successfully onboarding salespeople so that they succeed now and later.  Make no mistake – a great onboarding process results in more successful salespeople AND greater sales longevity.

Want my help? I can help you build a great onboarding program as part of one of my Hiring Assistance programs.

Here’s a Tip: Love the Activity, Not the Result!

Sale Success, Sales Blog

How to Succeed at Sales

I saw the following post on a Facebook sales group, and quite frankly was shocked by what I read:

“If you waste another’s salespersons day and you don’t buy from them, assuming they did their job, TIP THEM. I do this myself, wasted a guys time unintentionally and ended up buying a different brand of side by side, not because of something he did wrong so I tipped him $50. We each know how much it sucks to spend a lot of time and effort on a deal and not get it!”

I find this ridiculous.  Successful salespeople know that most of the time we spend with customers won’t result in a sale. That’s how sales work. A sale is where need meets solution meets timing.  If a customer had ever tried to tip me as a “participation trophy” after I didn’t get a sale, words cannot express how insulted I would have felt.

How to succeed at sales for the long term

A sales call that doesn’t result in a sale is not a “waste of time”. If you How to succeed at salesthink it is, perhaps a professional selling career isn’t for you.  To be successful in sales, a sales call that doesn’t end in a sale is an opportunity to:

  • Initiate a relationship that might benefit you later.
  • Sharpen your skills and learn more about yourself and the potential customer.
  • Make a positive marketing impression for yourself and your company.
  • An opportunity. Period.

And a salesperson who thinks an “opportunity” is a waste of time is a salesperson who is only chasing the almighty buck – and isn’t fit for a professional sales job.

To be successful in sales, you must love the ACTIVITY, not just the result.

Buy Today, Dang It!

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Growing up, in Topeka, Kansas, there was a furniture store called “Crazy Bob’s Discount Furniture”. Every decent-sized city had one of these. You’d see the TV commercials with Crazy Bob telling you about how the prices were so low because he was “CRAZY!” Well, ol’ Bob finally decided to pull out all the stops and put on a “GOING OUT OF BUSINESS SALE!” Of course, you had to get the great buys RIGHT NOW because it would be GONE SOON! It took Crazy Bob five years to go out of business!

Scarcity Close

I thought of this the other day, clicking through my LinkedIn feed when I saw a long discussion about one of the oldest, most manipulative, and one of the most hackneyed (and well past retirement age) techniques: the “scarcity close”.  You’ve probably heard it or seen it; it is based on the principle that there Just Isn’t Enough Supply of what you’re selling.  So if you don’t BUY NOW, you might MISS OUT.

Apparently, based on the discussion, some salespeople still have some success with this approach. To me, it’s always seemed like “Crazy Bob’s Furniture Going Out of Business Sale”.  The thread drew a number of salespeople commenting, as well as other sales authors and trainers, and (as usual) I was the contrarian in the group.

You see, here’s my philosophy on the “Scarcity close”.  It’s designed to play on customer emotions – fear of missing out, fear of losing a once in a lifetime “deal,” and other anxiety-based emotions. To me, that’s not the right reason for a customer to buy.

I will also fully accept that scarcity does actually exist in some situations. For instance, when I bought my Harley, it was a used police motorcycle from Daytona Beach, Florida. That was important for a couple of reasons; first of all, it had a higher-performance engine than a standard Road King. And second, it had a special Mystique Green and Pearl White paint scheme that cop bikes around Kansas City didn’t have.  When presented with this one bike at a good price, I chose to buy because I didn’t want to miss it.  I’ve never regretted it.

Also, when I bought my first house in Topeka, it had some very specific characteristics that were hard to find in my budget at the time – so I moved fairly quickly.

What made both of those instances work, however, was that the SALESPERSON didn’t use a scarcity close. Instead, enough value had been built over the conversation that I recognized the value of the purchase. I also recognized that the opportunity wouldn’t be there forever, so I more or less closed myself.  I never regretted either one, because I didn’t buy because of external pressure.

As a salesperson, I only had to use this close a few times before I recognized that smart customers could quite literally shove it down my throat. “So, what you’re saying is that, if I come in and want to buy this car on Monday instead of Saturday, you WON’T honor that price?” I stammered, knowing full well that we would, in fact, honor the price.

Or, there was, “So, if someone is going to buy that from you regardless, why do you care if it’s me? Why are you bothering to apply this pressure?” Again – stammering.

Here’s the truth. The “scarcity close” is designed to INJECT urgency into the buying process. The problem with that is simple. If that urgency doesn’t already exist, then the close you use won’t matter. A sale happens when need meets solution meets timing, plain and simple. If you’re having to use scarcity as a “buy now” tactic, you’ve missed something in the process that you can’t make up later. It smacks of desperation and people don’t buy from desperate salespeople.

The scarcity close – when it “works” –  is a great instigator of buyer’s remorse, and can greatly harm your relationship going forward. Customers know when you’ve played their emotions and they don’t like it.

Like many cheap sales tactics, this is a “patch” for poor work early in the sale. My advice – do the work early. Ask great questions. Present to the needs. Truly understand your buyer, the buying process, and the timing thereof. And, the all-time greatest defense against needing to use these types of sales tactics, always keep your funnel full enough that you don’t NEED the next deal.

PSA from Troy: Dealing With Sleep Apnea

Sales Blog

Not too long ago, I wrote an article about my customer service experiences while getting a sleep study done.  I received a lot of email and messages about others who had experienced sleep apnea and gotten a CPAP – and for them, I’m posting this. If knowing about my sleep is TMI, I understand.

I was diagnosed with sleep apnea, and have now slept with a CPAP for the last eight nights.  For anyone ‘on the fence’, as I was for years, about dealing with my sleep apnea (I’d been told that I had it), the only thing I can say is – DO IT.  Get the study done.  Get the CPAP.  Figure out how to be OK with sleeping with it (I get it; it’s not easy).  It’s worth it.  It’s already been a difference maker in my life.  I no longer get drowsy after lunch or midafternoon….or, really, until it’s time for bed again.  I have much more energy later in the day, and I just plain feel better.  I now feel silly for putting it off for the last few years.

Yes, I get it.  They’re expensive (my insurance covered it).  Getting comfortable with sleeping with a mask over your nose and straps around your head isn’t the easiest thing, and you’re limited as to your sleeping positions.  Plus you look like Dumbo with the hose coming out of the mask (at least I do).  But it’s WORTH IT.

For the record, I have the ResMed AirSense fully automatic version.  I just plug it in, put the mask on, and start breathing, and the machine figures it out from there.  The mask has exhale vents on it (very important in my opinion).

So, this isn’t a sales message.  Consider it public service to my friends.  Deal with your sleep apnea if you have it; you’ll feel so much better you’ll wonder why you waited.

A Customer Service Lesson

Sales Blog

This story is 100% true.

So, I had to rent a motorcycle trailer today, so I went to the most popular place to do so.  When I got there, they had one person taking rental reservations and one person in line ahead of me.  As I stood there, the person ahead of me was explaining that he had a voucher for $30 off on a rental because a customer service person at their main office had simply hung up on him.  He was showing the rental agent the email from the corporate customer service person.  The rental agent didn’t know how to enter the voucher into the computer and seemed doubtful about the whole thing.  She called her supervisor, and for 10 minutes the supervisor, the rental agent, and the customer went around and around about this $30 voucher.  Meanwhile three other people had arrived behind me and we were all getting annoyed.  At this point, I had the right to remain silent – but not the ability.  So I got involved.

ME:  Excuse me but I have to jump in here.  Let me see if I understand this.  This customer received a $30 off voucher because he received lousy service, correct?

MANAGER (glaring at me): It looks that way.

ME:  So, now you’re compounding his lousy service and making it lousier by not taking the voucher.  Plus, you now have a line of four other people who are receiving lousy service because of this issue.

MANAGER:  You have to understand, people are always trying to cheat us.

ME:  I get that, but do they go to the extent of faking an email with a voucher number from your corporate customer service department?  For 30 bucks?

MANAGER:  Um, no, not when you put it that way.

ME:  So, now, you’re making his lousy service worse, and again, there are four other people who are getting lousy service, all over 30 bucks that this guy is entitled to.  Don’t you think the smart call is just to honor the voucher, give him his 30 bucks, take care of him, and get on to taking care of the rest of your customers?

MANAGER:  When you put it that way, yeah, it is.

EVERY OTHER CUSTOMER (TO ME):  THANK YOU!

So, what was the problem here?  The personnel got so wrapped around the axle with procedures, rules, policies, and not stepping out of normal pattern that they lost sight of the big picture.  To try to guard $30, they were creating thousands of dollars worth of bad will.  The guy behind me was saying, “I should just go buy a trailer rather than put up with this.”

MORAL OF THE STORY:  Keep things in perspective.  Clearly the manager and the rental agent didn’t feel empowered enough – OR INVESTED ENOUGH IN THE COMPANY’S IMAGE – to make a $30 decision.  Don’t let your people feel that way.  I know one company – a very very successful small business – where any employee can make up to a $100 decision to keep a customer happy.  The employees become guardians of both company image and profit – and seldom do in fact give away money, but the customer retention rate is well above industry averages.

In other words, don’t step over dollars to save dimes.