In our sales training practice, we get asked in to companies to solve sales problems. That’s just what we do.

Every Sales Problem is a Behavioral Problem

But every sales problem (can’t get to the right person; can’t sell a premium price; can’t overcome the objections; can’t close; can’t prospect) all have to do with “behavioral issues.” And for behavior to change, you must understand how adults learn (to change their behavior).

Here are our findings:

1. Relevancy. If you’re teaching someone, it had better be relevant to them. Ever sat in an all day training/presentation and been able to predict at 8:30am that it would be a total waste? Of course. It’s a waste because the teacher/facilitator never helped it be relevant. And it’s so easy for sales curriculum to be relevant. Just ask the learner, “What do you want to work on? What’s important to you?”    Why is that question seldom asked?
2. Problem-Focused. Every new piece of content you give to a sales person (or to yourself) had better solve a problem. And it’s more useful if there is a connection between the problem to be solved and the pain of the learner. How to do that? (OK, Sales Leaders here it goes- ASK! Yep, it’s that simple. Ask your team what they’re struggling with–and PRESTO, they’ll tell you.) Make sure that every core piece of curriculum you teach solves a problem.
3. Technical. What I mean by this is that it has to be very tactical, technical and detailed. If you were teaching me how to post a blog, you wouldn’t just say, “Go get a blog and write.” There’s a lot more to it than that. Yet, when we’re teaching someone, we skip the details. Don’t skip the details. The learning is ALL IN THE DETAILS.  When you’re coaching someone how to overcome prospect objections, don’t give them several one liners to combat it. Go through, in detail, how you would deliver the reaction–try out new words based on their personality.
4. Attack The Real Resistance. This is a well-kept secret. It’s where most real income growth comes. It’s in the attention that should be focused on the thinking behind the actions–not just the actions.  Sales is a thinking game. We call it the Inner Game–the emotional and mental constructs we’ve set up that limit our success. Unless you change an adults thinking behind the behavior, you will get only moderate change. (One example of this is our belief that the prospect should sell you. That’s a VERY different way of thinking. Yet, when you get that right, the words follow very easily.)
5. Reinforcement. This is the #1 law of learning–the mother of all laws. Yes, Tiger Woods probably gets damn sick of practicing 6′ putts. But he knows that he’s made millions on 6′ putts. You probably don’t hear Roger Federer say to his coach “No, don’t need to practice that drop shot anymore. I got that one down.” You don’t hear that because great performers never stop practicing. What about you? How many hours have you practiced your Upfront Agreement in the last month? How many hours have you spent role-playing the handling of objections? How many hours have you spent practicing the asking questions in a way that allows the prospect to actually tell you the truth? (Here’s an idea no one will like: Spend less time making cold calls to people who don’t want to talk to you–and spend more time in the practice facility working on your game).

So now you have some idea of how adults (you) learn. If you’re a sales leader, keep this article next to you as you do your next sales meeting. If you’re spending all of your time on ‘Funnel Activity’ you’re wasting time. Work on these thing above–and you’ll be amazed at the invigoration of your team.

Adults do change behavior.  We do have it in us. But stale PowerPoints don’t do it.

Have been thinking about the idea of “how do we better communicate our value?” lately. Was interviewed by David Frey’s group for a sales mastery program–and spoke with my friend John Hirth at Selling Dynamics.

It seems the question always turns to “message.”

What Should My Message Be?

It should be a) focused on the prospect (not on your company and your products), b) focused on the pain they might feel (from your experience) and c) join the conversation already going on inside the prospect’s head/company.

But the reality is that unless you know what their issues/situation is, then you have no idea what your message should be.

So before you rush to creating your message, slow down a little and decide how you bring value to your clients. That will help you communicate a compelling message.

A compelling message is only compelling if it speaks to the heart of the prospect’s problem.

They hired a “Positive Mental Attitude” guy who creates no value other than saying to everyone, “HEY, ISN’T IT A GREAT DAY?!!”

Do you believe there are actually trainers still around like this? Getting big bucks from companies who know no better?

Yep, there are.

Death By Powerpoint!

I heard from another past client who said the PowerPoint number for the day in sales training just eclipsed 150! Awful. Wasteful. Soulless.

Good Sales Training Components

So what should good sales training look like? Here are a few tips:

1. Detailed survey upfront about what all constituents think they need to learn and grow. It can either be positioned as “What problems do you have that we should solve?” or, “What would you like to be profoundly better at in the sales cycle?”
2. Detailed Curriculum Plan laid out so everyone knows what to expect.  It doesn’t have to be ‘down to the minute’ but everyone should know before the event begins.
3. Attention to each participant. How will each participant interact with the trainer? (There should be a chance for that). If you’re not giving your team a chance to ask private questions of the trainer, then they aren’t getting much.
4. Role Playing – and other learning vehicles. Even on phone calls, role playing should be used. It’s the best way for the trainer to know what work needs to be done.
5. Lessons Learned. At the end of EACH section of training, the trainer must leave time to  discover what lessons each person learned. To not do this sucks the life out of the learner.
6. End of Day Lessons. Everyone should leave an event with a to-do list of things to take back to the field and try.
7. Survey. There should be a post-event survey so the trainer can learn what worked and what didn’t. If your trainer doesn’t do this–or doesn’t verbally check back in to see how it went– find another one. He probably doesn’t care–as long as your check cleared.

Sales training might be exactly what your team needs right now. But don’t blow it by bringing in a clown.

Why not?

Our sales philosophy is that the optimal sales process is when the prospect is selling you on why he/she needs to spend their money to solve their problem.

So, why is it only our funnel that gets attention?

Here’s an interesting thought: Next time you’ve forecasted a sale closing within 30 days, call the prospect and tell them that’s what you have in mind. See what they say. If they say, “Whoooooaaaa. Hold on. We’re not going to make the decision in that time frame, then take them off your 30-day report.”

Just a thought.

I’m not familiar with her coaching strategy or philosophy–only that my daughter played in her summer camp last year. And watching Jean win the State 2008 Volleyball Championship reminded me of something she made the camp players do on the first day of camp.

She asked them fill out the answer to the approximate question, “What do you want volleyball to do for you?”

Think about the wisdom of that. A 14-year old girl, who probably (other than Christmas), is asked what she wants to accomplish. Ingenious!! A simple question.

What Do You Want?

When’s the last time you asked your spouse that? Or your son or daughter? When’s the last time you sales managers sat down with each member of your team and asked that question? Or, have you asked it of your customers? Are you too afraid the answer won’t include you?

What do you want?

I’m convinced that once we know it’s an inspiring question to ask, the reason we don’t is “fear.” We make sales way too complicated with all the moves and procedures and processes and strategies and techniques.

I’m a simple man so I like simple things. Why not try your next sales call to ask that question of the prospect: “What do you want?” And watch magic happen.

Question 1: Can you name the best sales manager you’ve ever worked for? Likely you can name him/her without thinking. Question 2: can you name the worst sales manager you’ve ever worked for? Again, I’m sure it took very little thought to come up with a name.

So, what makes a sales manager the best and what makes someone the worst? Here are a few observations:

1. Intent: Sales managers whose TRUE, DEEP-ROOTED intent is to HELP THEIR SALESPEOPLE ACHIEVE THEIR GOALS are far and away the most effective with the greatest results. Unfortunately, too many sales managers are deeply attached to their own success and egotistical gratification. When it’s really all about the manager, the salespeople become mere pawns in the sales manager’s game. Not Good. Your intent as a sales manager is one thing and one thing only: HELP SALESPEOPLE ACHIEVE THEIR OWN GOALS.
2. Consistency: Ever worked for a sales manager who says on Monday “It’s all about volume guys. Don’t worry about margin,” and then on Thursday looks at the deals you turn in and says, “Tom, why are these margins so low?” People can’t follow a moving target. Effective sales managers stick to a plan and a message and continually reinforce it.
3. Coaching: One of the strongest attributes of effective sales managers is their ability to coach their teams. Coaching doesn’t mean “Tom, here’s how I would handle that.” or “Here’s what you should do with that deal.” It’s about playing to strengths. It’s about honesty, collaboration and authenticity. Tell people how it is. Encourage. Reinforce your commitment to make them as good as they want to be. That’s what a good coach does.
4. Accountability: The best sales managers take accountability and expect accountability. I have a client who changed their flowery, 3-paragraph mission statement to something much more simple and compelling: WE DO WHAT WE SAY WE’RE GOING TO DO WHEN WE SAY WE’RE GOING TO DO IT. That’s their mission. It should also be the mission of every sales manager and every salesperson. The culture it creates is powerful. It works with external and internal customers. It’s what everyone seems to want, but no one wants to commit to.

Consider these my birthday presents to you. If you as a sales manager only do these 4 things, look out. You’re on your way to the Sales Managers’ Hall of Fame (as soon as we build one).

I get all sorts of RSS feed on sales compensation, including the latest from www.gotomarketstrategies.com Good content all but I think most miss the major point. 

Vision Should Drive Compensation

The major point is  what kind of compensation plan is going to lead to the vision of a business? Not which ones are easiest to calculate…or to track…or to manipulate. Which one best leads to the vision. 

Since the vision of your business should be somewhat (or totally) focused around “customer problems and your ability to solve them–and what happens to you if you’re really good at that–then it seems comp plans should match up. 

Shouldn’t there be a component of this that has to do with Customer Perception of how you solved their pain? Sure, there should. Can you put a dollar and cents # on it? No,  not likely for most selling orgs. 

A Compensation Solution

But you can offer some type of a component that has the Customer Rating of  the sales person’s  competency at understanding the problem and assigning resources to solve it. 

There are plenty of survey packages that will do the trick, but first you have to change your thinking about compensation. 

If you’re a manager/leader/president, float this idea past your people. If they balk, it might be just what they need to fully measure what you expect from them: Great problem solving skills. 

Maybe you hold a percent or two back for those sales execs who are masterful at solving problems. And they get extra compensation for it. 

The Customer’s Problems Come First–Not Compensation

Caution: Remember, I come from a different position on selling–one where the customer and his/her problems come first. My belief is that if you’re a competent problem finder and solver, the revenue will come. Everyone wins. So why not compensate your sales team on that?

Bill Caskey will be dealing with this issue and others at the seminar called “Building Your Sales Dream Team.”

You can learn more by going to http://www.caskeyseminars.com.

Bill Caskey will be dealing with this issue and others at the seminar called “Building Your Sales Dream Team.”

You can learn more by going to http://www.caskeyseminars.com.

Bill Caskey will be dealing with this issue and others at the seminar called “Building Your Sales Dream Team.”

You can learn more by gong to http://www.caskeyseminars.com.