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sales methods

Three things sales managers must do to ensure sustainable team success

by Paul Sparks on October 3, 2010

Sales Performance International (SPI) is a global leader in helping companies market and sell high-value solutions.

In his role as the director of business development at SPI, Tim Sullivan works with clients to find and capture the best practices of the world’s top performing sales professionals and teams.  He is a co-author of one of the best selling sales books of recent years – “The Solution Selling Fieldbook”.  Tim is based in the SPI offices in Charlotte, North Carolina.

I’ve had a number of conversations with Tim recently when we discussed things sales and selling. During one of these discussions I asked Tim to share his experience working with successful sales managers – and what are the key things managers can do to help their teams excel.

Tim, you regard sales managers – line managers – as critical in effective selling.  Why?

First of all, sales managers today are the lynch pin, the whole keystone if you will in this bridge of sales process and sales as an art form.  They’re the ones that can bring all of this together.  And in fact, when we implement solution selling and sales process for our customers, our first and primary focus is on the first line sales managers.  Because if they can’t take ownership of that process and support and sustain that with their direct sales people or working with customers, then it’s very, very difficult to get the kind of incremental improvement and return on a sustainable basis that we talked about today. 

I understand that you place a high importance on the value of process in the sales function.  Other than this, what factors do you see as being indicative of best practice in sales management?

I think there are three things that managers need to do today that are a little bit different than it was even a few years ago.  First and foremost, sales managers today need to take a hard look at the numbers. To a certain extent, they need to be very rigorous in their analysis of sales pipelines, what’s happening in opportunities and what the skill gaps are in their sales people.  This requires an analytical bent which some mangers are ill equipped for.  Especially if they were high performing sales people before they went into management.  Many of these high flying salespeople – who we refer to as “eagles” – often act intuitively when performing their sales role.  Whilst this approach may assist them in practicing the art of sales – it’s not what they need to be a good manager.

So what can we do about this?  How do you make it possible for an intuitive seller that we promote to manager to have that analytical capability?  Simply – you give them a standard to compare against.  Again, that’s the reason why sales process is so great for managers, because now they can look at those verifiable outcomes and opportunities.  They can look at how it rolls up the entire pipeline and then have some objective criteria for determining how they can analyse the appropriate gaps, either in overall performance or in individual opportunities or in individual sales person.

So first and foremost, provide managers with the tools, the processes and the standards to be able to do that kind of analysis objectively and be able to use that as a basis for improving their sales team. 

And – if I recall correctly – a second important item is coaching? Continue Reading…

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Key themes from the 2009 Sales E-Conference (part two)

by Paul Sparks on October 3, 2009

Changes in the sales function, and the importance of sales methodology and process.

This was the second of four key themes to emerge from the 2009 Sales E-Conference.

For two weeks in August 2009, over 100 sales professionals, sales managers and people interested in achieving better sales outcomes tapped into the wisdom of 8 of Australasia’s leading authorities on professional selling.  We also had contributions from 2 of the USA’s thought leaders on the topic of selling and sales. The other three main themes to emerge from the 2009 Sales E-Conference were:

  1. Change – at the social, organisational and personal levels.
  2. A new role for sales management and leadership.
  3. The changing relationship between sales and marketing.

This series of articles will cover the key themes which emerged from the 2009 Sales E-Conference series – and offer some advice on actions you should take to ensure your sales efforts receive maximum value as we move from “recession to recovery”.

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 10 hours of sales presentations covers a lot of ground – so this article will only touch the surface of the issues explored in the whole conference.  If you’d like to experience the full conference – including 11 MP3s and full presentation notes – it will be available in a few weeks as a professional development package.  Register for our newsletter to ensure you hear when it’s released.

Today we’ll cover the second theme – change in the sales function.  We’ll talk about how selling has changed over the last few years – and what you need to do to be successful in this new environment.

What is selling?

Before we discuss changes in the sales function, let’s consider the simple question – “what is selling?”  Broadly, selling could be defined as an exchange of value between two parties, but for our purposes, let’s call it the personal side of the marketing function.  Marketing addresses numerous issues in relation to bringing a product or service to a market place. These issues include assessing customer demand, product awareness, positioning, etc, etc.  The sales function is a sub-set of this bag of activities and occurs when an individual (the salesperson) engages directly with the prospective buyer and looks to influence the buyers’ actions through a range of communication activities. Continue Reading…

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The Legacy of Charles Tingwell

by Paul Sparks on May 18, 2009

Friday May 15, 2009 saw the sad passing of one of Australia’s leading actors – Charles “Bud” Tingwell.

Tingwell’s career spanned 7 decades, starting before the Second World War, and continuing until his recent passing.  He had parts in hundreds of radio plays, movies, television series, and theatrical productions.  His work ranged from the dramatic, where he had roles in plays by Shakespeare and Tennessee Williams, to the light hearted when he appeared in Mother and Son, and produced Col’n Carpenter.  Whilst best known as an actor, he was also an accomplished director and producer.

His appearances have graced most of the TV series which have marked our generations – including Homicide, The Sullivans, Carson’s Law, A Country Practice, All Saints, The Secret Life of Us and Blue Heelers.

    

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

When I heard of Bud’s passing and listened to the tributes coming in, I thought it would be appropriate to discuss an aspect of his success that we can all take a lesson from.  As salespeople and business people it is more common to take inspiration from those in the business world, or, often, those in the sporting arena.  We tend to miss lessons from those in the artistic community.  I hope this short article and tribute rectifies that omission.  

Bud was a man of his time.  Like many of his generation, he served in the Second World War, but rarely spoke about his experiences.  He was also a child of the depression – and this, together with his war experience, would have influenced his personal development and attitudes towards life.  Whilst I did not know Bud personally, he is of my father’s generation – and I feel a connectedness with people of that era.  Many who survived their wartime experiences, have a view that there’s not much else that can be worse – and the life they’ve been given is one worth living to its full.  I think this view is well summed up by a comment that Bud made in a recent interview, where he speaks of his attitude to his professional career that can be simply stated in his own two words – “say yes”.

Let’s think about that – a “say yes” approach to life and career. Continue Reading…

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