Forecasting is one of the most important activities in a salespersons calendar; it needs to be both reliable and consistent.

 

Over many years I have seen some amazing forecasting methods most are too complicated and require the salesperson to complete endless forms and questions which is time consuming and totally unnecessary.

 

KISS – keep it simple, stupid: is my motto

 

Traditional forecasting tends to be rear view mirror stuff with the salesperson often justifying why the sales haven’t closed.

 

Lets take a fresh look at the subject and consider our forecast looking forward and from the buyer’s standpoint.

 

Key questions:

 

What is your customers buying cycle?

Where are you relation to this?

What level of commitment do you have?

What level of commitment do you still need?

Are there any compelling events?

What are their buying criteria?

 

If your sales people don’t know the answers to these questions then your forecast  could be at risk.

 

Have a simple step x step approach to your information gathering.

 

Qualification using ‘MANU’ for smaller deals and ‘SPORTSMAN’ (which I have trademarked) as the most comprehensive approach to the larger high value sales.

 

If you want to know more about how to achieve reliable, accurate and consistent sales forecasting: 

 

Contact Richard Spooner +44 (0)7887 720006

 

 

 

Answer – it’s both an Art and a Science!

Some hints ‘n’ tips on how to grow sales:-

 

• Hiring the right sales person
• Setting targets and objectives
• Providing sales support
• Managing and motivating
• Share and prosper
• Targeting your effort in the right place 

Hiring the right sales person:

 

One of the most important hires that you make will be your sales person(s).  Making the wrong choice could set you back months or years.  I have found finding someone by referral with a proven track record is by far the best option AND it saves money on recruitment fees.

 

Plan the interview, ask for evidence of activity, results and knowledge – take a measure of skill from the questions they ask and how they close for the (order) job.

 

I always ask for a written follow up to make sure they have understood my need and how they can meet/exceed my requirements.  I might get them to present a 90 day plan at their second interview if I am feeling particularly bullish and want them to work for the position and/or it’s a choice I have to make between two or more candidates.

 

Setting targets and objectives:

 

Base targets on what’s achievable and realistic.  There are 181 selling days in a year after weekends, bank holidays, annual leave, a day in the office a week for admin  - all need to be taken into account.

 

How many calls/visits can they make a day, how many calls on average to move a prospect to an order, what’s the average deal size, how many deals to do the target ?

 

With all this information it’s possible to calculate both individual and team targets and set commission schemes around achievement – remember to keep the carrot near enough to the donkey.

 

Set ‘SMART’ objectives around Activity, Skills and Knowledge  in order to improve competence.

 

 Providing sufficient sales support:

 

• Where appropriate buy and maintain a relevant data base of prospects.
• Provide additional telephone support to fast start appointment making.
• Maintain customer info on an appropriate CRM ie, Salesforce.com, ACT or MS-CRM Dynamics.
• Arrange seminars, breakfast briefings, exhibitions, demo days and networking events to drive up customer interaction.
• Provide all relevant off- line and on- line marketing support and lead generation activity.
• Set quarterly activity targets.

 Managing  & motivating:

 

If you can’t measure it you can’t manage it!  Don’t just manage the results, manage all the components that together work to achieve the results. Be prepared to invest in the right sort of training (avoid open courses) find a coach prepared to work hands on with your sales team as they grow in experience.

 

Focus on Activity, Skills, Knowledge :

 

• Direct those with low competence
• Coach those with some competence
• Support those with medium competence
• Delegate those with high competence.

 Motivation is a combination of commitment and confidence - build personal contracts with your people to develop both.

 

Never dish out a ‘rollicking’ when they make a mistake unless you have seen them do it correctly at least once!

 

Base your leadership style on the situation and where the follower is in terms of their development.

 

Management & motivation is something you do with someone, not to someone!

 

Share & prosper:

Many small companies I have worked with have chosen to introduce equity participation in one form or another.

 

Employees need to earn the right to participate in such schemes.

 

For sales people the one sure-fire way to drive up results and lasting commitment is to offer shares or share options. You don’t have to give the shop away.

 

I would always insist on at least 18 months over target performance before they become eligible. If they leave for some reason they forfeit their share options.

 

Targeting your effort in the right place:

 

Elephants, Deer and Rabbits

 Simple segmentation:

 Elephants:  

 

Denote the larger deals that you may get involved in if you sell to large corporates.

 

These are bigger in size but much more difficult to catch.  Long sales/buying cycle you may starve cash flow wise on route to catching an Elephant.

 

Ask yourself is it worth the effort and time – do they have a Preferred Supplier Listing? -  you may find you don’t qualify.

Deer:  

 

Are your medium size opportunities typically from medium size enterprises.  It is ok to go deer hunting if you are suitably prepared. Beware of behind closed doors selling, competing budgets and the case for doing nothing.  On the positive side Deer are more likely to have the need for personalised service. You may need to up - skill your sales people in account management skills. Have a robust renewal and retention plan. Don’t expect hunters to become farmers and visa versa.

 

Rabbits: 

 

Small deal value, lots of them. You get to sell to the decision maker and handle any objections face to face.  High activity spreads your risk - you need many to survive. New business hunting skills and high activity is paramount. New products or services require case studies and testimonials. Build a beachhead in your market sector before moving onwards and upwards in the food chain.

 

 

 

by Richard Spooner – Sales Coach and Business Advisor

 

+44(0)7887-720006

 

N.B. From M & A Rainmaker - I have asked Richard - who I have known since working together at Memorex Telex - to contribute to this blog and there will be more from him. Richard is one of the best salespeople, sales managers/Directors and Business Development people that I know.

 

 

 

 

 

I was talking to the Director of one of the companies that I mentor the other day and we were talking about the new ( their first ) salesperson that they had taken on. Starting and building a salesforce is no easy task.

We got down to 2 main areas of discussion:

1. What does a good salesperson need to know and what qualities do they have ? ( If we know this then we can check to see how they measure up against this criteria ).
   
   
2. What is an appropriate customer sales meeting structure ( for a company focussed on ICT sales to SMB’s )? N.B.  As we shall discuss later using an appropriate sales meeting structure is one of the skills that a good salesperson would have.

I think the first thing to understand is that a good salesperson is NOT someone who talks a lot! A good salesperson, similar to a good counsellor, listens a lot and observes carefully but they often don’t say much. This principle is enshrined in the saying “ You have 2 ears, 2 eyes and one mouth and you should use them in that proportion “. i.e. Listen a lot, observe everything and say very little.

Describing the perfect salesperson and the perfect sales meeting can take books or days of training and  presentations.  Here I will describe the main features of a good salesperson and then mention briefly how these areas might sub-divide:

1. Personality/Likeability/The Beer or Glass of Wine Test

   Perhaps the first and most important trait of a good salesperson is “ Likeability “. It is not a pre-requisite for someone to sell you something but it sure helps ! If a salesperson is weak in other areas “ Likeability “ can be the key as to why you buy something from them. This may be particularly true in the SMB sale. Generally speaking small business people buy from people they know, trust and/or like.  One of my old bosses called this “ The Beer Test “ – would I like to have a beer with this person ??   

   
   
   

2. Activity

   The second area is activity. It is often said that “ selling is a numbers game “. The more telephone calls, appointments, proposals etc that you do then the more likely it is that you will get some sales. Again, we can say that people who are likeable and very active can succeed even if they are weak in other areas. In fact people who are not particularly likeable but are very active can succeed. There are ( sales ) industry standard accepted conversion ratios for the number of appointments that can be expected from a number of phone calls and the number of proposals that can be expected from a number of appointments and the number of orders that can be expected from a number of proposals.  So called “ High Pressure Sales Teams “ set their standards for salespeople around these ratios. There are all sorts of phrases used to emphasize the fact that it is, to some extent,  a numbers game e.g. “The harder I work the luckier I get” and “ In 100% of the cases where you don’t put in a proposal/you don’t bid for it -  you don’t get the order “.
   
   
   

3. Knowledge

   The next important aspect of a great salesperson is knowledge. i.e. Knowledge of their company, products and services, the competition and the market. Again, a not particularly likeable person with  high levels of knowledge and high levels of activity can succeed.
   
   

4. Skills

   The final aspect that determines a good salesperson is their grasp of e.g. selling, meeting, presentation, proposal writing and interpersonal skills. These are things like, how to structure a customer sales meeting, proposal or presentation. How to deal with certain types ( psychometric profiles ) of people. How to handle “ objections “ or “ close “ sales.
   
   
   

We can take these four main areas – Personality, Activity, Knowledge and Skills and, for example, rate someone on a scale of 1 to 10 for each area. How likeable ( or not !! ) are they ? How active are they ? How much knowledge ( of our area ) do they have ? How good are their skills ? It is reasonable to believe that a salesperson who is likeable, active, knowledgeable and skilful is likely to succeed. Certainly in my experience the best salespeople are good in all these areas. It is also possible to sub-divide each area, e.g. Knowledge and look at the sub-areas of knowledge separately such as knowledge about products and services. To assess this you might accompany them on sales meetings or give them verbal or written tests. A low score in any particular area might mean that you need to give them training in that area.

I would also mention a couple of other areas that are important in a good salesperson ( there are a number ). Firstly “attitude” generally and towards the idea that Points 1 to 4 are relevant and important to them.  Good salespeople are generally speaking open to the idea that there are identifiable attributes of a salesperson and are happy to “ train “ to improve them. They think of themselves as being like “ soccer stars “ who train all the time generally and specifically to become top players. I would also mention “ focus “. Great salespeople focus on their roles, and gaining the necessary skills and knowledge to be the best at their jobs.

 

We are now going to take a specific part of the Skills section, the structure of a sales meeting, and look at that in some detail ( N.B. It is just one aspect of one of the four main attributes of a great salesperson that we have identified ).

In proposing a meeting structure, a fairly generalised one, we should remind ourselves that we are using the “ 2 eyes,2 ears and 1 mouth principle “. This means that we are going to ask questions and then we are going to ( actively ) listen, observe and take notes ( to remind ourselves of the answers and the responses that we got to our questions when we are reviewing the meeting ). When asking questions we might remember what Rudyard Kipling said -  ” I keep six honest working men, they taught me all I know, their names are WHAT, WHY and WHEN, and HOW and WHERE and WHO “.

There would be a difference in the “scope” of the questions that we would ask depending on the stage of that meeting i.e. was it a first, second or final meeting ? There would be things that we covered at the first meeting that we probably would not need to cover at subsequent meetings e.g. our understanding of what the company does and it’s broad structure and general strategy.

In general terms our meeting structure seeks to identify the prospects ( business ) wants, needs and aspirations in order that we can provide them with a proposal to achieve those wants, needs and aspirations.

In the ICT world we are usually providing a combination of equipment ( hardware ), applications
( software ), network ( voice,data,WAN,LAN etc ) and services ( eg Project Management, Installation, Maintenance etc ) to help them to achieve their ( business ) aspirations.

The general structure of a first meeting is proposed to be:

1. Opening the meeting/Introductions/Summary of how contact was made

   i.e. Thanks for meeting with me; We spoke about xyz on the phone; how long have you got

 

 

1. Any specific issue(s) that you want to cover during the meeting today ?

    i.e. A catch all to make sure that we address what is important to the prospect; he might of thought of something since you last spoke; there may have been some changes
   
   
   

2. Company Background and Structure ?

   Mainly a first meeting question. To understand more about them, their history, where they have premises ( single-site, multi-site? ). What departments are there – eg sales Finance, Manufacturing, Admin. Etc etc Also the reporting structure and decision makers.
   
   

3. Objectives/Strategy of the company?

   Broadly, where is the company going? What areas do they want to grow/change? What do they want to achieve ? Are they trying to save money ? Are they expanding?
   
   

4. Objectives/Strategy with respect to ICT?

   Do they have some particular ICT strategy/objectives? They want to change the phone system to achieve xyz ? They need to add servers because xyz ? They want to reduce costs ? They want to get better control or visibility of ?
   
   
   

5. How is it done now/what using now/what is it like at the moment ?

   Here we are “ establishing the gap or needs “. It is a fundamental – “ Well we are here and we want to be here type question “.
   
   
   

6. Summary of the areas for improvement

   This is really a check that we have understood the issues; we’ve got all the issues; we’ve got enough detail on the issues; we know who wants what within the organisation.
   
   
   

7. So, if we could provide a proposal that would do this, solve that, reduce costs here etc etc would that be of interest??

   This is another check that we’ve got things understood and that if we can help them with these issues they are likely to progress discussions with us with a view to possibly giving us an order.
   
   

8. Next steps and timescales?

   Having established what they want/need lets understand when they need to do this; when they need our proposals; how they need them; who is going to review them etc etc In some situations the next step would be a quote/proposal. In others ( eg larger opportunities ) it might be a step on the way to a proposal eg a presentation, demonstration etc
   
   

Subsequent meetings might change slightly because we are broadly checking the background things i.e. Questions 3,4,5,6 and 7. So, a second meeting might be:

1. As before
   
   
2. Check what you agreed to do at the last meeting ( We said I would come back to you with a proposal covering the areas we agreed . Is there anything else you want to cover during this meeting ? )
   
   
3. ( 4, 5, 6, 7 ) Check that nothing significant has changed in these  areas.
   
   

8. So, you wanted a proposal that ( met your needs, wants, aspirations ) let me run through it with you. Is that broadly what you wanted ? ( Yes?Progress No? Address the issues until you get Yes ).

9. The next step might be that they make a decision on your proposal or you might need to do a presentation, demonstration etc before a final proposal and a decision. You are basically asking “ What else do I need to show you, prove to you, before you will give me an order ? “