I have been thinking about this since I bought the book, Why Johnny Can’t Sell. After spending the last 5 years doing a lot of sales training, sales coaching and managing sales teams for ISPs and MSPs, I have some insights into why sales people struggle.
Quota is usually arbitrary. It is a function of the recouping of the sales rep’s salary. It isn’t often based on Average Sales Size and Median Sales Cycle. In other words, if the average sales size is $500 and Quota is $2000, the sales rep will need to close one deal every week. Yet if quota is $4K, that is 8 deals, 2 per week. If the rep can close 50%, that is 16 proposals per month – almost one per day. Most door knockers do not generate that many quotes.
Failing to hit a monthly or quarterly sales goals do not always have to do with activity, will, or skill, but with the people you’re calling on and following up with. Time Management is one of the most vital skills a sales rep can have. Time is Money. Use the time wisely. Spend time with prospects who will benefit most from your services.
If you’re following up with the wrong prospects, you’re not investing your time working with the right ones. And the only constant is time.
That there is Problem 1: Most service providers do not know who their target customer is. They don’t mine any data from their current and past customers to know who to target, so they go with everyone – or where ever the fiber goes – or where the fixed wireless signal will work.
Problem 2: The lack of a Value Proposition. The foundation of Marketing is the value prop. Why YOUR Services over everyone else’s? How do Customers benefit from working with you over XYZ? What outcomes do you see your Customers achieve?
You need to talk to your customers. To stay in front of them so you are not just an invoice. To see how you help them now – and can help them next! To see what technology they have, use, leverage – or don’t!
Then you take that knowledge and duplicate those customers!
Problem 3: Prospecting! It is Sales Math. Every rep needs to make a significant number of touches every day in order to keep the funnel going. Email, phone calls, texts, social, and even door knocks are all part of a sales cadence that results in prospects becoming customers.
Daily Activity is required.
Problem 4: Mis-Managed! This brings us to Management. Just checking the number of CRM entries, quotes and contracts will mean that you are missing the data that will let you know that something is wrong with the process.
Daily check-ins allow the sales rep to vent, ask questions, get feedback, report in and feel listened to.
Problem 5: Product Knowledge. It helps if they eat the dog food. Sales reps need to be leveraging the technology they sell. They need to be able to demo it. When using the tech, you will find it easier to talk about the uses and benefits.
Problem 6: Ask Better Questions. The discovery process is about asking questions to qualify – or even better disqualify a prospect. It is about finding out what solution may provide the desired outcome because you have learned about the business, its goals and where the business wants to go. The best questions win because it identifies need and priority.
Managing a sales team isn’t about watching the quota. It is about training up and coaching your team to success by identifying what elements are not part of their habit. Time Management and improving on the sales fundamentals are how your sales team hits their goals. Coaching them daily on every aspect of the sales process: retention, prospecting, discovery, time management, negotiation and closing. Also, coaching them on pitching and demos, knowing the target market and the Why (Value Prop).
There are a lot of ingredients to make the sales team successful.
It is rare to get a seasoned rep who does not need to be coached up and trained. I have never seen that work. The back office for every provider is different. The process, the CRM and other systems, the paperwork, the credit check, the products and the implementation of those products.
Sometimes the business itself is not set up for sales reps to be successful. A good manager can see that and work through some of it to bring sales success to the org.
If you need someone to take a look at your sales org, train your reps, coach them up, or even coach a manager up, give us a call at RAD-INFO INC – (813) 963-5884
Let’s help Buddy Sell!