Whether you are a sales manager or a salesperson what are you doing to drive sales results?
This week I’d like you to stop and think for a moment about the time, energy and effort you are putting forth to win your sales opportunities versus the time you invest in yourself.
If you are a sales manager you are no doubt extremely busy with forecasting, sales meetings, recruiting, interviewing, training, coaching and all the other tasks that need to be done.
But how much time are you investing in developing the sales people individually?
I’m seeing many managers so focused on fire fighting the soon to close opportunities, that they forget to coach their teams effectively. Especially, in the area of how to capture the key information required to win their ‘Must Win’ sales opportunities.
So, if you’re reviewing your pipeline this month and looking at those key sales opportunities, ask yourself, how close are we really to winning them? If you sit down with your team and drill down on the key winning elements don’t be too surprised if they don’t have enough information to make you feel secure about your forecast!
If they haven’t asked the right questions you only have yourself to blame. You have to consistently take the time to review early stage pipeline opportunities and coach your team on the key information required to win. Only by working collaboratively like this will they be able to raise their game and significantly boost results.
Here are my five winning elements, the ones I’d like my people to focus on for success.
- Key Drivers – What’s the reason for the opportunity?
- Is there a compelling event to make it happen now?
- Influencers – Are we aligned with everyone influencing the decision?
- Solution – How much do we know about the exact requirements?
- Value – Do we know the decision-making criteria of the key players?
- Does our solution provide real value to the client?
- Decision – Do we know the critical decision dates & milestones for the project?
- How the decision will be made?
Clients who have invested in themselves and then consistently implemented their learning with their teams get dramatic results. They have become the catalyst for change not just for themselves but their entire team.
So, what’s the one area you could develop and coach your team on this week?
