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Sales Training Investment?
In the past year there was a 13% increase in the average annual investment per salesperson. So says the CSO Insights research study - 2013 Sales Performance Optimization Sales Process Analysis report.
The report notes the impact that personal development can have on sales performance and sales rep loyalty. From MXL's perspective, it is positive to see companies investing in their sales teams.
This study shows that how budgets are allocated is key to increasing sales success. It is important to shift funds from product and feature selling skills training to advanced sales messaging skills applying knowledge and education on the customer's challenges and purchase justification. Today that's how companies are seeing the best ROI.
Bottom line: sales training is not going out of style. It's not so much a focus away from product training as it is a new focus on business relevance and application training.
Whether you call it Challenger Selling, Insight Selling, Solution Selling, Provocative Selling, or Whatever Selling - they're all variations on the same theme. It's what we do. At MXL we teach, coach and develop salespeople, managers and sales organizations to communicate value to their prospects and customers in relevant business terms in line with the issues and problems they understand and can solve.
Spending wisely on Sales Training?
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New 2013 2nd Edition!
42 Rules to Increase Sales Effectiveness
by Michael Griego
Foreword by Mark Leslie Venture Capitalist and former Founder/CEO of Veritas Software
"This book rocks - I've got pages dog-eared and notes throughout!" - Enterprise VP of Sales
"42 gems that any entrepreneur can use to their company." - Start-up CEO
"An excellent, well-written guide that de-mystifies the process for repeatable sales success." - VP Business Development
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Thanksgiving, Ready, Break
It's that time of year when the holidays inject themselves into a busy selling season. It can slow down momentum or actually help your sales cause.
This is a down week. Everyone is taking a breather if not a full week off to spend time with family and celebrate Thanksgiving. I always loved this time of year personally and particularly in my sales career.
As a sales rep, then a Sales Manager, and even as a VP of Sales, I always welcomed the short week, Thanksgiving Day, even the Lions and Cowboys on TV, the Friday quasi-day-off, and then the weekend. By the following Monday I was refreshed, rebalanced, and ready for the sprint to the end of calendar year.
But it wasn't all fun and relaxation during Thanksgiving week. I always used the Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday (and some of Friday when my wife wasn't looking) to recalibrate and plan for a big December finish.
Here are 4 suggestions for a productive Thanksgiving Week:
- Review Your Quarterly Plan - You had a great plan at the beginning of the quarter. Check in with it and confirm there's nothing that's been forgotten or missed. Now's the time to pause, review and reset your strategy if appropriate for a final push to year end.
- Reprint Your Pipeline Report - Yes, print it out. There's something about the visual inspection of a prioritized list of Pipeline/Forecast Opportunities you've been working and counting on for December. It'll be very clear what you have to do come Monday.
- Clean Your Desk - Seriously. It's time to take a break and literally clear it out and prepare for the big push. Remember that saying: a clear desk reflects a clear mind? Don't believe it. I'm pretty clear-headed with a cluttered desk. However, I do use Thanksgiving break to clear the decks and get reordered. Can't hurt.
- Turn it Off for Your Family - With all that being said, it's really OK to let it go for a few days and relax with the spouse, kiddos, and your Uncle Charlie. Count your blessings, have a life and enjoy the best time of the year.
Ready for the Thanksgiving break?
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Sales Epiphany: It's All About Activity
While working with a client this month and sitting through their sales team Pipeline & Forecast Review meeting, it hit me like a ton of bricks.
An epiphany of sorts.
There is no shortage of strategy, projection, speculation, Opportunity prioritization and justification for how and why the Pipeline and Forecast is what it is. It's not enough.
It's all about what we do - our activities that drive the Opportunity creation, development, qualification, nurturing, working, driving, negotiating, closing.
Thinking rationale has it's place, but doing and action carries the day.
Are you in Action mode as much or more than in Thinking mode?
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Rule #5 - It's Also All About Revenue
(2nd Edition)
Taking care of customers goes hand in hand with sales revenue production. And yes, it's also all about revenue. The best way to keep your job as a salesperson or sales manager is to keep hitting the sale numbers. Frankly, the only way that anyone in an organization keeps their job is for the company and salespeople to keep hitting their numbers. Without sales revenue, it all shuts down. A company can lower expenses or raise capital, but if sales revenue is not ultimately forthcoming, then all bets are off, or lost.
I had a sales manager/mentor communicate the following quip to his sales troops whenever they approached him with miscellaneous questions: "Besides revenue, what else is it you wanted to talk about?" He boldly and consistently instilled across the team that it was indeed all about revenue. This may seem so obvious to you, but stop and consider how challenging this rule can be.
There are many moving parts in a sales organization including: sales operations, forecasts, quotas, compensation plans, CRM functionality and utilization, lead generation, sales process, collateral, sales meetings, sales and product training, hiring, firing, territory assignments, customer database, etc. This carries over to the details of the jobs of individual sales contributors and their managers including those mentioned above and other issues relative to customer and internal communications, presentations, demonstrations, proposals, pricing, negotiations, closing, contract administration and collections. Certainly much to keep an individual and team talking and, even with good intentions, easily distracted with important matters besides the ultimate goal, bringing in sales revenue.
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Martha Washington on Sales 
"The greater part of our happiness depends on our dispositions, and not on our circumstances."
- Martha Washington, wife of George Washington, first US President
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