Have Your Sales Plateaued?
In consulting assignments, two of my favorite questions to ask the salespeople I interview are these:
1. "How much commission income did you generate last year?"
2. "What's preventing you from doubling that number?"
As an example, let's assume that the salesperson told me that last year he generated for his company $3 million in sales. Then my next question would be, "What's preventing you from growing that number to $6 million in sales?"
I get all kinds of answers:
• "Our prices are not competitive enough to do $6 million."
• "I don't have enough time to take care of that much business."
• "The company doesn't give me enough support to handle $6 million."
• "I can't compete with the incentive travel programs the competition offers."
Experience has taught me that most salespeople blame external reasons for failing to reach the next level. Few salespeople accept personal accountability for their shortcomings.
Occasionally, I will interview a salesperson who gives me the answers I most enjoy hearing. Answers like:
• "My sales skills are not yet fine tuned enough to do that much volume."
• "I need to learn how to do a better job of dealing with price objections."
• "To get to $6 million, I need to gain a greater comfort level in closing bigger deals than I'm able to close now."
• "To successfully manage $6 million in sales, I need to learn how to do a more effective job at managing my time."
These last four answers are from salespeople who have accepted personal accountability for their performance. The first four almost invariably represent excuses.
No person ever passes his or her self-imposed limitations. Many salespeople are unable to envision themselves at a higher income level; therefore, they have subconsciously built a barrier to growth — both sales growth and income growth.
How many of your salespeople are guilty of settling for less than they have the talent to achieve? The combined aspirations of your salespeople must exceed management's aspirations or else the odds are slim that your company will meet the objectives of the stockholders.
In a company where the salespeople's sales have plateaued, the owners or managers have no choice but to hire additional salespeople; that is, unless they can successfully motivate their existing salespeople to raise the bar.
There are many different issues I face when working with a sales and marketing team, but one of the most common issues I encounter is salespeople who are stuck in a rut, refusing to grow professionally. In other words, they resist doing much of anything differently from the way they have done it in the past.
Consider the four-minute mile. Until British runner Roger Bannister first broke the 4-minute mile in 1954, it was considered in running circles to be an impossible barrier. But since then, dozens of runners have eclipsed Bannister's feat. The fastest miler, Hicham El Guerrouj of Morocco, would have left Bannister 120 yards behind when he set the current record of 3 minutes 43:13 seconds in 1999.
The top outside salesperson I ever personally worked with generated approximately $40 million in sales.
Incredibly high levels of sales can be achieved. But unless salespeople continuously work on their professionalism, they almost never achieve such lofty results.
Are your salespeople living up to their full potential? If not, perhaps it's because they need training and inspiration. Maybe they need to learn how to do a better job of overcoming objections, dealing with pricing issues or managing their time.
I can think of nothing that will generate a higher return on investment than investing in your sales force. Consider the following:
• Invest in sales training for your salespeople. If you can't afford a sales trainer, team with a vendor or a non-competing business to split the investment.
• Invest in a sales training library for your sales force.
• Ask your state or regional trade association for a list of sales training programs that they offer and insist that your salespeople attend.
• Ask the local Chamber for a list of sales seminars that they have scheduled.
• Encourage your salespeople to spend a day traveling with a high-volume salesperson.
• Encourage your most talented salespeople to list the obstacles that are preventing them from doubling their sales. Once the list is on paper, overcoming the obstacles is the next logical step.
Your sales will increase only when your salespeople become more effective.