Bank Sales Training

Why Your Sales People Refuse to Change Their Behavior

Friday, July 23, 2010 by BJ McKay

The thrill of closing your first deal, then your second, and then your third! You're on a roll now, and if what you're doing now is working, why change it?

This is the beginning of the mantra that has many talented sales executives in an holding pattern. The optimism that comes from a proven method of success is tough to deny. We all experience it in some way, shape, or form. However, we all know that in the world of business nothing is static. Change is constant, and even trusted systems and process operate like a well run ship on the open seas. The problem, you cannot control the weather or the sea conditions.

Effective sales training is the beginning of the learning process for sales professionals of all ages to have multiple paths to get to the same destination. That destination is a new account signed. How many directions are your sales people able to navigate? This is a major factor in separating the low and mediocre performers to the top tier sales professionals.

Effective sales training is not a once and done instance. It is a continuous process, and deserves the same level of attention and investment as any system critical to the overall health and success of your business. If you are guessing on how effective and current your sales training system is, it's time for an evaluation.

Customer Focused Selling™ is our brand, and we rely on objective data to validate the results it delivers for our clients. Please take a moment to first, evaluate your current sales training system and ask yourself and your team the questions above. Then, take a look at Customer Focused Selling.

If you like what you see, call ADVISA for a free business diagnostic to learn specifically how our program would be tailored for your leadership, your team, and the unique challenges of your business.

Why Would YOU Want to Take a Sales Assessment?

Wednesday, July 14, 2010 by Aszure Grimes

Remember that old adage, "You don't know what you don't know." Well, it was true when you were six; when you graduated college; got married and so it remains. Could there be something worth knowing about your sales skills, and where to step up your game just a notch, that you don't already know?

If you are responsible for sales and marketing training in your organization, or on the front lines in business development offering others your sales closing tips, you may be wondering why YOU or your company would consider a sales assessment. You are great at what you do and, your numbers reflect it, right?

Proactivity is part of what has kept you on top of your game from the very beginning. Consultative sales training may be the choice for you once your sales assessment lets you know the key areas in which you could improve. Then again, it may not. Choices you like. Losing to someone else you don't. If the idea of what the data might say frightens you just a little bit, that's okay. Remember, you don't know what you don't know. What you are certain of is that behind the curve, as opposed to in front of it, is not your style.

Let's talk about getting you the data. Where you choose to go from there is, of course, up to you.

A case for excellent salespeople in hospitals

Tuesday, June 29, 2010 by BJ McKay

She was cold, a bit indifferent, to my health situation. It didn't seem like she wanted to be there, or be helping me. I tried to make small talk, but it just seemed to irritate her more. I better just hurry up, take my pills, and let her get on with her day. Wow, something must be bothering her?

Could that story be about a service employee in your hospital? Maybe. Here is another situation. Remember the best purchasing experience you ever had? Now, visualize the salesperson who helped you. They likely were warm. They guided you through the process. They seemed to intuitively know what you wanted, and helped you avoid areas that would impede the process. They made the complex simple, and they made you feel good about yourself, confident in your decision making, and eager to return again for a repeat performance. Was that company just lucky to hire someone that good? Likely not. They were wise enough to invest in consultative sales training for their frontline employees.

Notice I didn't say, "frontline salespeople." If you want to improve sales skills, you need to improve communication skills. The best business interactions we have, and consumer purchases we make, happen with and through strong communicators. That is what effective sales training accomplishes. A roadmap to guide those who want to realize her/his potential, earn more money, and feel more confident and productive in the work they do. This is not a recipe for sales people. It is a recipe for strong, effective, and positive communicators. Do you need more of those on the frontline at your hospital? Odds are you do.

Working a lot with hospitals recently has revealed stringent measurement of employee engagement, retention, and patient satisfaction scorecard metrics. The missing element is what we need to do about it when the numbers aren't moving in the right direction. Consider evaluating Customer Focused Selling™ through ADVISA. It provides a proven road map, benchmarks, and practical application facilitated by an experienced consultant from our team. We practice what we preach, so take a moment to read our recent whitepaper and we'll give you a call to share more about the Customer Focused Selling program.

The Art of the Sincere Apology

Thursday, May 20, 2010 by Penny Pruett

So much can be solved with two simple words - I'm sorry. OK, so technically it's 3 words if you don't count the contraction as a single word, but still, the premise is the same. In all relationships, personal and professional, sometimes saying I'm sorry isn't only satisfactory, it heals. Why then, is it so hard to say?

I recently faced the disintegration of a personal relationship simply because the words could not be spoken. Similarly, professional relationships can be destroyed because we can't say "I'm sorry" to a client. In fact, often the professional relationship is that much easier to sever, and that much harder to repair.

Perhaps it's because we feel we are admitting that we did something wrong , something most of us don't like to do. But, as was pointed out to me while discussing the ending friendship, an apology doesn't always mean you were wrong - sometimes it's just taking responsibility for hurting someone, however unintentionally.

A study of the University of Michigan Health System found that malpractice suits were halved after discontinuing the policy to not apologize to patients. It's amazing that a genuine apology can diffuse anger. Studies tell us it's easier to keep an existing client than to land a new one. How easy would it be to honestly say "I'm sorry" if you knew you were about to lose one of those existing clients?

So when we are training sales people and managers, should the art of a sincere apology be part of the sales training curriculum? The same could be said for any business leadership training. Especially now, keeping existing customers is just as important as winning new ones.

Is It Hot Air or Savvy Sales Training?

Wednesday, May 5, 2010 by Aszure Grimes

I was talking with another one of our consultants earlier this week, BJ McKay, about a potential client of his who was considering ADVISA to provide sales team training, along with a few other organizations. While still relatively new to ADVISA, he's pretty savvy. After our conversation, I began thinking about how intimidating this decision and selection process can be for some. The question is not, "Should I make this investment?" Nor, is it, "Do we have a need to improve our our sales team training?"

For many the million dollar question is, essentially, "How do you know if you are buying just hot air or true sales training development that will lead to business results?"

For anyone facing this, it's about asking the right questions:

How will I measure the success of this sales training curriculum? Over the next 12 to 24 months, what determines the success or failure for key stakeholders? If there is no focus on the outcome, there is no accountability. The organization you consider working with should be able to help you determine this.
Are the expectations realistic? As they talk with you about sales training development, determine if these expectations are realistic based on your knowledge and experience with your team, market and industry. Where are you now compared to where you want to go? You are looking for results - reasonable results.
Can the organization also assist with other contributing factors? It's possible that a need for sales training is not the only issue. Are you hiring the right people for this role? Do I know how to properly assess this in the selection process? Does our culture and environment contribute to success or is it an obstacle to be overcome? Choose an organization that can help you assess and resolve underlying issues that could hinder overall success.
What happens after training? Anticipating that attending sales team training and just going back to work is going to bring exceptional business results will likely leave you disappointed. Is support following training an option? What adjustments are being made internally to support the initiative?
Are you confident the relationship suits your organizational needs and culture? I believe this always matters whenever extending beyond a "widget" purchase. Do I prefer a trusted advisor and organizational partner? Or, do I view this as a transaction? You can find organizations at both ends of this spectrum. Make sure your view of what your relationship should be matches what they intend to provide.

If you have additional questions about creating a sales training curriculum for your organization, ADVISA is happy to answer them.

Sales Success can be Non-Transferrable

Tuesday, April 27, 2010 by BJ McKay

Corporate sales training initiatives have long taught executives that once you know how to generate revenue in a sales position the skills are transferrable to other sales positions available at other companies. Experience frequently proves otherwise... (chime in all sales managers)

Based on the environment where a sales rep reached his/her highest level of achievement, a very talented rep (based on numbers) can be an abject failure in the same role in a different environment. How?

Consider all these variables that are critical to a sales professional's success:

Management -- relationship with their manager
Freedom/flexibility -- of schedule and other sales related activities
Lead generation -- separate from job requirement or part of her/his daily chores?
Complexity of sale -- How easy is the value proposition of the product/service understood by qualified buyers? And the sales rep?
Team environment -- outside rep in individual hunter style sales role vs. team seller with a technical assistant vs. detail and relationship heavy sell with significant collaboration with the prospective client
Lead quality -- inbound leads? volume of leads? purchased leads? cold leads?
Average Close Value of sales -- What dollar ranges has s/he been successful with?
Length of sales cycle
Training -- Where does s/he need the most work to transition seamlessly? Quality of previous training? Relevance of previous training?
Client sophistication -- Have they had experience with your ideal buyer? Do they have the intelligence/moxie to compete with your top reps?

This is my short list of variables that can lead a superstar rep to the valley of death. Often times the best sales talent can be home grown with a strategic sales training curriculum rooted in the metrics that matter most to sales success at your business. This starts with understanding the hardwiring of your sales reps and then an objective, validated, and reliable assessment of their selling skills.

If you're interested in learning more about how we at ADVISA deliver results in sales for our clients, click here. (we'll email our latest white paper, and then find a time for a conversation)

The Thrill of the Deal

Tuesday, April 27, 2010 by Bob Wilson

In the last several months, I’ve written a couple of posts about our newest consultant, BJ McKay. Here’s another one.

BJ started with us last November and has been in full throttle learning mode ever since. He went through PI® boot camp and did his first Predictive Index Management Workshop™ last month to rave reviews. He’s gone through all of our sales process training and sales training coaching efforts (though, truthfully, he didn’t need a whole lot of either). He’s learned our strategic planning methods and how we go about implementing balanced scorecard metrics. And in between, he’s been selling. And, since the workshop, selling full time.

Today he closed his first deal at Advisa. Exciting!

Trying to build a consulting practice from the beginning is hard work. It’s frustrating. There are far more people who don’t want to talk with you than those that do. No matter how successful your previous career, the early stages of consulting can wear on a person. You wonder, “Am I ever going to get my first sale?” “Am I really cut out to do this kind of work?” “Are people really going to want to buy my advice?” I know I did.

BJ is such a self-motivated person there were only a couple of times where he let on the time without a deal was getting to him – and then, there was only a hint. Heather and I served as in-house cheerleaders – letting him know every step of the way that we knew he was going to not only get his first deal, but become a superstar.

Today the corner was turned. The prospect was one he introduced himself to. It was one he found the problems we were going to address. It was one he developed the relationship with and has begun to service. He earned the business. And when the client signed the paperwork, it was his deal.

There is no bigger happier better-earned smile than the one that comes to someone who gets a deal as a result of the work they know they’ve done. BJ wore that smile all over his face as he walked into the office after his morning appointment. I shook his hand and knew that was the first of many more to follow. Nothing works at engaging employees better than capitalizing on a self-made opportunity.

BJ did it and he’s got that smile of satisfaction. Ah, the thrill of the deal!

Selling is Serving

Monday, April 26, 2010 by John Ranalletta

Voluntary Servitude

During a recent conversation with a young and very talented person, I was attempting to describe my "attitude" toward selling. We had already discussed the importance of product knowledge, sales process training and passion for the work - which are all critically important.

I found myself at a loss for words when trying to describe my perception of sales and the sales person's place or station relative to the prospect or customer. The best I could do was to describe the sales person's role as one of servitude. Using phrases like, "moving from your world into your customer's world" and "discarding your agenda for their agenda" didn't quite seem to get the point across.

At the close of the session, I simply suggested he say this to every customer or prospect with whom he met, "I'm here for one reason - to meet your needs. To do that I need to know what those needs are. Will you give me a few minutes of your valuable time to share those with me?"

In essence, improving sales skills is a function of how well one strives to understand and then meet someone else's needs. It's subjugating the sales person's needs to the client's. It's being thoughtful about framing a response to those needs and avoiding a "force fit" of off-the-shelf items to the client's situation. It's about becoming a partner; and, for me, it's about demonstrating a quiet confidence that earns the client's trust and then his business.

Frankly, I'd offer this approach or attitude would also serve one well as a manager of people. Managers and/or sales people are charged with motivating their charges to demonstrate specific behaviors. The importance of motivation in each case can't be overlooked.

A sales person or manager who strives to fully understand his customers' or his employees' needs has a leg up on managers and sales people who try to force-fit their standardized solutions to achieve their results. If our leadership and management training programs as well as our sales training curriculum emphasized our efforts to serve the needs of others, we'd all perform better.

Breaking the bank...

Tuesday, March 30, 2010 by John Ranalletta

Banker's Dilemma

In the nearly 13 years of my consulting experience; and, perhaps, in the nearly 23 years of ADVISA's history, no subject has had more written about it than the challenge banks have securing retail deposits and selling their services while keeping teller turnover at a minimum.

Bob Wilson wrote about Sales and Predictive Index® referencing the teller's role in sales; and I wrote Letter to Katie in which I counseled my niece who was a bank teller at the time.

So, what's the problem?

Seen from a PI® perspective, everyone from the stockholders to the members of the board to the leadership team are almost wholly dependent for their individual and collective success on .... wait, I know you know the answer ... yes, the correct answer is the bank's tellers.

The banking organization is an inverted pyramid poised and balanced on its tellers. The weight they feel is the pressure to sell. That concentrated pressure can and does becomes too much to bear causing many tellers to just leave; often with no or little notice. The same personality characteristic that makes selling difficult also keeps them from voicing their opinions in exit interviews. They just want to get far away from the conflict and confrontation they perceive selling and complaining to be. The conflict, confrontation and pressure create the opposite of employee productivity - they create turnover.

People who can and want to sell eschew teller jobs because the pay is too low. Once a person knows they have the ability to produce income, they'll go where that ability is rewarded more highly.

There's a web forum dedicated to tellers where they can exchange ideas and experiences. Here are a few quotes:

"Sounds like the level of "sales" expected has a lot to do with which bank you work for. Apparently, the one I interviewed with is one of the worst ones in this respect. I've gone on other web site forums and read postings from the current or former employees of this bank, and it sounds like the "quotas" and pressure to sell is really tough.

"I have what I guess you would call an "outgoing" personality. I'm great at helping customers and having natural conversations. But I don't have the "aggressive" part of the personality that good sales people have. It's not that I couldn't sell, I just don't want my job dependant upon it."

and...

"I have a sil (sic) who just left a bank teller position. Main reason being that management is pushing the hard sell. In other words, the bank teller expected to put *cheeks in seats* on bank products. There was a certain number/ratio that had to be referred daily."

and...

"Some banks and even credit unions ARE going to a more "sales" than "service" mode and I think that's sad. At some banks, the new accounts people are the ones, not the tellers, who are really being pushed to "sell." The bank I work for currently, I don't think pressures any of our employees to "sell." My previous bank employer did, however. Maybe they are being somewhat forced to do this or feel like they are to make it financially in today's economy but as an employee, I would not want to be pressured to sell products and as a bank customer, I don't want to be "sold" to either.

Do these sound like engaged employees? I wish these were the exceptions, but our experience, both personal and business, tells us many tellers harbor these same thoughts.

What's a banker to do?

The answers to that question require a re-thinking of the retail banking business. Pressuring tellers to hard sell customers who don't want to be sold hard serves no one's interest The importance of motivating tellers in a way that makes the most sense for them and the bank's customers cannot be overrated or overlooked.

Customers enter banks looking for help; and, bankers can profit by helping their customers. When they help their tellers help their customers, the mood will improve along with results.

If you're in MI, IN or western OH, call us for more information about improving your bank's sales training strategy and overall employee productivity.

Selling Power Magazine's TOP 10

Monday, March 22, 2010 by BJ McKay

P.I. Worldwide® has been recognized as a Top 10 Sales Training Company by Selling Power Magazine within the March issue. It is great to earn the recognition of an industry trade organization like Selling Power, but where the rubber meets the road is with our clients.

Customer Focused Selling is customized sales training curriculum that delivers, because it is built around the fundamentals that are most critical to your unique business. How do we know this? Because we complete a Selling Skills Assessment Tool or SSAT, to determine the key areas of strength and those needing improvement.

The economy moves too fast for once and done sales training, that lacks the follow-through that is critical to the success of the program. At ADVISA, and P.I. Worldwide, we follow-through on the areas critical to the success of our clients. If you are considering a sales training program for your team, or even trying to determine the most profitable sales model for your business, please reach out to us at ADVISA for a consultation on your terms, focused on your unique business challenges.

Click here to recommend an ideal day and time for a conversation.

Coach the whole person, not just the sales person!

Saturday, February 13, 2010 by Jay Hawreluk

This past week I met a client who has become a very good friend for a catch up lunch. During our lunch, I asked him about tools he has used to effectively coach his sales team for improving sales performance. He has been a sales manager for the past five years and his company just celebrated their best year in business in 2009.

He stated that the best motivational tool he has uncovered to provide effective sales training for his sales team was the Predictive Index® Personality Assessment. Since he was trained in the PI several years ago, the information the PI® provided to him was the most valuable source of information on how to effectively engage, motivate and coach his team.

He then said something that really stuck with me. “Jay, the key for me has not been coaching to sales success, but coaching to personal improvement and happiness. I view my job as having a positive impact on the person to improve them as a person! This may involve help in personal issues, career situations as well as more effectively dealing with prospects and customers.” He then added: “If your mission is to make a positive impact on people that will result in them improving personally, they then view you as a true coach and mentor as opposed to just the sales manager. With this approach, my team actually works harder, generates better results and enjoys their job and life at a much higher level.”

What great advice for all of us!

Motivational Sales Training

Tuesday, February 9, 2010 by Bob Wilson

Historically, I’ve had a jaundiced perspective on much of what passes for corporate sales training. Prior to living in the consulting world with Predictive Index® (where I’ve resided for the last 23 years), much of my response to the sales training I’d received was, “Most of you guys are fired up (I never was). But, what did you learn?” Frequently the answer, in terms of usable skills and / or improvement in sales call objectives, was nothing or very close to it.

Yet, the sales team being trained left with a buzz and there was frequently a short-term bump in sales effort and results. It sure didn’t make sense to me. Now, with the help of PI®, I get what happened. I’m not a highest B. Many salespeople are. Highest B’s performance is influenced by how they feel. If they get pumped up from attending training and it makes them feel better, performance will increase and thus, the training does have value. Bingo.

But, if the value is short term and not sustainable, was the money spent the best value that could have been derived?

Sales training should be motivational – especially, if aimed at a high B audience. But, it also needs to present skills that are backed by research that yield sustainable results. Ideally, corporate sales training should also have a component that reinforces what’s taught through coaching. That’s what I like about our Customer-Focused Selling™ program. Sales people leave energized and with skills and tools that are directly related to their business and meeting their sales call objectives. Additionally, we provide their managers with a mentoring program that allows them to combine the sales and sales management skills they’ve learned with the insight provided by PI to assure that the value of the training becomes instilled in the sales force for the long term.

That’s what I call motivational sales training. It yields results. That motivates me.

There's No Business Like Snow Business

Saturday, February 6, 2010 by Paul Dumouchelle

By Paul Dumouchelle, Management Consultant, ADVISA

As I write this my travel plans have been disrupted by the major winter storm blanketing Ohio with up to a foot of snow. I happen to be at the College-Conservatory of Music (CCM) at the University of Cincinnati, which has a major theatrical performance section, which is perhaps what inspired the title above. My son had a competition for merit-based scholarships to the university today and is scheduled for an audition for entry to CCM tomorrow. Now the storm has forced an unplanned overnight stay upon us.

So the weather has forced me to improvise a new plan on the fly and I’ve found an empty classroom to get some work done – including this blog entry.

This past week I’ve been immersed in a variety of sales activities:

- Coaching a National Sales Manager in Michigan on how to develop his team – including better performance in improvising new approaches on the fly within a sales call based on client behavior.

- Preparing a sales training program for next week – including custom modifications for sales closing tips based on the unique circumstances of our client in Indiana.

- Selling our services to a new prospect in Dayton, which meant modifying sales call objectives on the fly as my sales team rapidly ascended the learning curve in this first-ever meeting.

Improvisational skill is essential to business survival. Rapidly changing conditions, whether it is the weather or the economy at large, require the ability to think on your feet and adjust as necessary.

This skill demands intelligence, affinity for high-pressure performance and, above all, preparation. My son and I could not stay here in Cincinnati tonight if we had not planned for the situation – he brought his French Horn with him - which he will need for his audition tomorrow.

Adjusting sales call objectives in real time based on client interaction is most effective when preparation lays out a series of options you can adopt based on the situation.

We all have varying levels of intelligence and different employee productivity in high-pressure situations – these are things over which we have little or no control – but we all can control our level of preparation and when the snow hits the fan it is those who have prepared most thoroughly who will come through the storm in the best shape

So What?

Thursday, February 4, 2010 by John Ranalletta

Is there any other question that is as ego-deflating as, "So what?"?

After watching Steve Jobs' introduction of Apple's new iPad and reviewing a quick list of its features and how they might solve my technology needs, I thought "So what?"; but, it's unlikely my disinterest would make Jobs flinch given Apple will sell 3-4 million iPads in its first year.

How many of those 4 million iPad buyers had a clue they even needed an iPad before its introduction? Apple's magic is its ability to get consumers to fashion needs around the products it designs, none of which are considered "bleeding edge" in the techonology community. What an enviable position that is - to tell the market what it needs and wants instead of reacting to and following market demands!

Unfortunately, most of our clients' customers aren't waiting with bated breath for the clients' next product or service offering to flow from their strategic planning implementation. In fact, unlike Apple that introduces a new product hoping they've produced enough to sate demand, our clients have to dispatch expensive, highly-trained sales forces in the hopes of connecting their customers' needs to the their new offering.

Where Jobs only has to say, "This is our new product" then stands back to avoid being crushed by customers with credit cards in hand; the rest of us are left to assiduously plan out our marketing and sales strategy; find distribution channels; and meet with customers and prospects, one by one.

Unlike Apple, every contact we make with a customer or prospect requires careful planning and execution. Jobs doesn't care if my response is "So what?" He won't notice I'm not in the crowd crashing into the local Apple store to be one of the first iPad owners.

You and I are challenged to do everything we can to increase the odds of a successful encounter with our customers and prospective customers; and the best way to do that is to have a sales call objective such as to get an order; to get another appointment; to swim upstream to a decision maker; or to qualify the prospect.

To avoid the dreaded "So what?" question, the most important sales call objective is to put the customer's agenda before our own; to resist "praying and spraying" features and benefits; to become a partner, not a vendor; and, to see the world from the customer's perspective. That's Customer Focused Selling™ - effective sales training that improves sales performance!

Brand Loyalty & Cars

Saturday, January 30, 2010 by Paul Dumouchelle

What a miserable week for Toyota! The gas-pedal recall has the automaker reeling, suspending sales on its most-popular models. Can you imagine a worse public-relations nightmare than nightly news videos showing worried Toyota-owners crying in front of Toyota dealerships that have no answer to the safety crisis?

All this is especially problematic for Toyota since a hallmark of its successful strategic planning has been outstanding product quality for decades.

So here I sit with two Toyotas in my garage – both of which qualify for the recall fix. I’m on a bit of Toyota buying spree, my last three vehicles have been Toyotas. I'm sure part of my purchase decision has to do with Toyota's corporate sales training but my brand switch to Toyota from American brands did not come easily.

I was born in Detroit and grew up in the Downriver suburb of Grosse Ile. Many of my friends, neighbors and family made a living from Ford, GM & Chrysler and some still do. The brand loyalty of the Detroit area is as firm as ever, if my recent drive up the Southfield Freeway in Detroit is any indication. For about 10 minutes I was the only foreign brand I saw on the heavily congested motorway – it was really quite remarkable.

My last Ford, though, was pretty much a lemon (requiring two expensive transmission replacements before reaching 75,000 miles) and it's been Toyotas for me ever since. Of course, Ford reported this week its first annual profit in four years, of the big automakers it seems to have the best momentum right now. From where I sit, their organizational alignment along product innovation and market responsiveness is excellent.

This gas-pedal recall shakes my confidence a bit. If the thing actually fails on one of my cars and I end up flying off a freeway in an uncontrollable acceleration mishap – well, I probably won’t be buying any more Toyotas, if I survive.

Sales Leadership by the Dashboard Lights

Friday, January 29, 2010 by Heather Haas

In order to successfully operate a vehicle, the driver relies on the dashboard to provide a picture of the car’s performance. A car’s dashboard displays critical data such as fuel and oil supply, mileage, temperature, system warnings etc. These signals allow the driver to react, plan and take appropriate action to ensure a safe, timely arrival. These signals also alert the driver as to how to “care for” their car to get the very best performance.

Driving to better sales results also requires a dashboard. Sales managers need critical information at their fingertips to successfully support their teams. Unfortunately, most corporate sales training curriculum is not designed to be sales leadership training. Sales leaders need data in order to develop their people.

Type of Data	Description	Source
Sales Performance Numbers · What reps are achieving	New customers added/lost, sales revenue per rep/region, revenue per customer, revenue by product	Company financials
Sales Activity Data · How reps are achieving their results	Prospecting activities, leads, appointments, opportunities, proposals, closed business etc.	Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system like Goldmine, ACT or Salesforce
Sales Skills Data · Which tools reps currently use to perform	Diagnostic assessment data about sales reps’ knowledge of core selling skills	Selling Skills Assessment Tool (SSAT)
Personality Data · Why reps behave and perform they way they do	Reliable, valid information about sales reps’ motivational drives and work needs	Predictive Index®

Most of our clients have some or all of this data about their sales reps housed somewhere. Consider the power of having all this data displayed side by side for each rep on a Sales Dashboard Report. Our sales leadership training is the most important part of the sales training curriculum we offer. That's because we weave personality and skills data into the training we give managers on coaching their reps. Sales leadership training is effective only when the manager can be be both diagnostic about what reps are struggling with and prescriptive about how to get better. Most motivational sales training lacks a sales skill assessment and a personality component. These components help create the "dashboard lights" that managers need to drive to better results.

Gunfighters die in the street!

Friday, January 29, 2010 by Aszure Grimes

This week Jay Leno did an interview with Oprah Winfrey and responded to what I didn't realize was such a divisive issue. When asked repeatedly, and I mean repeatedly, if he felt guilty at all about "taking" The Tonight Show back from Conan O'Brien he politely, yet firmly said he did not. This was business. He was offered the opportunity and accepted. If Conan's ratings had been better, the offer wouldn't have been extended. Why didn't he just retire and let Conan have a chance? "Because gunfighters die in the street!", was his response. He is a comedian and this is what he does. When there is no longer a market for him then, he will retire. In show business, someone is always waiting in the wings to take your job. Aha!

Now, I don't believe it only applies to that business. I believe it applies to any and every industry, really. The moment you think you've got your gig wrapped up and that show, client, market share - whatever - is yours to enjoy, that is when you should consider retirement. It has nothing to do with your age. It is about your commitment level, your passion. Are you willing to "die in the street"? Are you willing to fight to keep or expand your share of the market? Jay Leno is right. There is always someone waiting in the wings to take your clients or your business from you.

When was the last time you thought about creating a strategic plan? Better yet, actually implemented the strategic plan? How good is your corporate sales training? Are your gunfighters truly that or do they just "play one on TV"? Is your career pathing good enough to retain your top talent? Or will a 10% raise/discount have your employees and customers flocking to the competition? If you question your employee engagement click here:

Whatever you do, be a "gunfighter". If you're not engaged, ask yourself why. It's not reaching our goals that really matters. We must reach our potential.

Your business operates just like Facebook

Tuesday, January 26, 2010 by BJ McKay

I come from the world of social media, internet marketing, and business development. I've often heard traditional business owners talk with disdain of online social networks. Immediately throwing the baby out with the bathwater when it comes to their adoption relative to their business.

The truth of the matter is that successful businesses operate a lot like a Facebook account:

You invite in all those you wish to have a relationship with (friend, family, employee, prospect, client).
You continuously update that social network with information that they would find relevant
You share your successes and success of others close to you
You request feedback on ideas, opportunities, sales, etc.
You schedule opportunities to visit with your friends at an event or in person
You introduce mutual friends that have something in common and would benefit from knowing one another
You repair broken or damaged relationships through communication
You offer opportunities to promote businesses that you work alongside with, or your clients businesses
You cement your influence in your given area of expertise

Sales person training can be likened to effective use of Facebook, and sales training curriculum could benefit from the integration of the online social networking tools that the next generation of sales superstars are using everyday. In a recent article, I read that it is possible to maintain up to 150 friends in ANY social network (not just the online variety), and that even online this number holds up. The term friends meaning people you have a substantive relationship with.

If that is true, isn't it safe to assume that without effective sales training in building and maintaining social networks, rep's with over 150 clients/prospects in their pipeline are falling short beyond that number.

Now, the list above could go on, but all those things above should be daily practices in most successful businesses. Those practices are also what goes on daily in an average Facebook account.

Strategic Planning - An Event or A Process?

Saturday, January 9, 2010 by Jay Hawreluk

Most companies have some kind of Strategic Planning framework.

In many organizations, the senior management team will sequester themselves into a room for two to three days at a strategic planning retreat that will lead the organization forward into the next one, two or three years. While this event does create a road map for the company to move forward, it oftentimes stops at the end of the third day.

Senior management is proud of their accomplishments and has a nifty looking leather binder complete with all sorts of good buzz words, sales projections, marketing ideas, product enhancements, new markets to attack, and - sometimes - even contingencies if the economic data on which this is based upon changes.

And then the pretty strategic planning workshop book with all of the great ideas sits on the shelf and collects dust -- only to be looked at one year later. "Where did we go wrong?" "What happened?" are the comments if the strategic planning workshop goals are not met.

The key to effective Strategic Planning that creates true benefits is to move it from an event into a process. The strategic vision of the organization must be a "living document" that drives all of the organization's actions. It needs to be real, referenced daily or weekly, with decisions validated against how they fit with the vision.

For an effective strategic plan, the organization must:

1) Make sure every employee knows and understands their part in achieving the companies goals;
2) Initiatives should be clearly stated with only a few major targets per quarter. In other words, initiatives need to take on 90 day lives. People get involved with performing their job functions and the "hot item of the day" becomes the stale old bread from last week.
3) Strategic planning and evaluation should be done on a quarterly basis. This allows organization to adjust as market conditions change and reevaluate their goal numbers. Utilizing the quarterly message moves Strategic Planning from an event to a Process that becomes a natural part of the business activities of the company.

Moving to a Strategic Planning process will allow for implementation of sales forecasting, effective sales training and development when it is needed, promoting employees at the right time when their skill sets are in greatest need and hiring the right people at the right time.

Education just costs time... Execution costs you business

Friday, January 8, 2010 by BJ McKay

The benefits of corporate sales training, new management training, and development planning for key employee retention are many. There are resources all over the place to educate yourself and your team in areas like leadership, sales, and communications to name a few. I'm a huge fan of iTunes University, from Apple. This is a free service where you can take open college level courses from major universities from around the globe. The only cost for my education is my time.

Execution on what I've learned is another story. Accountability for key performance indicators is what drives implementation and execution of what I've learned. Without them we are a team without a coach, in a gym where we understand what the equipment is used for, but don't have any idea the best way to use it. Sound similar to how you feel after completing traditional business education workshops?

I hope you make the personal decision to invest time in educating yourself in your area of focus. Remember that when it comes time to implement what you've learned, be disciplined and seek guidance from those with experience.

If you're interested in learning more about best practices in creating balanced scorecards, strategic planning, team building, or sales leadership training please reach out today.