What to do about under performing (6) Not driving your pipeline

This is number 6 in the series – you can read the first article here

Top-flight sales people take the time to actively manage their pipeline.

Managing your pipeline requires two tasks:

• Analysing where you are
• Deciding what to do to beat target this month, this quarter, this year

You should start by clearing out your pipeline. Remove prospects that are weak. Put them back into lead nurturing or get rid of them altogether.

Then look at which opportunities will close this month, quarter, year.

Next make an assessment of how many of those opportunities will die away or will be lost.

Work out how many new opportunities you have to generate; that’s your first decision made.

Next look at which opportunities will close in the next three months.

Can you close any of them earlier? If so, how? That’s your next set of decisions made.

Now look at the remaining opportunities. Where are they in the customers buying process. What do you need to do to move them forward? That’s another set of decisions made.

In order of priority your sales activity plan should be:

• Opportunities to close this month – every day
• Prospecting for new opportunities – every day
• Opportunities to close in the next 120-days – every week
• All other opportunities – when you have done 1 to 3

If you are ever tempted to make number 2 into number 4 remember, top performers feed the top of the funnel constantly. They don’t let a day pass without speaking to customers, prospects, partners and referrers to find new business.

<< (5) Not having a sales activity plan

>> (7) Lacking fluency

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What to do about under performing (5) Not having sales activity plan

This is number 5 in the series – you can read the first article here

There is a world of difference between a ‘to do list’ and a sales activity plan. Top performers also have a sales plan. The middle-rankers only use a to do list.

A ‘to do list’ is a list of reactive tasks. Things you must do because. I must email the quote to Anne because … I must prepare my forecast because … And the phrase after because is usually either “I said I would”, “they asked for it” or “I have to”.

There is nothing wrong with using a to do list. In fact you should prepare one each day: 

• Ticking something off your to do list is satisfying; they help you achieve your daily goals
• They help you review your performance at the end of each day
• They help you to achieve more each day
• They help you make sure you don’t miss something that has to be done

It is also important that you set aside time every week for business development (prospecting, client retention calls, updating partners etc.) and don’t allow yourself to become distracted.

But the key thing about your to do list is it should be driven by your sales activity plan and your sales activity plan should be all about driving your pipeline.

<< (#4) Being unfocused

>> (#6) Not driving your pipeline

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What to do about under performing (4) Being unfocused

This is number 4 in the series – you can read the first article here

There is a world of difference between being a poor performer and being bone-idle. I’ve known middle ranking sales people who burn the midnight oil and still miss target.

Poor performers can work extremely hard. If you are putting the effort in, then you have to ask yourself:

• Is it the right kind of effort?
• Is it directed at the right kind of activity?
• Is it being done at the right time?

Sales comes with essential chores that I call non-selling (i.e. anything that isn’t talking with a customer). Processing orders, writing proposals, preparing your forecast and so on. These are all things that can be done outside of prime selling time.

Once you have identified what they are and rescheduled them you need to look at who you are selling to.

The best sales people have a clear picture of their ideal customers, alliances and partners. They build step-by-step strategies around these people. They also have a clear idea of who they won’t sell to. If a prospect doesn’t meet their ideal, they leave them until they do.

Use your activity log to work out your answers to the above three questions, spend time working out what your ideal customer looks like and then take an honest look at your pipeline.

<< (3) Not committing to change

>> (5) Not having a sales activity plan

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What is the best use of a spare 15-minutes?

You’ve got 15 minutes spare at the end of the day. What’s the best way to use it?

Check your emails? Call order processing? Chase the tech team for an answer to your question?

I’d use it to improve your pipeline.

Remember a strong pipeline is what keeps you sane. It keeps you on target and it helps you to resist price pressures.

So use that spare 15-minutes to:

• Qualify out a lead – pass it back for nurturing
• Qualify a suspect
• Make a couple of additional prospecting calls

Start small to win big

Big projects carry a big price tag. While that may not make the project any more risky, it certainly magnifies the risk. And even if your contacts are excited about what you have proposed they’ll have more trouble getting the buy-in they need to approve it.

As a result you run the risk of your sale stalling or getting kicked into touch “just for now”.

So why not reduce the perception of risk?

Instead of proposing the big idea, start small to demonstrate your success and then build on it.

• Propose an initial evaluation to scope and value the problem
• Fix a small problem with short-term payback and recognisable value
• Focus on just one product, service or part of the solution
• Reduce the scope to a single department, location, process or whatever

These pilot projects often have a conversion rate of over 80% but the secret is to guide the prospect’s senior execs to agree realistic success criteria. Once you’ve demonstrated a successful pilot you only have to prove that the success will scale-up.

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What to do about under performing (3) Not committing to change

This is number 3 in the series – you can read the first article here

“If we want to direct our lives, we must take control of our consistent actions. It’s not what we do once in a while that shapes our lives, but what we do consistently." (Tony Robbins)

The first step in changing is identifying and getting rid of the influences that are holding you back. Things such as:

Making excuses. We can all find excuses for not winning a sale. Competition, poor economy, missing features, price etc. But poor performers stop there. They don’t try to work out what they can do about them. You have to commit to evaluating every lost sale, finding why you lost it, and working out how to overcome. You have to stop making excuses and develop reasons. Then you can deal with them.

The mediocre mass. Low-performing sales people socialise together. Around the coffee pot in the office, over lunch or at the quick, Friday night after work drinks. And their attitudes and passive acceptance of under achievement are contagious. If you want to change you have to remove yourself from that atmosphere.

Knowing it all. “I’ve been in sales for 20-years.” That’s not experience; that’s just longevity. You need to be saying: “I’ve been in sales for 20-years and I keep learning.” The sales business has changed more in the last 10-years than in the previous seventy. You have to want to learn.

Underinvestment. Top performers invest in themselves. They take the time to learn. By reading, by seeking coaches, by asking questions. By paying for their own training and professional development. I’m never impressed by salespeople who try to beg off a training course “because I’d rather spend the time selling.”

Waiting for perfection. Surprised at that? Let me tell you, the best sales people in the world drop balls. They may drop less than you, but that isn’t what makes them good. It’s that they know they might and they watch for when it happens. They know they are imperfect. Aim for perfection but don’t wait for it before acting.

Time. Making changes means extra effort. That means finding time. You have to keep your activity up. That means using some of your own time. Family pressures. Social pressures. You’ll just have to insist that you have the time.

Identify your constraints. Then work out how to get rid of them. And make doing so the first in a new set of consistent positive behaviours.

<< (#2) Not seeking help

>> (#4) Being unfocused

What to do about under performance (2) Not seeking help

This is number 2 in the series – you can read the first article here

Underperforming sales people are not good at asking for help. Usually either a lack of confidence in themselves or lack of confidence or trust in their manager stops them from wanting to be transparent about a weakness. However, unless you find help you are condemning yourself to mediocrity.

The first thing to understand is that asking for help dealing with a weakness is not weak. In fact it shows strength and self-confidence. Top-performers from every sphere actively seek out coaches, mentors and advisors who can help them overcome these obstacles.

If you do have an issue with trust or confidence in your manager and you really can’t ask for help, then you need to analyse why. Younger sales people often misunderstand the relationship that they should have with their sales managers and see it as an entirely master/subordinate one.

In fact developing professional sales people is a key part of every sales managers job and by asking for specific help you are actually making it a bit easier.

However, you may have an unprofessional manager whose attitude is “you should know how to do it, that’s what we pay you for.” In that case – or if you are working on your own – then you need to find help from other sources (and meanwhile think about job-hunting).

If you can’t get help through or from your manager where can you find it?

1. If you can, find a colleague in your company who seems to have nailed down the obstacle you have and ask them for help with it.
2. Is there someone you know outside your company who can and will help you if you ask, or point you in the right direction?
3. If you are part of a online network (like LinkedIn) could you post a question there?
4. What about any professional or trade bodies you are a member of; do they offer help?
5. Can you find a professional sales coach or mentor; you will have to pay, but it could be a worthwhile investment.
6. What about a public (open house) training course. Again, you’ll pay but it could be money well spent.
7. Research online – but be cynical. A lot of online sales resources are regurgitations of out-dated books or may not be relevant to your marketplace or are just plain rubbish.

When you do find help be very clear and upfront about what kind of help you need. If you simply want to ask some questions over dinner that is one thing, but if you think you’ll need on-going coaching or mentoring that is something else.

Remember, no-one achieves greatness on their own – we all need help with some things throughout our lives. The best sales people have the confidence to admit that they are imperfect and actively look for the help they need to become excellent.

And finally only ask for help if you are committed to acting on it. People will expect you to do that.

<< (#1) Not seeing that you are under performing

>> (#3) Not committing to change

What to do about under performance (1) Not seeing that you are under-performing

There are many reasons why a sales person will be struggling to hit target but, in my experience, there is never one single reason. This series discusses the most common reasons and what can be done to address them.

The most common, though not the most obvious reason, is not seeing that you are underperforming. By that I don’t mean blindly ignoring the fact that you are at 40% of target with 3-months to go.

What I mean is saying to yourself “If I land this (weak) opportunity this month and that (unqualified) suspect in 3-months and these two prospects land at the top end of the estimate then …”

Or saying to yourself “If 100 cold calls give me 3 appointments and I need 50 to close £x then I have to make …”

In other words believing that what you are doing, you are doing well and that if you can only do more of it you will succeed.

The fact is that most sales people are in the middle of the results table because they are in the middle of the skills table as well. It’s not that you need to put in more effort; it’s better executed effort that you need.

So what do you need to do?

You need to find out where you are underperforming and that’s really simple.

You just need a time-log.

It doesn’t need to be fancy; just a sheet of paper you keep by you so you can jot down what you did, how long you spent on it, what happened and what you could improve. For example:

Monday 8th – 9:30 – 10 mins – Cold call XYZ Ltd – Wrong contact for our product – Didn’t ask who I should speak to.

9:45 – 15 mins – Took order from ABC Co. for 50 poles – Didn’t try to cross-sell brackets

Sometimes you’ll want to write more; that’s good – it shows you are thinking about your performance and that’s the first step to improving.

At the end of the day categorise what you did, the total time spent on each category and the number of improvement points. So from the example above:

Prospecting – 10 mins – 1

Cross-selling – 15 mins – 1

At the end of the day you’ll see that of the eight or so hours in the working day you’ve only recorded maybe 4 or 5. Where did the rest go? That’ll be lunch, making coffee, toilet breaks, talking about last night’s … Just all the trivia that makes up office life.

But by the end of the week you’ll have two lists that tell you:

• How much time you spend on work activities
• How much time you spend on non-productive activities
• What you need to improve on

What you now need to do is prioritise those categories where you must improve. Let’s say you have ten improvement points in Prospecting and only three in Cross-selling. You might be tempted to work on your prospecting skills first.

But take a look at your pipeline. If you can honestly say that you have enough qualified prospects and that you spend enough time generating them, then you should choose to prioritise cross-selling.

You need to be prepared to spend time after-hours analysing your performance and the time you spend in every area. But don’t make this a crisis-only activity; make it a habit because even if they don’t write it down, top-flight sales people do it all the time.

>> (#2) Not seeking help

How to deal with free

Sooner or later we get faced with pressure to do something for nothing. How do you respond to it?

Service companies are often under pressure to give information or work for free.

So, if your competitors are offering newsletters, thought pieces, e-books, videos etc. for free, can you still charge?

Can you still charge if the competition is offering a free chunk of work?

If your clients see what you have as being valuable enough you can.

There are plenty of organisations who have enough equity in their brand to be able to offer free samples but charge a fee for deeper, newer, richer content or access to their archives or more valuable projects.

Some suggestions to help you cope:

• Remember you can give away work only if you position it properly and you do it from a position of strength.
• Refocus your brand and processes on bringing real value to clients and be sure to articulate the value loud and clear.
• Keep a full pipeline of strong prospects. When you have one of these, it’s easier to resist free.
• Learn to add value right from the start of your first meeting with prospective clients. Challenge their thinking, help them to be crystal-clear about objectives and benefits, bring a real understanding of the value of the project to them. Show your best practices and innovative approach.
• If you decide to provide some free work agree clearly with the customer on what you want in return, know when to start charging and makes sure your customer knows when you will start charging as well.
• If you do decide to work for free as an investment spend all the time on delivering the value and building trust—not on reports and presentations.
• If a competitor tries to undercut you with free never knuckle under without strong resistance. Refocus on your value, try to reduce the amount of free work and increase the return you get in other ways. Say to the customer “I don’t know why they are doing this; we’ve got plenty of paid work on our books. I know some companies are doing free projects. Maybe they aren’t as strong as us.”

If you do all of this and still have to give a concession the customer will value it and your work more than simply saying “me too!”

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Fee or free?

Sometimes it seems that everyone is offering something for free. Free assessments, free workshops, free diagnoses; even free consultancy. Should you do free or insist on fee?

In a service business that has fixed capacity, the additional cost of providing something for free is a little more than zero. After all, you may as well have consultants generating goodwill and future business. Right?

Not always.

The crux is future business and good will. If you can elicit a deal in which you are guaranteed paid work in the future, then free work now is a good idea. But haven’t you really negotiated a discount off your fees and extended credit?

This is the key to deciding free or fee; what you will get in return for your give. In other words; the investment you will make.

Free, oddly enough, isn’t just free. There are different flavours.

First, you see a lot of service (and some product) companies offering free samples of their intellectual property in the form of whitepapers, podcasts, videos, etc. This is a good way to demonstrate expertise and knowledge and to arouse curiosity. But it’s even better if, in return, you get to meet the people who are now using some of your IP.

Next, you find companies offering free demonstrations of their capabilities. This could be a free speech at a conference, a free coaching session, or a free workshop or assessment on a defined issue.

Investing time upfront is risky for you but it can be a great way to demonstrate value and earn trust provided the output carries value for the prospect.

However, you must position the offer carefully and honestly to avoid the customer wrongly thinking that you have a hidden agenda or are simply desperate for work.

Finally there are the free major projects. These, more than any other flavour, must be positioned very precisely to avoid any hint of desperation. By the way; suddenly offering free work to win back a deal you have lost very rarely works and it gives the customer a big clue how to play you in the future.

If you are offering major work for free then you need to have strategic reasons that you are open with the client about and senior level access in order to gain agreement on these first. These reasons could be a new service that you want to trial, a chance to extend the services you offer or a chance to open a new market.

Whichever flavour of free you use you must know where the line between investing and giving away lies. You will always reach the point at which you must – for the sake of your business – either say “we have got to the point at which I need to start discussing value with you” or “we are heading outside of what we originally agreed; we need to talk about value”.

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