Motivating Salespeople

I am the kind of manager that only micromanages new reps and reps who are not meeting quota. Salespeople love the freedom and autonomy of their position. No one wants be "hand held" so a wise manager has to be subtle in their micromanagement.

You can do this by taking the rep for breakfast. Then you bring up the subject of strategy. You ask them about their strategy. Sales reps do not like to be told what to do because of their egos (as a rule). But it's the company's (in general all companies) fault for making them feel like God when they get a huge sale.

So the manager has to encourage them with their strategy. Then the manager should offer a prize for reaching a goal. This makes the rep feel the manager is "rooting for them" and not out to fire them for a poor performance. When I was in sales, I was always motivated by prizes and contests.

The idea is to try to positive motivation first. If there is still non-performance, then you have no choice but to put them on probation. This should be done with communicating a specific sales strategy with specific goals. For example, you can ask them to rank their clients by sales and set up a call route, which you would like to see. Give them deadlines also.

Let them know you don't want to micromanage but upper management requires it be done. Still offer them a prize for achieving goals. Many managers feel that keeping their job is the prize but I feel that is negative motivation. If we can instill confidence by reaching milestones, then we should see positive results. Remember to do the same with your other reps. Make a personal goal and a small prize for each.

Once everyone is focused and gaining momentum, you can offer a contest to the group. The important thing is to make it fun, which is tough to do when your boss is on your case about the non-peformer(s) in your region.

Objections are Opportunities!

Salespeople don't like objections. Who wants to be told "no"? But they are good because it shows your client is opening up to you. It means that they are thinking of your product/service but do not feel it meets their needs.

Being an ethical salesperson, you engage in further discussion with your client. You find out that this objection is due to a misunderstanding of your product/service. So you clarify what your product/service does and also give an example of how one of your client successfully used it, since many people learn by example.

Just relax and remember, objections allow you to keep the "consultative selling process" going.

A Word About Greed

When new salespeople start to become successful, they need to be on their guard for greed. The commissions start rolling in. Maybe they have won a trip or a prize. It starts to go to their heads. My advice...DON'T LET IT! STAY HUMBLE.

You became successful because you are good at selling. But you STAY successful when you ALWAYS put your clients' needs before your own.

Let me illustrate. There is a gaming company, who shall remain nameless - for legal reasons. I saw that they had lost HALF of their customers. This was a number in the millions! The problem - they do not care to listen to their customers. Then I read about the CEO of this company. He publicly stated, "He wants money. Money is his #1 focus." Can you see where this is going?

By staying focused on money (his needs) and not the customers' needs, he is setting himself and his company for ruin. I have seen blogs written about this company with comments from the customers flaming the company. Comments like:

• "Sick of them being greedy."
• "Why don't they fix the programming errors they have instead of introducing new things?"
• "I am so tired of the game loading so slowly"

You get my drift? Let's say you are looking for a new company to sell for (for whatever reason). How do you determine the corporate culture so that you will be a good fit? Look at the CEO of the company. The CEO will set the direction and "tone" of the company. If the CEO is greedy and you are not, obviously you will not be a good fit with this company.

I once pissed off the CEO of a medical equipment company by a question that I asked in a final interview. I may have lost the battle but did not lose the war! I did my homework and was prepared for the interview. The CEO was not prepared to handle my questions - or didn't care to. A few months later, I found out that the company was sold and many of the sales reps lost their jobs. I saved myself from being unemployed, since new reps take time to start selling in the capital equipment field because of the long turn-around time of a sale.

As a sales rep, you will remain successful if you always put your client's needs first, without breaking any company policies or the law (gift giving). You will have a stellar reputation and because of that, will be able to convince, for example, the doctor "who doesn't see reps" because his colleague has opened the door for you.

ABC - Always Be Closing

The fear of closing. All of us have struggled at times with this. After all, we are human and do not like rejection.

First of all, did you realize that there are many levels of selling? There may be many product features and benefits and you want to find the ones that are important to your client.

Once you have uncovered the client's needs, which I will address in the near future, you have a list of needs for the client. All of these needs have various weights as to their importance. Use a scale of 0 to 10, with zero being not applicable, 1 as least important up to 10, the most important. For example, price may be at a weight of, say, 7, since the client values quality as number one, so we will give quality a 10. You have to be cagey about this since clients like to be conversational and not analytical, for the most part.

Then you relate your product and/or service relative to their needs starting with the most important working to the least important. Using the example, you state how your product and/or service has superior quality to the competition. This is tricky since you "don't want to call their baby ugly". I usually state my product is DIFFERENT from the one your using because of...then I ask if they would find that to be important to them. If they say no, state that you were under the impression that quality was extremely important to them. Then ask, "Is there something I am missing?" Then shut up and listen. Sales reps can oversell, especially new reps.

The object is to understand your customer. Think of it like going up a set of steps. You gain agreement that your product and/or service meets their needs for each of these qualities your client finds important. Whether you know it or not, you are closing. You are getting them to say "yes".

Once you have gone through this process, you are now ready for the BIG CLOSE. Now, if you used this method, closing should come naturally since you are providing something that will solve your customer's/client's problem. Ask for the order. You can say something like, "We have discussed various benefits of my company's product and/or service" (state the name of the product and/or service), You have agreed that you find it meets your needs and would be a good fit for you. How about you place an order?"

HA! I broke a rule! I didn't ask, would you like delivery Monday or Tuesday (a closed-ended, fixed choice question). By asking the question, "How about you place an order?", I am also going to find out if the client/customer has any reservations that I have not uncovered.

Once I find out what they are, I handle the objection and close again. Selling is an art so I cannot put these scenarios in a little box for you to say, "Oh I get it." It takes practice and --- mistakes.

But if you keep the client in mind and NOT your commissions, it will always be "win-win". You will be appreciated for the professional and GOOD person that you are. Selling has many rewards besides money. It's a good feeling knowing that you helped someone.

I Don't Feel Like Selling Today

This happens to the best sales reps. Perhaps you just had a good client get upset with your company and take it out on you. You may be upset because you felt helpless to fix the situation and the client is still unhappy.

My suggestion is to take a breather. Go visit one of your favorite loyal clients and offer to treat them and/or their office to lunch. Give them a choice of restaurants and tell them, "It's their lucky day". Just go out of your way to make this client feel special. You already have their business. Maybe their is room for growth. There usually always is. But don't focus on that right now. Focus on what will just make this client's day. You feed their help, they appreciate you even more.

You will find that the client and their staff to be very appreciative. It will be win-win - isn't that the best goal? This client will fill this need you have to make your clients happy. Doesn't everyone appreciate a free lunch; and it will be just that - free, no strings attached. You will then be fired up to make some more sales calls!