Increase Effort

Starting today, look at the minimum that you require from your sales representatives in terms of productivity: initial conversations with decision makers, appointments, product demonstrations, and proposals; increase each by at least 20%. An example is as follows.

Activity	Current Weekly Minimum	Revised Weekly Minimum
Conversations	10	12
Appointments	4	5
Demonstrations	3	4
Proposals	1	2

The pushback from some of the salespeople will probably be intense. They may say something like, "Are you kidding me? Increase my productivity? I'm lucky to make half of my regular goal. These people are on the phone all day with their bankers working out loan payment terms. They are not going to take my call until this credit mess is worked out."

As a manager, you need to be firm. Say to them, "OK. What if a lot of decision makers are on the phone with their banks? So? They can't all be on the phone every minute of every day. They have a business that needs to be attended to and so do we." Tell them it will take a great deal more effort for them to achieve their quota this year than it did last year, and the best place to start is at the beginning of the sales process - with the cold call or the face-to-face meeting.

Be wary of new salespeople who make a particularly strong plea that an increase in productivity goals should not apply to them. They do. For every month a new salesperson is "ramping up," that's one more month you will have to carry them on the payroll without offsetting sales revenue.

Revise the Milestones

As I've said in previous newsletters, what separates the sales pipeline from the sales forecast is that those prospects on the sales forecast must meet certain pre-defined objective criteria or milestones to qualify in the first place (e.g.: the proposal has been reviewed with the decision maker; the budget process is clearly understood; the prospect has made a verbal commitment to buy).

In this difficult economy, the criteria that are required before a salesperson can add a prospect to the forecast must be stricter, not more lenient. Review the current sales forecast criteria and make the necessary revisions. Be sure and include at least one new "entrance requirement" that relates to the current economic crisis. Once the new criteria have been established, review the sales forecast with the sales staff more frequently than usual and accept no excuses. If a prospect does not meet every milestone, the salesperson needs to remove them from the forecast. This is the worst possible time to have a bloated, unrealistic sales forecast by which to estimate revenue and cash flow.

Assume the Worst

By speaking with the salespeople more frequently, you will gain greater familiarity with the deals they are trying to close. If a sales representative tells you that any of the following scenarios has occurred, a warning signal should go off in your head:

• A forecasted sale has slipped into the next quarter
• A decision maker has stopped returning calls
• A customer has stopped negotiating
• Major price reductions are demanded

Start asking questions right away. When did they ask for this? When did you notice that? What was their reasoning for that? But don't forget to ask the most important question of all - how can I help you? Though the rep may have been able to close a deal like this on their own in the past, these are not ordinary times. Don't close the sale for the rep, but do anything and everything you can to help usher the sale through.

When economic times are difficult, all employees get distracted, but salespeople can be especially prone to this because of the increased level of rejection they face. Spend more time with the sales staff - not less - and keep them focused by re-setting and managing to a new set of goals.