Posted by Adam Thorp
We would be grateful if you would please take 5 minutes to complete our latest quarterly sales survey here:
www.research.net/s/salary-survey-2012
(Mobile friendly link for the road warriors)
Every person who completes the survey has a chance to win an Apple iPad 2!!
In this survey we aim to discover how sales people are compensated for their time. We will be comparing these results across industries and countries, the results should make for very interesting reading. We will email you a copy of the results as soon as we have collated the data.
Please feel free to forward this on to anyone you think might like to contribute to the survey results.
Thanks, and good luck.
Posted by Adam Thorp
^^ Download: Mobile Technologies in Sales Survey Results (PDF) here. During this video John Golden talks about the benefits of tablets & smartphones and how they are affecting businesses of all sizes across the globe.
Each quarter Huthwaite invites professionals from across the globe to participate in our online research survey. Our latest global survey was designed to explore how tablets and smartphones impact your day-to-day activities.
Download our report to see current market information and the effect mobile technology is having in our lives.
Posted by Mark Edwards
In my work for Huthwaite, I customise and design sales training and coaching tools, typically you will see me doing one of three things: discussing with clients their sales performance and coaching issues; burying my head in data, statistics and books or pounding away at the keyboard.
Today however was slightly different, today I got the rare opportunity to sit back and observe, (at the clients request) a leadership and coaching strategy session for their sales leadership team.
The Sales Director kicked off by bluntly highlighting two key challenges they faced:
- a rapidly changing market, and
- an under performing sales team
He went on to say that:
- their market position had dropped, and
- they had failed to reach target for the first year on record
‘Today we are going to define a sales coaching strategy for the next three years’ he said ‘that would see them push past their recent failing results and regain their leading market position’.
The mood turned and I began to feel I might not enjoy the sessions much as I had hoped.
A fair bit of time and discussion later the conversation had turned to the key behaviours the sales managers would like to observe in their teams. They wanted to observe questioning behaviours, listening behaviours and needs analysis behaviours.
At the end of this part of the session, everyone sat back and seemed happy with the list they had drawn up, and it was a good list with some powerful behaviours. Honestly, I would have been a little worried if they had not, after all this was a client of ours and most of this group had recently attended workshop on successful selling behaviours.
Then Amy spoke up: “The problem is” she said, “that when I go on calls with them they do some of this already and I know they will be attending the same training we have, but I know that when I turn my back, they just go back to doing what they have always done.”
After a little probing, the manager offered two thoughts on why this would be the case:
- Their sales people are measured on numbers, as long as they come close to or reach target there is no motivation to change behaviour.
- Their people are also measured on the number of calls they make. Therefore, desired behaviour was punished, because it took them longer to do things differently.
In essence, she felt that the sales person’s world would become dimmer if they demonstrated the new behaviours.
I bolted out of my chair at the back of the room, took the floor and told the group how leading indicators would fix their problem. I boldly, heroically commandeered the whiteboard, took over the meeting and in a few short strokes of the pen taught the group how to coach their people, how to turn performance problems like this around, how to turn their staff on to change. I left the meeting to a standing ovation and choruses of ‘he’s a jolly good fellow’.
Well of course, I did not do that at all, despite an almost overwhelming temptation to do so.
The Sales Director, who has a great coach of his own, understands very well the coaching principles, change management principles and metric his people needed to adopt. He just wanted them to get there themselves.
As I sat in the taxi on the way back to the office, it dawned on me that I really do need to get out of behind my desk and practice a little more of what I preach. But I don’t suppose I am alone.
White Paper: Sales Coaching Decoded! A Practical Guide for Sales Managers
Coaching is common sense, but is it common practice? Most organisations speak highly of coaching, but few managers actually understand what good coaching really means. Download our latest whitepaper: "Coaching Decoded! A Practical Guide for Sales Managers" and take your skills to the next level.
Download here (PDF)
Posted by Adam Thorp
Smartphones and tablets are speeding up communication between sales reps and customers and helping reps hit sales targets, according a new survey of more than 8,500 sales managers, directors and associates in Australia, New Zealand, USA, Canada and Asia.
Download the full report here >>
The survey by sales performance organisation Huthwaite found 70.1% of people with a company-issued tablet hit sales targets for the most recent sales quarter, compared with 62.5% overall.
Nearly 90% of those surveyed also said mobile devices improved their productivity, while 46.5% cited faster communication as the main benefit of having a mobile device.
Huthwaite’s CEO and President, John Golden said the results showed sales reps who are easiest to reach are the ones who seal the deal with customers.
“When you give your salespeople the right tools, they can focus on the person who matters most: the buyer,” said Golden. “Quick and efficient information is the currency of sales conversations and it’s clear from the survey that smartphones and tablets will be a driver for successful companies in the years to come.”
Despite the benefits of mobile devices on productivity and sales results, the survey revealed less than 13% of respondents had a company-issued tablet, while 64% had a company-issued smartphone.
Australia and New Zealand were slightly above the norm with 14.1% of respondents indicating they had company-issued tablet and 68.3% saying they had a company-issued smartphone.
The survey also showed Apple’s iPad was dominating in the business world, accounting for more than 85% of company-issued tablets. Android tablets accounted for just over 5%.
Huthwaite’s most recent global survey polled senior staff from such diverse industries as banking and finance, information technology, manufacturing, professional services, advertising and media, pharmaceutical, and retail.
Tablet Survey Results: Download (PDF)
Download our report and see what 8500+ Sales Directors, Executives, Managers, General Mangers think about how effective tablets & smartphones are in their businesses.Download the full report here >>
Posted by Adam Thorp
Our conclusions regarding management involvement in selling may seem counter-intuitive until you see the elegant simplicity of the right involvement. There are several basic guidelines that govern the behavior of great sales coaches.
The five basic principles, or guidelines, for involvement in sales are as follows:
#1: Only become involved in face-to-face selling when your presence makes a unique difference.
A unique difference exists when a manager has expertise, authority, or position that is both valuable to the client, and valuable to making the sale. Most sales managers are promoted into management because they were spectacularly successful as salespeople. Sometimes being great at something makes it very difficult to sit on the sidelines; the temptation is to get in the game. Great sales coaches get involved only when their presence will make a unique difference.
#2: Don't make sales calls on a customer unless your salesperson is with you.
Some examples of why it is not a good idea to make sales calls on a customer without your salesperson include:
- It can undermine the credibility of the salesperson
- It opens the door for the customer to play divide-and-rule
- It wastes time (the errant manager will have to explain later to the salesperson what went on during the meeting, a situation fraught with pitfalls)
#3: Before any joint call, agree on specific and clear selling roles with your salesperson.
Great managers insist on agreeing with the salesperson, before a sales meeting, whether their role in the meeting will be to coach or to sell - and then they stick to the plan. "I'll start and then let's play it by ear" is a common-enough refrain in pre-call planning. One cannot both coach and sell at the same time.
#4: Be an active internal seller for your salespeople.
Most sales organisations seem to have an intricate array of barriers and obstacles that stand in the way of delivering what the customer wants when the customer wants it. One of the roles of an effective sales manager is to sell long, hard and skillfully internally to get things done for his people and their accounts. He must work behind the scenes, using his network of contacts to help his salespeople surmount any obstacles in the selling cycle.
#5: Always have a withdrawal strategy that prevents any customer from becoming dependent on you personally.
The more active a manager becomes in a major account sale, the harder it is for that manager to disentangle from customer involvement once the sale is complete. The research shows that many managers spend more than half their time fulfilling minor customer requests that should have been handled by the salesperson but that came directly to the manager because of the manager's prior involvement with the account.
The prerequisite for the right involvement in face-to-face selling is that managers have to know two things: (1) Who to coach and (2) When to coach. These questions provide the key to be able to separate out the unique difference you can make, and when to apply it.
White Paper: Sales Coaching Decoded! A Practical Guide for Sales Managers
Coaching is common sense, but is it common practice? Most organisations speak highly of coaching, but few managers actually understand what good coaching really means. Download our latest whitepaper: "Coaching Decoded! A Practical Guide for Sales Managers" and take your skills to the next level.
Download here (PDF)
Posted by Adam Thorp
Written by John Golden.
Last week I had the pleasure of attending the Sales & Marketing 2.0 conference in San Francisco (another great Selling Power event) where a lot of the presenters, including my good self, spoke about the changes in buyer behavior and the impact of this on sales and marketing. What struck me most about the audience questions and the discussions in the hallways was an acceptance of the need for both Sales & Marketing to change but skepticism on the ability of either to do so. Reflecting on this over the past week I decided to look at the whole notion of resistance to change in the context of Sales and Marketing Professionals.
In a 2003 Journal of Applied Psychology piece on Resistance to Change, Shaul Oreg of Cornell University reviewed the literature around this subject and the different traits associated with it, eventually coming up with a Resistance to Change Scale that had four major factors at its core:
- routine seeking
- emotional reaction to imposed change
- short-term focus
- cognitive rigidity
So let's look at each one of these items and apply them to Sales & Marketing professionals (albeit in a very generalized and non-scientific fashion!).
Routine Seeking: How many sales people do you know that love their job because it is predictable and every day is much the same as the last? Think about it, isn't sales (especially the complex sale) just about as unpredictable as it gets?
And on the Marketing side, if we take a look at the rapid changes in tactics and tools over the past few years, you would have to draw the conclusions that any routine work has been disrupted by social media, marketing automation and the ever increasing push for more measurable outcomes.
So I think it is fair to say that "routine seeking" should be a non-factor for both.
Emotional Reaction to Imposed Change: Let's face it, Sales is a rollercoaster of emotion at the best of times where the buyer imposes change on the seller constantly, for example: change of buying criteria, change of decision makers, not to mention the dreaded change of mind! And yes Sales people can often wear their emotions on their sleeves but any of them who have long and successful selling careers learn to bounce back very quickly.
On the Marketing side, while often not as dramatic or personal, buyers and the market impose change upon them constantly too. Such changes as how they want to be marketed to. Take the move, for example, from direct mail to email to social media that has happened in a relatively short period of time.
Any change will bring emotional reaction but in the case of Sales & Marketing given the fact that both operate on the leading edge of change as dictated by the buyer, they should be able to overcome any adverse emotional reaction relatively quickly.
Short-term Focus: This relates to the immediate inconvenience of change or the short-term adverse effects of it.
On the Sales side, again I would argue that both are part and parcel of the everyday sales experience. Often a sales cycle has to be recalibrated when sudden unforeseen changes occur with a prospect or they have to get up-to-speed with a new and improved product that has teething problems. In the latter case, this is often the one that causes most angst with Sales professionals, however, unless there turns out to be a fatal flaw in the new product or wholesale market rejection, the noise level drops pretty quickly as the product becomes stable and the sales people become comfortable with selling it.
While Marketing may have had a somewhat smoother ride traditionally that too has changed. The greater scrutiny on return on investment and the explosion of marketing automation tools has shifted the emphasis away from the creative and towards the scientific. Couple this with the ever increasingly savvy buyer who often relies more on third-party reviews and information than on anything Marketing produces, and you get a world where there is now a lot of short-term pain.
So yes the short-term impact of change will cause stress for both Sales & Marketing but Sales have always had to deal with that and Marketing is now quickly learning to deal with it too.
Cognitive Rigidity: This factor taps into the frequency and ease with which people change their minds. In the context of change it relates to accepting new ideas and ways of doing things. It is often talked about in conjunction with the "tyranny of experience" as new ideas conflict with the way things have been done in the past.
In Sales clinging to the old way of doing things usually has a pretty obvious and immediate impact on the individual, i.e. they sell less and their earnings shrink. So there is an inherent motivation to be open to new ideas, which is not to say, of course, that all are. There are as many beliefs among Sales professionals as there are proven methodologies. Many will still advocate that the relationship aspect of sales trumps all, while others will look more to the value creation piece as key. Despite the fluid nature of Sales there can be a certain cognitive rigidity when Sales people have to internalize a new way of selling when they have had success with the old way, hence the tyranny of experience.
Marketing in many ways is probably going to display a high degree of cognitive rigidity when faced with the prospect of having to learn and adapt many of the skills and tactics more traditionally associated with sales. This is going to require an openness to change far beyond adopting new technologies or new media.
In essence of the four, this factor is likely to be the biggest inhibitor to change for both disciplines but it will also likely be the greatest predictor of which organizations will come out on top in the future. The faster Sales and Marketing Groups can cognitively accept the changes, the greater the advantage they will have over their competitors.
Conclusion: Now having spent some time looking at the challenge of initiating change in how Sales & Marketing operate, their roles, their skills and tactics, the more I am convinced that both groups are much better equipped to adopt such change than many give them credit for. There are many other functions or job roles within an organisation that if you measured against the four factors listed here would show a far greater propensity to resist change.
So without underestimating the challenges ahead I am feeling confident that Sales and Marketing can adapt to the seismic changes ahead, changes which I will address in a whitepaper to be published the next few weeks.
Sales VS Marketing Survey Results: Download (PDF)
Our latest survey was designed to uncover current beliefs and challenges faced by sales and marketing departments. These results offer some excellent insight how Australia/Asia compares to the rest of the world. Download our report and see what 6400 Sales Directors, Executives, Managers, General Mangers think about the current challenges faced by sales and marketing today.Download the full results of the Huthwaite Sales VS Marketing Survey here.
Posted by Christina Foster
Hear industry leaders share their cutting edge ideas, strategies and their insights at the event for Financial Planning professionals in Australia.
The FPA 2011 National Conference is a three day event featuring the latest in technical content, professional development, networking opportunities and an exciting Trade Expo highlighting new technologies.
The program is developed by financial planners for financial planners. Discounts of up to $400 available for early bird registrations - More info on their website here.
To join the LinkedIn Conference Group go to:
http://events.linkedin.com/FPA-2011-National-Conference/pub/806993
Posted by Adam Thorp
Watch Sales Coaching Guru, Greg Moore, talk about how to get more out of your Sales Team and drive sales effectiveness. Greg will draws from Huthwaite's ground-breaking research into what it is that World Class Sales Managers do including:
Greg's presentation was based on the issues covered in our latest whitepaper "Six Characteristics of World Class Sales Coaches".
If you would like us to email you a copy register your details online here and we will send you a copy. The whitepaper explores six crucial management components of best-of-breed sales forces.
Posted by Adam Thorp
Sales call planning is one of the most important - and one of the most neglected - activities in sales today. As budgets for travel shrink, every meeting becomes that much more important; every face-to-face engagement matters that much more. For many, the short period of intense anxiety in the elevator on the way up to a customer meeting serves as a substitute for planning. It shouldn't.
Call planning done properly should take a little time and effort. It should adequately prepare the salesperson to maximize every moment of time in the presence of the customer. Done properly, it will pay off for the salesperson. Let's take a look at what a good call plan includes.
The first thing that ought to be defined is the desired outcome of the call. To be considered successful, a sales call should result in an advance: that is, an action, either in the call or after it, that moves the sale forward toward a decision. And that action should be on the part of the customer. We recommend that the planned advance, both primary and secondary, meet the SMART criteria: it should be Specific, Measurable, Action-oriented, Realistic and Time-based.
Next, the salesperson should think through, and write down, an assessment of the current situation that the customer is facing. What are the business issues, challenges and marketplace trends that are impacting the customer? Then move from the general to the specific: what are the customer's actual needs? Have they been expressed and do they need to be developed? Are they implied needs (admitted, but with no urgency to act) or explicit needs (spoken with an affirmation of intent to act)?
Once you've worked out a best guess at the customer's probable needs, it's time to begin exploring the call itself. What SPIN questions will you ask to guide the discussion to a successful outcome? Is there any information that you absolutely need to know? Plan the situation questions that will elicit the answers you need. Then write down a few problem questions that will get the customer thinking down the track you are headed. What are the implications of these problems? What do you need to ask in order to build the urgency to solve the problem? And finally, prepare a few need-payoff questions - questions that will get the customer to say out loud how your solution will solve the problem.
When you have a general outline of your proposed discussion, with questions that will direct it where you want it to go, plan how you will open with a customer-centered purpose based on your planned outcome.
If you plan your calls this way, you will be thoroughly prepared to use your precious time with the customer as wisely as possible. Neglect planning and you will waste your own time. Worse, you will waste your customer's time. And that is unforgivable.
Whitepaper: How to Sell to Customers at a Premium
Download our latest whitepaper: "How to Sell to Customers at a Premium".
This free whitepaper provides some great sales strategies to employ and some to avoid.
Download it here.
Posted by Ralph Vugts
We have just finished putting together the highlights from the AB+F FoFA panel discussion which was held recently in Sydney. Have a look at the segments that interest you below:
Financial Planning Highlights:
- Overview of FoFA from FPA perspective, Mark Rantall
- Quality of relationship with clients, Matt Englund
- 'The Value Gap', Marianne Perkovic
- "Clients will pay for things they truly value"; "If you can get to the heart of the need for the client they will perceive value in the solution and be prepared to pay for it.", Matt Englund
- Challenges for franchisees and IFAs, Consolidation of the industry, Mark Rantall
- Count and CBA, Marianne Perkovic
- The issue of Opt-in, Mark Rantall
- Fee transparency, "Bringing value to the forefront of the conversation", "The Water Bottle", Mike Chesworth & Shehan Wijetilaka
- Good opportunity, but somewhat painful, developing needs, Marianne Perkovic, Mike Rantall
- Recap and overview, Shehan Wijetilaka
Or watch the full event here >>
Whitepaper: Gaining credit from the Financial Planning reforms
Download our FREE whitepaper and learn how to win trust and generating new fee income from your financial planning clients.
Download it here.