Keeping Your Sales Team MotivatedWritten by Frank J. Rumbauskas, Jr.
Sales managers frequently approach me for advice on how to keep salespeople motivated, especially when sales reps get into a rut - and seem to keep slipping deeper into it. Telling managers what not to do usually solves problem. Most managers do things to de-motivate salespeople without even knowing it.Let's take idea of funnels and forecasts, for instance. Funnels and forecasts are important aspects of running any sales operation. Both salespeople and managers need to know where they stand in terms of potential opportunities, and funnels serve to track those opportunities. No successful business can operate and properly plan for future without accurate forecasting. In theory, these are absolutely essential to success of any operation. In reality, however, few words strike terror in hearts of salespeople like "funnel" and "forecast." For most salespeople, term "funnel review" equates to micromanagement, probation and performance improvement plans. Just hearing term is enough to shift a sales rep's frame of mind from positive to negative. He or she suddenly loses enthusiasm and doesn't know why. Many managers increase funnel reviews as performance slips, which causes performance to slip further, and in end nobody wins. Endless funnel reviews, especially if they're not positive, only serve to reinforce salespeople's self-doubts and limiting beliefs. Forecasts are a similar problem, but in different ways. Few salespeople forecast accurately. Nobody wants to fall short on their forecast, so they embellish, exaggerate and make sure numbers add up to where they should be rather than where they really are. This results in managers who expect those numbers, and salespeople who dodge managers because they know they aren't going to perform as forecasted. Then there are salespeople like myself who do exact opposite - since I hated nothing more than having a manager constantly ask me, "When is this one going to close? When is that one going to close?," I intentionally left good deals off my forecast. While it eliminated problem of constantly being asked when all those deals would sign, it created another form of stress in having to deal with consequences of a funnel that fell short of expectations.
| | Is Cold Calling Dead?Written by Frank J. Rumbauskas, Jr.
Is cold calling dead? And if laws are being passed to put it to rest once and for all, how do we generate business from now on?Opinions on subject vary greatly depending on background of individual. For example, most of old-timers are vigilant in preaching their belief that only possible way to succeed in world of selling is to make no less than fifty calls each and every day. On other hand, younger salespeople tend to become frustrated with this rather quickly and begin looking for more innovative ways to generate business. I was just reminded of how ingrained this cold calling belief is. I spoke with a friend who left a sales position with a major merchant processing bank only a few weeks after starting. The reason? He was required to make a minimum of 400 cold calls each and every week and to document his activity with business cards. He is highly experienced and knows how to generate business without knocking on 400 doors per week and decided to discuss strategies that have worked for him in past with his managers. Their response? This is how we've done it for forty years and we're not about to change. That response, in my opinion, is reason we're seeing record business bankruptcies today. The world and our economy have changed and are breaking into bold, unchartered territory. But management of most business organizations insists on doing things old way, even though old way produces less and less results as time goes on. The concept of "Permission Marketing" is slowly but surely gaining popularity as old idea of "Interruption Marketing" becomes less efficient and more wasteful. There are several reasons why cold calling in particular has become less effective as we move further into Information Age. It destroys your status as a business equal. It forces you to spend time with unqualified prospects while qualified ones are buying from your competition. It annoys people and is increasingly considered to be rude and disrespectful. Moreover, it may now be illegal (and in several states it's been illegal for quite some time). But, most importantly, it destroys sales peoples attitudes.
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