Puppy Sales

After years of talking about it, my Wife and I got a puppy. We knew we would really like one, but we just didn’t have the time to spend with one. Both of us working outside of the house, it just wouldn’t be fair, for any of us. Now that I am working at home and my wife has some work at home flexibility, it seemed the perfect time.

We had been Puppy sitting for a friend and the experience was all we needed to get pushed over the edge. We both have had dogs before so we had our likes and dislikes. We knew more what we didn’t want than what we did want.

I saw some pictures of some puppies on a rescue site that seemed like good candidates for us. We went to take a look with the expectation that we wouldn’t find one that we could agree on, we were wrong. You can see Ben’s Blog here.

As I was trying to get Ben to sleep last night my thoughts turned to new sales people. How many of you treat a salesperson like a new puppy?

Do you make time for him?

Do you set firm boundaries?

Do you set a schedule?

Do you have checkups?

My guess is you don’t. You hire your new “puppy” based on pedigree alone, looking at their resume. You show them where the old used toys are, (software, hardware, etc.) your last dog used. You have no time to spend with them and get upset when they whine to get attention. You give them the run of the house and can’t believe they aren’t housebroken and makes messes you have to cleanup.

Just as this is unreasonable with a new puppy, it is unreasonable with a new salesperson. Just like the checklist you use to make sure you do everything for your new puppy, you need a checklist for what you need to do with your new salesperson.

If you want them to grow up happy and healthy, you have to start them out right as a pup.

Sales Bloat

Ever have that feeling? No, the feeling of too many people trying to do too little work? It does happen in sales, especially in commission only sales. As a business owner you may want your sales team hit a certain number, but do you care if it is all from 1 salesperson, or 10? You should, and here is why.

Happy. You want your salespeople happy, and money makes them happy. Too many people sharing the pie equals less money per salesperson equals less happy salespeople. If they find more business, you think great, but can you deliver? Sales and service have to be in alignment.

Overhead. Everybody you have adds overhead. The more salespeople, the more overhead, you may need to add 10-15% to what you think you need, per additional resource. More work, more cost, same profit, bad deal.

Predictable. Being able to predict your business with a solid pipeline is a key part of your growth. Salespeople with small pipeline will try to expand their pipeline. This can be good, if it is good business, but often it is marginal out of market business with a small chance of closing. Inflated pipelines, loss of productive sales time and technical time can be the result.

Keep your team hungry, but streamlined and efficient. 

Sales Decathlon

How do you judge your sales people? Do you want a sprinter, always first to the line? A hurdler, able to clear obstacles?  A pole-vaulter, able to hit the big number? All of those things are nice, but at what expense? Do you care how the come in first, clear obstacles and hit the big number? You should. If fact I think you need to hire salespeople who can compete in a decathlon. Yes, but forget the Kardashians, I’m talking about a Bruce Jenner type here…

Not familiar with the decathlon, just click here.  10 different events over 2 days. Take the scores form each event, add them up and see who is the best well rounded track and field athlete. This is an even where the best rise to the top. It isn’t enough to be strong, or fast, or coordinated. To win, you have to be all of these things, and have to be able to compete at a high level.

That is how I want my salespeople. Not just hard closers, and not just good prospectors, and not just salespeople who are quick on their feet, I want all of that. I want a decathlete. 

Play Like a Pro

I was at the MSPU boot camp in Charlotte last week and heard Rafael Sanguily instructing in the sales track. One of the things he said that made me think was, you are all professionals, and every professional needs to practice to stay at the top of their game. You know what else a professional needs? The ability to shrug off a loss and keep digging.

I like watching baseball, and every so often I will see a pitcher just gets lit up. Seems everything he throws is as big as a beach ball. So what happens? The pitcher gets pulled from that game, but his manager makes sure that the pitcher knows that as his manager, he still has faith in him. This allows the pitcher to take the mound on his next outing with attitude and confidence, not as a beaten man.

After you have lost a deal, how do you act? Not how you feel, but how do you act? If you manage a sales team, how do you act when a salesperson loses a deal? Have you done everything you can to make sure that they can perform at a high level next time, or have you shaken their confidence by making them think you no longer believe in them? Just because you have to take the ball, doesn’t mean you have to take their confidence.