Drive a great sales team: for sales managers who want results

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Drive a Great Sales Team

Books to change your life and work. Accessible, easy to read and easy to act on – Other titles in the How To series include: Managing Successful Teams How to get the results you want by working effectively with others Delighting Your Customers Keep your customers coming back, time and time again Be a Great Salesperson Powerful techniques to make that sale and boost your career Managing Your Sales Team A practical guide to sales leadership that will get results Thinking Straight A systematic guide to managerial problem-solving and decision-making that works Train Your Team Yourself The practical guide to cost-effective and tailor-made training

The How To series now contains around 200 titles in the following categories: Business & Management Career Choices Career Development Computers & the Net Creative Writing Home & Family Living & Working Abroad Personal Development Personal Finance Self-Employment & Small Business Study Skills & Student Guides For full details, please send for a free copy of the latest catalogue to: How To Books 3 Newtec Place, Magdalen Road Oxford OX4 1RE, United Kingdom e-mail: [email protected] http://www.howtobooks.co.uk

Drive a Great Sales Team For sales managers who want results

RICHARD HESSION

How To Books

Published by How To Books Ltd, 3 Newtec Place, Magdalen Road, Oxford OX4 1RE, United Kingdom. Tel: (01865) 793806. Fax: (01865) 248780. email: [email protected] http://www.howtobooks.co.uk All rights reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced or stored in an information retrieval system (other than for purposes of review) without the express permission of the publisher in writing. © Copyright 2001 Richard Hession British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data. A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. Cartoons by Mike Flanagan Cover design by Shireen Nathoo Design Cover image by PhotoDisc Produced for How To Books by Deer Park Productions Typeset by Kestrel Data, Exeter Printed and bound by Cromwell Press Ltd, Trowbridge, Wiltshire NOTE: The material contained in this book is set out in good faith for general guidance and no liability can be accepted for loss or expense incurred as a result of relying in particular circumstances on statements made in the book. Laws and regulations are complex and liable to change, and readers should check the current position with the relevant authorities before making personal arrangements.

Contents List of illustrations

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Preface

9

1

Developing an effective self-image Impressing others Self-objectivity – know thyself Gaining from experience Achieving success and contentment The learning process Perception and critical examination The need to survive Checklist Case studies To sum up

11 11 12 13 14 14 16 18 19 19 20

2

Avoiding failure and achieving success The spiral of failure The spiral of success Checklist Twelve positive personality profile points Making positive improvements Case studies To sum up

21 21 24 26 27 28 29 30

3

Self-motivation, leadership and problem-solving Handling the job Five levels of self-motivation Styles of management Styles of leadership Problem analysis and solving Plan for management Case study To sum up

31 31 33 33 38 42 46 49 51

5

6


4

Building the sales team The sales person’s role The job specification Preparation for recruitment Checklist Candidate selection Interviewing skills Offers of employment Case studies To sum up

52 52 53 55 57 57 58 64 65 66

5

Training the sales team Induction of new staff: where it all begins Job training fundamentals Individual sales training Developing the sales team Classroom-style training Field training After the sales call training Checklist Case studies

67 67 68 70 71 75 78 81 83 84

6

Selling proposals and negotiation Selling letters and proposals Dos and don’ts of letter-writing Negotiating – not selling Checklist Negotiating strategies Negotiating tactics and techniques To sum up

86 86 87 92 95 95 96 98

7

Customer communication and information flow Customer audits Information flow Good communications Checklist Team briefings Case studies To sum up

99 99 102 105 108 108 109 110

8

Motivation of the sales team Boosting morale

111 111

Contents

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7

Dos and don’ts of successful supervision Motivation – the great exponents To sum up

115 118 122

Controlling and delegating to the sales team The need for control Delegation to develop the team Checklist Case study

123 123 126 129 129

10 Sales meetings and feedback Sequence and structure of meetings Feedback – post-meeting To sum up

131 131 134 137

11 Sales reporting, forecasting and appraisal Sales performance analysis Sales reports Forecasting – not crystal gazing Performance appraisal objectives Appraisal forms To sum up

138 138 138 148 150 151 161

12 It ain’t necessarily so Final thoughts on being a winner

162 163

Further Reading

165

Useful Addresses

167

Index

169

List of illustrations 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33

Group relationships Spiral of failure Spiral of sucess Levels of management Leadership Leadership styles Considerations Action centred leadership (A) Action centred leadership (B) Plan for management Check your leadership skills Motivation and leadership checklist Interview evaluation Customer questionnaire Maslow’s hierarchy of human needs Herzberg hygiene factors chart Managerial grid Sales meeting pattern graph End of sales meeting evaluation Sales diary form Daily visit report sheet Week ending results Sales person analysis Contact report Sales report Weekly activity report Sales representative activity report Using key performance indicators Sales forecast report Appraisal form 1 Appraisal form 2 Appraisal form 3 Guide to employee performance appraisal – humorous hints 34 Useful hints for the manager when filling in staff reports 8

17 22 24 34 36 38 40 41 42 47 49 50 61 99 118 119 121 133 136 139 140 140 141 143 144 145 146 147 149 151 154 157 159 160

Preface We are into leadership – the growing and enhancing of The Team. We are not into arranging their lives or telling them what to do. We are the coaches, the enthusiasts, cheer leaders and builders of champions. We are not cops, referees, devil’s advocates or dispassionate analysts. We create the vision, support, trust and understand the need to facilitate The Team to focus its attention on the objective. Remember: Winners never quit and quitters never win! Grateful thanks must go to all those who have exerted influences in my life as a sales manager – too numerous to mention here. They run from my various mentors in the companies for which I have been fortunate to work, through to the professional trainers and coaches who have made such a positive impact in improving my sales focus and results. I would like to acknowledge my appreciation for the assistance of The Industrial Society for allowing my use of their Team Briefing Notes in the action centred leadership section. Particular thanks to Frederick J. Nixon for his invaluable assistance in the editing of this book. Richard Hession

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1 Developing an Effective Self-Image IMPRESSING OTHERS As a manager whose ambition is to turn your staff into a successful sales team second to none, first focus on yourself. What sort of impression do you give to the people you work with and those with whom you do business? Be completely honest with yourself. Perhaps you could do with a much-needed personal makeover. First impressions are important. How you look and act at first acquaintance makes deep and long-lasting impact on others. Your aim should be to make sure it’s the right one. In business you will always find yourself meeting people for the first time – often without warning.

• Always be prepared and look your best. Remember, too, you became a role model for your team the moment you sat in the executive chair. Managers who lack basic social skills, are casual about their appearance and careless in their speech have only themselves to blame if their staff fail to come up to scratch. Your external image Your outward appearance is the ‘you’ the world first sees. Don’t judge a book by its cover, they say. True, appearances can be deceptive, but people are likely to look more favourably on a person who has obviously taken trouble with how they look, than someone who gives the impression that they can’t be bothered. Attending an appointment or a sales meeting without making that little extra effort to be smart could be construed as an insult to others. An unfavourable first impression can be disastrous, especially where a person could be of value to you.

• Before considering the question of personality and how to successfully interact with others, concentrate first on creating the right image. 11

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Knowing that people cannot fault you on your smart turnout is of great psychological value. It will help give you a confident bearing and presence. You can gain tips about improving your image by quietly observing senior colleagues who are smart dressers. Adapt what you see and like to suit you personally, but avoid slavishly imitating someone else at all costs. Seek advice on dress from your spouse or partner; senior colleagues you can confide in will also be flattered if you ask their opinions. Your internal image Like body and soul, your external and internal images cannot exist without one another. They make up the whole ‘you’. Some people have the most pleasing physical appearance, but have profound character defects like arrogance, deceit or indifference to others. Those who come into contact with them soon realise how superficial they really are when the veneer cracks and their true nature surfaces. No amount of acting can disguise such flaws. When revealed, such traits can sour relationships with colleagues and customers and jeopardise business success or promotion prospects.

SELF OBJECTIVITY – KNOW THYSELF Change favours only the mind prepared for it. Louis Pasteur Be honest with yourself. What do you think of yourself as a person? This is the first essential step if you wish to improve your personality. You have the power to effect the change. But you must decide and be clear in your mind what sort of person you want to be and focus on achieving that new you.

• Critically examine your own internal image and decide what you have to do to improve it. The key to doing this is to develop a more adequate, satisfactory and effective image of yourself. If you concentrate on doing this with confidence and determination, you will find any weaknesses will have improved beyond your expectations. None of us sails through life without suffering self-doubt and low self-esteem at some stage or other. However successful you become they will

Developing an Effective Self-Image

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continue to raise their ugly heads in an unguarded moment, but you will be able to recognise them for what they are. You will be able to identify and correct any inadequacies, and snatch certain success from potential failure in everything you set out to achieve.

GAINING FROM EXPERIENCE Experience moulds our characters. Everything we have experienced in our lives conditions how we think and react to people and events. Some experiences will have been unfortunate. Perhaps the success we strove so hard for ended in failure and left a nasty taste in the mouth. A series of setbacks possibly makes you consider yourself unlucky. Factors beyond your control may well have played a part, but more likely than not you made the mistake or compounded the error. It’s hard to admit to making mistakes and incurring criticism, condemnation or ridicule. Mistakes occur when we make a wrong or inappropriate decision, followed by incorrect or inappropriate action. Everyone makes mistakes, particularly under pressure or working against the clock. But recognise and admit them, then learn from them.

• Train yourself to think clearly by developing a systematic approach to problem analysis and decision-making. You’ll make better decisions and fewer mistakes that way. In fact, we learn more from our mistakes than we do from our successes. Overcoming negative thinking Spending valuable thinking time crying over spilt milk and wallowing in self-recrimination never helped anyone. That’s not to say you should completely ignore errors of the past and push them to the back of your mind. None of us can wipe out memories of past failures completely. But use some rational and logical thinking to determine what went wrong and how you can avoid it happening again. That way, you’ll have learned something and gained in experience – a positive outcome. Negative thoughts are destructive. If imprinted on your subconscious, they lead to self-doubt and begin to affect everything

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you attempt. Any indecision or doubt you show will have a demoralising effect on your sales team. Be positive: think in terms of success and success will follow.

ACHIEVING SUCCESS AND CONTENTMENT Everyone wants to be both happy and successful, but these are generalisations and have different meanings for the individual.

• True happiness is knowing yourself for what you are and being content with that knowledge.

• Success is the accomplishment of a sought-after goal, but it cannot be reached without individual happiness and contentment. Striving merely for status and the trappings of prestige seldom brings true happiness – the inner contentment that comes from creative accomplishment and its accompanying sense of fulfilment.

THE LEARNING PROCESS The only place where success comes before work is in the dictionary. Vidal Sassoon Your brain has the advantage over any computer. True, there are machines that can carry out intricate calculations and complex mechanical functions at a speed beyond human capability, but they lack the ability to think and reason creatively. You have the power of thought coupled with imagination: the ability to come up with original ideas. To head a successful sales team you must be an ideas person who can inspire others in turn to think imaginatively and effectively. Some people are born creative thinkers, but most of us have to train ourselves to apply the power of thought. Once we learn to do so, we become more effective and efficient. As a result our whole personality becomes more positive and assured.


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Whatever their background or intellectual level, everyone undergoes a learning curve throughout their lives. Gaining knowledge is as essential to our survival as our physical needs. The main areas of mental activity you must concentrate on, in order to be more successful in improving your impact on others and in what you are trying to achieve, are as follows. These processes are interactive and complementary to each other. Apply them all deliberately and consciously:

• creative imagination • fixing aims and objectives • planning effectively • assembling background information • communicating with others. Using creative imagination This is essential if you are to realise your full potential and achieve success in anything you do. Using your experience and knowledge as raw materials, you can mentally rearrange them in a number of different patterns in the form of ideas. With practice you can see the applications these ideas could have to the real world and gauge the possible reactions of others. From these original thoughts will spring new ideas, new possibilities and courses of action. Nothing recedes like success and the only thing more infectious than enthusiasm is lack of it. Fixing aims and objectives You must give constant attention to this mental activity and be clear in your own mind what your personal aims and objectives are. People used to the narrow confines imposed on them by conventional thinking will dismiss these as you being too ambitious or unrealistic. They will point out that the resources at your command dictate what is realistic and achievable. Creative imagination, however, will enable you to generate ideas which will expand these resources.

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Planning effectively Effective planning is vital for the success of everything you undertake as a manager.

• It means knowing what you are going to do before you do it. You must have a framework into which you can fit short-term as well as long-term plans. Well thought out long-term planning enables you to control events rather than be carried along by them. Do not, however, look on any of your plans as being written on tablets of stone. You will need to modify and make changes as and when new opportunities arise. Assembling background information Planning often calls for additional knowledge of a specific or general nature. While experience is the best teacher, there are times when you can’t wait to experience something for yourself. You have to study the written word or learn from someone who knows. True learning is not just a matter of committing details to memory. It is the art of understanding what you have learned and converting this knowledge into your own ideas. It is another piece in the jigsaw of knowledge you are completing in your mind. Once learned in this way, it will never be forgotten. Communicating with others To put over your message effectively to others, first think out carefully what you intend telling them and how you are going to phrase it. Be clear and concise so that there can be no possible misunderstanding. The greater the mental effort you put into good communication, the better you will be at dealing with people and getting them to do what is required of them. Don’t think you can’t – know you can!

PERCEPTION AND CRITICAL EXAMINATION Successful team managers, while having an outgoing attitude to life, are very aware of their surroundings and sensitive to their relations with other people, particularly those they lead. This is not to say that you should be completely uncritical of what you see around you and accept things for what they are. Establish


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standards that you consider reasonable and use these as a yardstick to measure such things as attitude, appearance and performance. By observing everything that goes on in your environment, you will greatly add to your knowledge of things and people. Building harmonious relationships Your personal success depends on how well you work with the people around you both inside and outside the office. If you are a newcomer to the post of manager, you may not be instantly accepted. You have to establish and maintain a rapport not only with your immediate staff but with directors and other executive colleagues. Equally important are good relationships with customers and, of course, your spouse or partner. These various groups will overlap in your life, as illustrated in the diagram. They cannot be segregated into separate compartments.

Fig. 1. Group relationships.

Even if your appointment has created dissension and controversy, you can overcome these if you are sensitive to the feelings of others and proceed to establish effective working relations with everyone concerned.

• Strive for acceptance, for upon this depends the willingness of others to help and support you in your aims and objectives.

• Above all, always be yourself.

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Some people, for example, make the mistake of being subservient to directors of the company, obsequious to customers and autocratic to their staff. Sooner or later this inconsistency in character becomes glaringly apparent to everyone and the manager loses the respect of everyone for being insincere and hypocritical. Working long hours is neither smart nor efficient.

THE NEED TO SURVIVE Food, clothing and shelter are our primary needs and are procured by the money we earn. People react strongly towards anyone threatening their survival and that of their dependants. These days of course the idea of ‘survival’ is more complex. It’s the level of existence which has become essential to us, for example house, car, children’s education, club membership, theatre going and dining out. Jeopardise a person’s ‘survival’ in this sense, and you also threaten their security. It is vital not to threaten or appear to threaten any member of your team in this way. In modern business life an obvious or physical fight-back by an individual who feels threatened is replaced by a more subtle approach. They actively resist the team leader and their plans, thus making a manager less effective. Psychological needs for a person’s survival and security are:

• Personal responsibility (any attempt to reduce the area of a person’s responsibility will incur antagonism).

• The need to fit in, to act and think within a group. • Gaining recognition and approval. • Friendship with other team members. • Being able to contribute. • Taking part in work that is a creative activity. Avoid any words, behaviour or action that could threaten the survival or security of an individual member of the staff or your


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team itself. Learn how to empathise with your staff by seeing a situation from their viewpoint whenever possible. The difference between genius and madness is the degree of success.

CHECKLIST

• Is your clothing neat, spotless, well pressed and quietly fashionable, your footwear clean and in good condition?

• Is any jewellery you wear tasteful, unobtrusive and of good quality? The same applies to your watch – is it reliable?

• How do you carry yourself? Walk tall. Good posture is as important as having a good wardrobe. Pay attention to the way you walk, stand and sit. Be relaxed by all means, but not to the point of being too laid back.

• Are you certain that your personal hygiene is sound, even under the testing conditions of a hot summer? If in the slightest doubt, ask your best friend or your nearest and dearest. Bath or shower and change your clothes daily, use a deodorant and keep your breath sweet by avoiding strongflavoured food and having good dental hygiene.

• Is your hair tidy and are your fingernails neat? • Have you the right executive accessories to help you in your job – ones you really need and not chosen just to impress? A good quality briefcase to carry your documents in is a must, as is a diary, a palm computer or Filofax to book appointments. Other useful aids are a recording machine (for quick notes or reminders to yourself) and a pocket calculator. Always carry a pen and pencil (not on display in the top pocket of your jacket!), not forgetting your wallet/handbag and credit card case.

CASE STUDIES James gets 100 per cent co-operation Although his sales team was coming up with good results, James

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sensed Tim, his senior salesman, who had hitherto been an enthusiastic supporter of his ideas, was being obstructive. After a lot of soul-searching James realised that in concentrating upon younger members of the team he had neglected Tim, who felt sidelined and threatened. James immediately made a point of praising Tim for his contribution and harmony was restored. Sue wins acceptance As the new sales manager, Sue, who was appointed from outside the firm, was disappointed to find that she was not accepted right away by her staff or her fellow executives. However, being intelligent and keenly sensitive to the needs of others, she gradually overcame initial prejudice and difficulties. Right from the start she set out to win their respect as a professional. It took some time but eventually she established and maintained effective working relationships with everyone.

TO SUM UP

• Nothing succeeds like success, but equally nothing recedes like success.

• Think success and success will follow. Be positive. • Know yourself and become the person you want to be. • The power to develop an effective self-image is in your own hands.

• Both in appearance and attitude be a role model to inspire your team.

2 Avoiding Failure and Achieving Success THE SPIRAL OF FAILURE You must blot out any negative thoughts. Don’t consciously think failure when things go wrong. That will only programme your mind for disaster and you’ll find yourself on a downward spiral, the spiral of failure. It’s all too easy to get into this position and once locked into failure mode it takes a great effort to pull yourself up again. Your sales team will only be as successful as you are. They need to feel success radiating from you. Programme your subconscious mind by consciously thinking in terms of success throughout the day. If you think you can, you can; if you think you can’t, you’re right Avoiding negative factors There are a number of distinct but interrelated phases in the failure spiral, as shown in Figure 2. Each of these phases feeds on the others and any one or more of these can lead you into this vicious negative cycle of thinking. We all experience negativity at various times in our lives. To combat it successfully, you must be able to: 1. recognise what is happening to you, and 2. take positive action to pull out of it. Having achieved a positive frame of mind, you will be surprised how your whole personality will respond. Confront and deal with any problem immediately you recognise it. Don’t attempt to cover up your feelings of insecurity, inferiority or failure with a false air of superiority and overconfidence. Negativity must be eradicated from your thoughts, otherwise it will continue to gnaw away inside and destroy your self-esteem and sound judgement. 21

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Fig. 2. Spiral of failure.

Let’s take a closer look at the phases that make up the spiral of failure:

• Frustration. This occurs when you can’t achieve an objective you’ve set your heart on. Ask yourself, are your aims realistic? If they are, could it be that you’re overestimating your own ability? Strive for perfection by all means, but accept that it is seldom attainable and settle on a good day for excellence. Realise that you cannot avoid some degree of frustration in your life. But you can come to terms with it.

• Aggression. You find yourself adopting a tough and unpleasant attitude as a result of being thwarted in your aims and objectives. You are in effect making other people pay for the frustration you feel. The slightest hint of such an attitude towards members of your sales team, or worse still customers, can only lead to disaster. If you find yourself becoming aggressive, look for the causes. You must be in control of yourself at all times. Do not confuse aggression with being ambitious or determined. Determination is the quality that enables you to work confidently, intelligently and systematically towards your goals.

Avoiding Failure and Achieving Success

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• Insecurity. You feel insecure when you realise you are falling short of your aspirations and future planning fails to materialise. Do some serious thinking. If your aims and objectives are unrealistic or unattainable, substitute new ones that you know you can achieve. Having something to strive for will do wonders for your self-esteem. Being apathetic and doing nothing is a sure way to fall into the trap of insecurity.

• Loneliness. This phase can develop from you alienating others or deliberately isolating yourself. However retiring you are by nature, you must force yourself to socialise and get on with people. Don’t wait for the other person to make the first move. You’ll find people will respond well if you actively set out to establish friendly relations. Your staff will get reassurance from knowing that they can always share problems with their manager.

• Uncertainty. If you are unsure of yourself or your ability, you are certainly well on the way in the spiral of failure. Uncertainty can be due to one of two things: (a) Reluctance to make decisions in case you are wrong and MMspoil your otherwise perfect record. (b) You’ve made so many mistakes that you’re fearful of MMmaking more wrong decisions. However well you’ve mastered the decision-making process you will still make mistakes. The thing is to really study them and learn from them, then put them behind you as quickly as possible and move on, ensuring you do not repeat the mistake. Be clear in your mind what your objectives are, and plan and work towards achieving them. The result? No more uncertainty.

• Resentment. This is felt by an individual seeking to make failure bearable by blaming it on real or imagined unfair treatment and injustice on the part of others. If you have a chip on your shoulder you cannot hope to achieve the success and happiness essential for a successful career. Sales performance will suffer, and have a devastating effect on your team. Do not let resentment fester and divert you from your objectives.

• Emptiness. To feel that life has lost its purpose is an upsetting experience. Instead of something to be enjoyed as a rewarding and creative activity, work becomes meaningless – just a daily

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grind. It’s all too easy to slip into this pessimistic and despairing frame of mind. The remedy is to revive your interest in other people, especially your own staff. Reawaken your enjoyment of the simple things in life. And above all, set yourself new objectives that will exercise your mind and ability and find pleasure from achieving them. If the problem is insoluble, move away from it.

THE SPIRAL OF SUCCESS This constitutes the way we should work, the natural approach to life. Whereas the failure spiral drags us down like a whirlpool, with the right application and effort the success spiral will raise us to the summit of achievement. The accent is on being positive in all things – our thinking, personality, relationships with family, friends and colleagues, and the objectives we set ourselves. It is a series of mental decisions which everyone can make.

Fig. 3. Spiral of success.


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Focusing on the positive Figure 3 illustrates the qualities you require to ride on the spiral of success:

• Purpose. Without real purpose or reason behind everything you do, success will elude you. Always ask yourself first what you intend doing, secondly why you are doing it, and thirdly how you are going to go about it. Be clear about your objective before taking aim.

• Comprehension. This means not only your understanding, but also the understanding of others with whom you have dealings. It’s all down to good communication. You’re unlikely to do things right and make the right decisions if the information you act on is incorrect or you misinterpret the facts. Take time and trouble explaining things to both staff and customers to make sure they understand where you’re coming from. Equally you must ensure that you know what they’re trying to tell you. Mutual comprehension leads to harmonious relationships, provided both sides are honest with one another and keep to the facts.

• Courage and determination. ‘Who dares wins’. You can never be absolutely certain of success in any venture, but 99 times out of 100 being confident and determined will carry you through to a successful conclusion. Temper your courage and determination with good sense. It is folly to press on with a certain course of action if you know circumstances have changed.

• Consideration. Truly successful people show consideration for others’ needs and feelings. If you express genuine interest and concern, your staff and customers will respond with both loyalty and friendship. It leads to better and effective cooperation all round to the benefit of everybody.

• Acceptance. Make yourself the kind of person you can live with. Changing your self image doesn’t necessarily mean a drastic overhaul that turns you into someone entirely different. It does, however, mean getting rid of patterns of thinking which have inhibited your ideas and prevented you realising your full potential. Get to know yourself, the real you who has a greater potential for achievement, success and happiness

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than you ever imagined. The talents have always been there – release them.

• Confidence. This comes with success. Even small successes can give you the confidence to ensure even greater ones. So first make a start with projects you estimate are within your capabilities, achieving and consolidating for future progress and greater success. When leading a team, you must demonstrate complete confidence in achieving objectives and targets. If you have any doubts, keep them to yourself in case it affects morale. When success has been achieved, then is the time to reveal the pitfalls and problems which arose and had to be overcome. All concerned can then learn how to deal with similar possible challenges in the future.

• Self-esteem. Many people have a low opinion of themselves. Feeling they are not worthy of success, they tend to have a defeatist attitude to life. Perhaps a series of unfortunate experiences has made them give up the struggle. But if you have acted on the advice you have been given so far, you are already rebuilding your self-image to become the kind of person who earns the respect of others and, equally important, your own self-respect. Choose between life on the edge or retirement on the horizon. Setting your objectives Are you dissatisfied with your management personality? Perhaps you feel it’s not what it could be or should be. You must first decide what you want it to be. Most people would reply that they want to be successful at their job and happy doing it. But they know or think they have certain shortcomings. Be honest with yourself and define your weaknesses.

CHECKLIST

• Are you shy? You find it a strain to meet people, make a telephone call or speak at meetings.

• Do you have a problem communicating effectively? People are constantly misunderstanding you. You have difficulty in


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getting your ideas across and so find it hard, if not impossible, to influence people.

• Do you find it difficult to work with other people? Perhaps you are unable to establish a rapport with them and fail to understand them. As a manager, you find yourself failing to achieve results from your team.

• Do you worry about how you appear to other people? Do your looks or certain personal physical characteristics give you cause for concern?

• Do you lack confidence in what you are doing? You feel uncertain as to whether you’re doing the right thing or reaching the right decision.

• Are you frustrated and bored with your job? • Are you worried and nervous about the future? Everyone who thinks they have a personality problem will be able to add to the list, but they will also find that most of the above do not apply to them. Having identified your weaknesses, the next stage is to become clear in your mind about the type of management personality you wish to develop so that you can be successful and happy in your work.

TWELVE POSITIVE PERSONALITY PROFILE POINTS If you were to ask a group of managers what constitutes a successful sales personality, none of them would agree on the key points. But most would include all or most of the following attributes: 1. To be perfectly clear about your aims and objectives and those of your company or the department for which you are responsible within the organisation. 2. The ability to plan realistically, making the best use of the resources you control, including your staff, to achieve the objectives you have set. 3. To demonstrate courage, conviction and purpose in implementing your plans, together with confidence in their successful conclusion.

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4. To be sympathetic to the feelings, needs and views of others, while at the same time insisting that those who work for you maintain standards. 5. To be consistent throughout, treating all with whom you have dealings with fairness and honesty. 6. To be unselfish in thought and action when dealing with other people. 7. To be emotionally stable and mature in all respects. To achieve presence and poise without being pompous, and to show tact, patience and understanding. 8. Within the limit imposed by time on you, to think clearly and decisively. This means first ensuring you have all the correct information necessary and are absolutely clear as to what has to be achieved; secondly, that you take into account all the courses of action possible and, after careful evaluation of them, select the best. 9. To decide in plenty of time when action is needed and see that each decision relates to the overall company strategy. 10. To give your team members clear and understandable instructions about what has to be done within the constraints imposed in each situation, but not before asking for and considering their opinions on the best way to do things. 11. To work hard and apply yourself to achieve your purpose, acquiring and mastering the skills that will make you effective and efficient. 12. To always be smart in appearance and businesslike in attitude, so that you will create a good first impression on everyone with whom you come into contact.

MAKING POSITIVE IMPROVEMENTS Your subconscious mind is basically a survival mechanism which has developed over countless generations from the first primitive men and women. In daily life we exist in the conscious world, we are totally aware of how we think and act and rarely give a thought to the subconscious mind which, like a computer, automatically controls and maintains our bodies. But, like a computer,


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it can be accessed and programmed to carry out the functions we choose for it. Present yourself subconsciously with successful objectives and think success, and it will function as a success mechanism. Equally, if you let it programme in your negative objectives and thoughts, you will end up with an effective failure mechanism. Happiness is liking what you get. You have the power It is within your power to consciously influence your subconscious mind. No matter how unsuccessful you have been in the past, you can reverse the trend. Your desire to change yourself and become successful must be a continuous process, and it must be applied over a period of time if it is to be effective. The objectives you implant in your subconscious mind must be in the form of ideas. Such ideas can only be created by imaginative thinking. Visualise yourself as the person you are determined to become and imagine the brighter future that awaits you both on a career and personal level.

CASE STUDIES Stuart gets the message across Members of the team are putting in their best efforts to hit the sales targets, but are falling short of the mark. Although Stuart the new manager has good ideas, he is not good at explaining to his staff exactly what he wants them to do. This, coupled with an inability to establish a rapport with them, results in a plunge in morale. His staff begin to doubt and question their own individual abilities. Fortunately through Stuart using communication skills and showing consideration to the members of his team, mutual understanding is reached and sales hit their target. Mark halts the downward spiral Frustration is setting in for Mark. He is not achieving his objectives and, worse still, he starts taking out his frustration on the people around him by becoming belligerent and aggressive. He is aware he must do something to halt the downward spiral. He sets out to discover the real reason behind his

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frustration, then it comes to him. He is aiming for the unattainable. His objectives are unrealistic given the resources at his command. Once he substitutes new objectives he can achieve successfully, contentment replaces frustration and harmony is restored in the workplace and at home.

TO SUM UP

• Accentuate the positive. • Eliminate the negative. • Avoid the failure spiral. • Programme your subconscious for success.

3 Self-Motivation, Leadership and Problem-Solving HANDLING THE JOB To be a successful leader you must be determined to be the key person in any enterprise in which you are involved. This means you need not necessarily be in a leading position, although you will be if you work effectively. To achieve this you must learn to manage your own time and effort to good effect. It means constantly appraising the environment and modifying objectives so as to make the best possible use of the opportunities within reach. One resource you must labour to increase is your own knowledge. Knowledge of your product, business, people, management and the world in general are all essential to success. You must also develop by constant practice the ability to use this knowledge. Constant mental exercise doesn’t wear out the mind, the mind becomes sharper the more it is used. Don’t think about yesterday. Don’t think about tomorrow. Focus on today! Keep your objectives under constant review and work to put them into effect. You can achieve little on your own, but a great deal if you can work well with and lead others. The more your aims correspond with those of your company, the more successful you will be. The three basics of management – planning, operating and controlling – apply as much to your own self-management as they do to organising what your team does.

• First, know your job. Be familiar with every aspect of it. • Second, become adept at handling people. As well as exercising discipline and keeping the team informed, a good leader is one capable of counselling, complimenting and encouraging staff. 31

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• Third, think of ways of improving efficiency and effectiveness. Thinking is planning, the most important part of the manager’s job. Plan your work to make the best use of your time with the help of your diary. Dealing with interruptions Having planned your pattern of work, protect yourself from excessive interruptions that threaten to disrupt. Correspondence is one of the biggest time consumers, particularly internal communications. Too many memos and e-mails are indicative of inadequate verbal communication or an inefficient manager – or both! Deal with correspondence efficiently and courteously. Aim to handle each one just once:

• make a decision and either answer the letter at once or • pass the letter to someone else to either answer or obtain the necessary information to enable you to reply to it. The telephone is another source of interference. If there is a personal assistant or secretary in the department to intercept calls, so much the better. But make sure they know that really important calls should be put through to you as the executive. As with letters, phone calls should be dealt with in a business-like manner. If an answer is not available at once, the call should be returned rather than leave the caller hanging on. If any further action is needed, this should be noted down and not overlooked. Printed telephone call pads are useful for this and are better than pieces of paper stuck as reminders to desks or computer screens. Scheduling meetings Unscheduled meetings disrupt the best-laid plans. Discourage people from dropping in for a chat and, unless it’s really important, don’t do it yourself. Encourage members of your team and outside visitors to book one-to-one time. With the former it pays to indicate beforehand the subjects you wish to discuss. With scheduled meetings involving sales and policy see that brief minutes are kept, so that everyone has a record and is aware of any action required of them. The best designer is the budget.

Self-Motivation, Leadership and Problem-Solving

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FIVE LEVELS OF SELF-MOTIVATION A person who wants to be strongly self-motivated is someone who desires the good things of life for themselves and their dependants. There are five motivation levels which apply to everyone, but the amount of emphasis each has depends on individual circumstances: 1. Survival is the level of life to which we have become accustomed and which we will struggle to keep. A manager who accepts this will therefore be strongly motivated to ensure that everyone can continue to enjoy their living standards. 2. Security comes with knowing that we have made adequate provision for our possible future needs. It strongly motivates us to make even greater efforts right now to ensure this. 3. A need to belong is a mental requirement, to be accepted as a member of a group or groups. Although many strongly selfmotivated people may appear to be ‘loners’, most of them actually enjoy belonging to a group – providing they are the accepted leader of it. Those desiring to be strongly selfmotivated must be in this category, but the groups must be intellectually stimulating and demanding. 4. Self-esteem is also a psychological need. We all derive great satisfaction from having our achievements recognised by others. We must accept that, while we receive praise for our work while on the lower rungs of the ladder, the higher we climb the less likely we are to be commended. As leaders we must continue to achieve for our own personal satisfaction. The self-esteem we get from this will compensate for any non-recognition of our work. 5. Self-fulfilment is the highest level of motivation. Anyone gaining satisfaction from achievement will continue to be strongly motivated. They will never accept a mundane post and will seek a challenging job. Difficulties and problems will only strengthen their resolve to succeed.

STYLES OF MANAGEMENT Here are two definitions of management:

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(a) Achieving things through the efficient and economic use of people and resources. (b) Getting results through the efforts of others. Definition (a) sums up management in terms an economist might use, while definition (b) stresses the importance of the people involved. Both definitions are apt, but fail on their own to give the full picture. They complement one another. Management is both a science and an art. Nothing is out of reach with resourcefulness. Essential management operations These can be summed up as:

• Organising: arranging work so it can be carried out effectively. • Communicating: motivating and creating understanding among staff.

• Controlling: maintaining discipline and the recording of information about work in progress and work completed.

Fig. 4. Levels of management.


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• Development: Appraising and improving the skills and assets of all staff, including yourself. Figure 4 illustrates the incidence of the three elements of management at different organisational levels. Good leaders get people to work together effectively. The prime responsibility of a leader is to inspire the team to grow and develop as individuals. The leader has to make them realise that the company will do everything possible to help them. Every salesperson should feel that the company’s interests and those of the leader are identical with their own. The leader will do this by setting an example not only in the office but out in the field. From The Industrial Society comes the illustration in Figure 5 of The Leader Ship, which depicts graphically and succinctly the essentials of leadership. Promoting the theme Liberating Leadership the Society says that respected leaders are those who create opportunities for others to succeed and:

• Liberate by freeing staff to take their own decisions • Encourage their staff and support them • Achieve the purpose for which their team exists • Develop people and teams. Set an • Example by their own behaviour • Relationships built on trust Respect and integrity As leader you have to realise that your manners, habits, language, dress and attitude will have a bearing on your team’s regard for you. Without winning their respect you will fail to influence them and fail as a manager. You must have these attributes:

• a reputable character • a capacity for hard work • be honest, consistent and dependable • a firm follower of company policy

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Fig. 5. Leadership.

• fiercely defensive of your team against internal criticism • pride in your team’s reputation and standing with customers • a readiness to overcome all problems and obstacles • appear calm and in control at all times. Personal integrity is of prime importance. People will not respond to a manager who has character defects or is inconsistent in behaviour. Asked why they respect a manager both as a person and leader, their staff will include such virtues as

• very human and treats us as human beings • has no favourites and doesn’t bear grudges • approachable, listens and understands • honest and keeps their word • doesn’t dodge unpleasant issues • explains in clear terms why – or why not • gives praise as well as criticism and criticises without offending • is fair to their staff as well as to the company.


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Drivers or leaders Although styles of management are many and varied, most managers fall into one of two categories, those who drive and those who lead. Simply pushing or pressuring people to work doesn’t pay off. The more they’re pushed, the fewer the results. The good manager will lead by personal example, but will drive the sales team in the sense of being the driving force – motivating, encouraging and praising. Use words that are soft and sweet, as tomorrow you may need to eat them. Ideas on leadership Viscount Montgomery of Alamein defined leadership as the capacity to rally people to a common purpose. A leader’s tasks, he said, were to:

• dominate events • inspire subordinates • know what is wanted. And the methods to achieve these tasks:

• decision in action and calmness in crisis • personality • create atmosphere • guide • delegate • firm control at well established control points. This is not so different from the ideas of leadership in business today. US President Harry S. Truman saw a leader as someone ‘who has the ability to get other people to do what they don’t want to do, and like it.’

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STYLES OF LEADERSHIP So we have the idea that on one hand the leader tells people what to do and on the other that members of a team or group decide what to do under the leader’s influence. Warren Schmidt has made a comparison of different leadership methods (see Figure 6).

Fig. 6. Leadership styles.

Schmidt’s emphasis is on the leader as decision-maker. The way they take decisions and involve, or do not involve, their subordinates is clearly part of the leader’s style. These five different leadership styles cannot be used in every case. For example, the elected chairman of a committee in, say, the National Health Service, has to choose between styles three, four and five. Similarly, even where the leader normally delegates a


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good deal of decision-making, there are times when the leader has to take the initiative and be decisive. Leadership styles have also been classified as:

• Despotic: when the team leader has absolute power and no one can openly question their authority.

• Oppressive autocracy: keeping the lower orders firmly in their place.

• Persuasive autocracy: ensuring that the lower orders know their place.

• Paternal autocracy: looking after the best interests of the lower orders.

• Directive: limiting the use of autocracy when appropriate. • Participation: consulting team first, then acting. • Chaotic: where the leader abdicates to become just one of the team. The authority a leader has over the team can be:

• Structured: authority vested in the post which the leader can increase or decrease while they exercise power.

• Intellectual: authority arising from the leader’s competence in a particular field in which their team expect to be led.

• Personal: authority that comes from personality and skill in leadership. What we can see from all the theories and definitions is that leadership styles vary greatly. As leader, you are just as human and inconsistent as your team. Your needs, like theirs, will change from time to time, so you must be flexible in your approach. There is a whole range of situations where authority is sometimes welcomed and sometimes rejected. Any attempt to pick and maintain one deliberate leadership style will meet with failure. You must adopt a style that works in a given situation. Action centred leadership As a leader you should have three separate considerations constantly in mind, which overlap one another as shown in Figure 7.

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Fig. 7. Considerations.

1. What does the task demand? 2. What is right for my team? 3. What does each individual need? The diagram in Figure 8 from The Industrial Society further develops this theme. You must balance these requirements in everything you do. As a training method the leader’s style of leadership in challenging situations is criticised constructively, according to the way the leader meets these. Field Marshal William Slim, writing of the difference between leadership and management, maintained that one of the oldest, most natural and most effective of all human relationships was that of leader and followers. The manager and the managed were a later product with ‘neither so romantic nor so inspiring a history.’ He described leadership as being ‘of the spirit, compounded of personality and vision; its practice an art.’ Management was ‘of the mind, more a matter of accurate calculation of statistics, of methods, timetables and routine; its


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Fig. 8. Action centred leadership (A).

practice is a ‘‘science’’.’ He commented: ‘Managers are necessary; leaders are essential.’ A team leader’s task after defining objectives, involving planning, briefing staff, monitoring and evaluating and, where necessary, re-planning, re-briefing, re-monitoring and reevaluating, is summed up by the diagram and table from The Industrial Society in Figure 9.

PROBLEM ANALYSIS AND SOLVING Accept that life is full of problems, but that all problems are relative. While other people moan and wallow in their problems, the successful manager and leader gets on with solving them.

• First define the problem. Make sure you know what is involved. Precious time can be wasted trying to solve the wrong problem. To arrive at the definition of the problem find the ‘critical factor’. This is the element in the situation which has to be changed before anything else can be changed, moved or acted upon.

• What would be the effects if the problem were to go unsolved? Tackle any problem at once that directly threatens business.

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Fig. 9. Action-centred leadership (B).

But it could be that the effects are likely to be so minimal, that you can afford to put it down at the bottom of your list of priorities. Compile a list of effects which are directly attributable to the problem.


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• Find out what is causing the problem. It will only arise again unless you get to the root of the trouble. It could be one or a number of causes that have to be dealt with.

• Having studied cause and effect, note down as many alternative ways of solving any problem as you can, including doing nothing, then choose the best one.

• Consider carefully all the alternatives, weighing up the pros and cons of each. Match each against certain company criteria, such as the financial implications, staff morale, timing, availability of staff and resources, and your company’s policy.

• Decide which course of action is best under the circumstances – the one that will enable you to eliminate, cure or deal with the ‘critical factor’.

• Put that action into effect. Check that the action you have taken was right and that the problem has been solved. It’s hard to see the writing on the wall if you have your back to it! Decision-making techniques It follows that, since decision-making is choosing a course of action, it should only be done when a choice is necessary. Faced with the need to choose, the next thing is to distinguish between policy decisions and executive decisions. Policy always comes first, and decisions under this heading have to be made at least one level higher than executive ones. Unfortunately there is a tendency among some people on the higher level to make executive decisions as well as policy ones. By doing this they become overworked and leave subordinates feeling resentful because their responsibility is being limited. To make good reliable decisions we need:

• Courage – to make up our minds and not dither. • Care – to consider all possibilities. • Experience – to remember where we or others have gone wrong in similar situations.

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• Imagination – to build up ideas and solutions, and at the same time trying to imagine the consequences of these.

• Facts – always knowing where to get accurate information and being able to rely on it for the decision-making process.

• Authority – the decision-taker must be authorised to make decisions.

• Clear policy – every leader and manager must always be aware of company policy, for this could make the decision for them. There are many techniques for problem-solving and decisionmaking, but one particular system embodies the best of them. Individual decisions are the most difficult to make, as they require courage and, should they fail, you and you alone are to blame. Decision checklist 1. Will your decision achieve the aim? 2. Does it conform with policy? 3. Is it practicable? 4. Does it relate to the circumstances? 5. Is it flexible? 6. Can resources bear the demands made upon them? 7. How accurate is your information? 8. Do you have the authority? 9. Will the decision suit any staff involved? Problem-solving checklist 1. What is the problem? 2. Why did it arise? 3. What can be done about it? 4. Who should do the deciding? 5. When should it be done? 6. How should it be done?


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There are often two stages in solving problems and making decisions:

• short-term (quick cure) • and long-term (future prevention). As soon as you start to implement plans, problems will arise. A problem crops up when actual performance doesn’t match what you planned to happen or could have expected to happen. Unless you identify the real reason for things going awry, your efforts to compensate for what has happened will probably fail. Even if you do sort out the true causes, your remedial action may not be as effective as it could have been. Problem analysis and decision-making is a complex task, but forewarned is forearmed, and identifying potential problems beforehand will often help you avoid disaster. Even if you cannot rule out the possibility of adverse factors, at least you can build in preventive measures to deal with them. Realistic planning involves taking into account what might possibly go wrong at each major stage of your plans and what action you can take to meet any contingency that arises. The seven-step system This system makes you look at every possible situation. It is a more detailed examination of the points we have already discussed. The steps are: 1. Define the problem in as many different ways as possible. Doing this will confirm whether the problem we think we have is in fact the one we should be trying to solve. For example, difficulty in getting staff might appear to be the problem. The real problem, however, could be a shortage of good or qualified staff in the area from which we recruit, or the fact that we cannot offer the right salaries or career progression. There again, do we really need permanent staff – would part-timers solve our problem? 2. Gather all the information, taking into account the effects the problem could have on factors such as needs, costs, aims, result, expertise, experience, availability, records, assumptions.

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3. Evaluate this information, arranging it in order of importance, i.e. major, minor, no importance. Now arrange it in time sequence: what happened first, what followed after that and so on. Classify into factors: human (health, age, personality, etc), technical (methods, skills, techniques, etc), time (growth, development), policy (rules, procedures), cost (expense, budget, etc), timing (urgent, not urgent). 4. Develop solutions. Start by doing nothing, which is very often a decision. Consider established policy, good management practice, and taking into account integrity, fairness, resources and objectives. Note down all possible solutions based on these, then decide which one will give the best result. Selecting the best from each of the possible solutions could make up one good decision. 5. Once you’ve selected the best practical solution, check: (a) how far the situation has altered or deteriorated (b) which solution you can readily apply (c) whether it has been done before (d) the likely side effects (e) what difficulties exist (f) the costs involved. 6. Action – put the decision into practice. 7. Check the results your decision has had. Get feedback to see whether you need to update parts of the decision. Always plan the work and work the plan – no one plans to fail, but many fail to plan.

PLAN FOR MANAGEMENT Management has been defined as ‘the art of obtaining credit for the work done by others.’ Substitute ‘sharing’ for ‘obtaining’ and we are nearer the truth, for a good manager and leader is one who, by motivating the team to achieve their individual objectives, achieves their own ones. Figure 10 gives a plan showing skills that relate to all the duties of sales management. Leadership in a nutshell There are no better guidelines on leadership than these, reproduced by kind permission of The Industrial Society:


Fig. 10. Plan for management.

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1. Set the task of the team, put it across with enthusiasm and remind people of it often. 2. Make leaders accountable for four to 15 people; train them in leadership actions. 3. Plan the work, check its progress; design jobs and arrange work to encourage the commitment of individuals and the team. 4. Set individual targets after consulting; discuss progress with each person regularly and appraise at least once a year.XX 5. Delegate decisions to individuals; if not, consult those affected before you decide. 6. Communicate the importance of each person’s job; support and explain decisions to help people apply them; brief team together monthly on progress, policy, people and points for action. 7. Train and develop all staff, especially the young; practise equal opportunities; gain support for the rules and procedures, set an example and ‘have a go’ at those who break them. 8. Where unions are recognised, encourage joining, attendance at meetings, standing for office and speaking up for what each person believes is in the interest of the organisation and all who work in it. 9. Serve people in the team and care for their wellbeing and safety; work alongside people, deal with grievances promptly; attend social functions. 10. Monitor action, learn from successes and mistakes; regularly walk round each person’s place of work; observe, listen and praise. See Figures 11 and 12 to check your own leadership skills and motivation.


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Fig. 11. Check your leadership skills.

CASE STUDY Justin changes his driving habits On taking over as sales manager, Justin became the proverbial new broom. He decided his predecessor had been too easy on the sales staff and hadn’t pushed them enough. He thought them capable of much greater effort and determined to drive them

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Fig. 12. Motivation and leadership checklist.

hard. Instead of the increased turnover he anticipated, however, sales actually began to fall off. The more he pressured them, the fewer the results. A wise and experienced executive colleague took him aside and told him pressuring people never worked. Leading was better than driving. Justin took his advice and started to lead by personal example, motivating, encouraging and praising. To his delight his team responded and turned the figures around.


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TO SUM UP

• Be a manager, but more importantly a leader. • Motivate yourself before you attempt to motivate others. • Manage your time and effort effectively. • Lead by personal example and win your team’s respect. • Tailor your style of management to fit the situation. • Analyse each problem, decide on the best solution – and act!XX

4 Building the Sales Team THE SALES PERSON’S ROLE A sales person is the intermediary between prospective customers and manufacturers or suppliers. Whether it’s a service or a product, the job of each individual member of your team is to help people make decisions which will be of benefit to them and to the supplier or manufacturer for whom you and your team work. There are certain similarities between personal selling and sales promotion, advertisement space selling and other skills which come under the general banner of marketing. Sales people out in the field have a distinct advantages over people in other fields of selling who do their work solely by phone :

• They have flexibility. They can tailor their presentation according to the individual customer.

• There’s nothing like meeting a customer face-to-face. Not only does two-way dialogue help, but the sales person’s personality can come into play and work for them and back up their eloquence with words. Find a job you love and you will never work a day in your life. Self-management Being able to negotiate face-to-face sales with customers is not the end of the story. Managing themselves and their work is vital to a sales person’s success. They have to:

• Set themselves objectives and ensure they reach them by forward planning (this not only applies to sales targets, but to every aspect of their work).

• Control their performance in line with these plans. 52

Building a Sales Team

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• Regularly appraise themselves and decide how they can develop and improve their performance.

• Motivate themselves and direct their own efforts – not just rely on you as the team leader for guidance.

• Establish at what acceptable level of cost results can be achieved and work to this. Each member of your team must discipline themselves to be an independent thinker, skilled in taking the right decisions and capable of effectively communicating with others. If you know where you are going, all roads lead you there. Lewis Carroll

THE JOB SPECIFICATION Here is a typical outline of a sales person’s role. These are only the basics, which you can customise to fit your requirements as sales team leader. Field sales person To be directly responsible for sales to the sales manager. Main duties To maintain and develop business with existing customers and increase sales by getting and opening effective new accounts (reasonable volume users who pay; usually done at the expense of competitors). Responsibilities 1. The achievement of agreed sales targets and profit margins in allocated sales territory. 2. Promotion and sale of all products or services within budgeted sales costs. 3. Acquisition of a thorough working knowledge of all products or services sold by the company, including their application.

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•

4. Attendance of product or service training sessions to maintain and update that working knowledge.

•

5. Maintenance of a high level of professional selling through attendance at regular sales training sessions.

•

6. Administration and planning of all journeys out in the field to give total and economic coverage.

•

7. Maintenance of all administration and sales systems initiated by the sales manager including: (a) the customer record system (b) the journey plan (c) the sales reporting system (d) individual sales analysis.

•

8. Introduction and recruitment of new accounts and monitoring same to ensure initial cost of opening the account is recouped.

•

9. Provision of sufficient journey information to enable effective sales forecasting to be done.

• 10. Establishment and carrying out of a systematic and economic call-cycle plan.

• 11. Collection and use of market information in the sales person’s territory.

• 12. Attendance and active contribution at all sales meetings. • 13. Maintenance of a close working relationship with sales colleagues and internal departments such as technical, transport, credit departments and others which play a part in achieving maximum service and sales.

• 14. Development of a strong relationship with all customers, together with promoting the company wherever possible through: (a) maintenance of a high level of professional selling and MMservice (b) effective credit management and the quick resolution of MMcredit disputes (c) rectifying customer problems to the mutual satisfaction of MMcustomer and company.


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PREPARATION FOR RECRUITMENT Establishing a career structure in your sales force is one way of lessening recruitment problems. Having trainee sales representatives means that there is always someone ready to take over a territory that becomes vacant or be promoted if the company expands. It also means that you, as sales manager, can choose the time when you wish to recruit new trainee sales people, avoiding any panic or hurried ‘baling out’. You are also in command of your own recruitment plan, instead of being affected by problems of turnover in the sales team. Criteria for recruitment The job specification is obviously the first consideration.

• What is the nature of the job? • The job title? • To whom is the person responsible? • Is anyone answerable to them? • What are the job functions (duties and responsibilities, levels of authority, standards of performance)? Poor selection is costly to a company, involving:

• Costs of recruiting the original choice of candidate, plus their replacement.

• Costs incurred in initial training and management supervision. To ensure effective selection of the right person for the job, these are the basic requirements: 1. An accurate job analysis. (a) the territory to be covered (b) customers to be called on (c) range of products or services to be sold (d) support provided by other departments (e) performance standards to be achieved (f) to whom the person will report and how often.

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2. Profile of the candidate. (a) education and qualifications (b) job record and experience (c) personality. The application form will provide information on the first two, and the personality profile will be revealed at the interviews. As the sales manager, you will have to decide which of the above are essential and which are preferable. Do you, for instance, place more emphasis on experience rather than education? 3. Administration considerations. (a) what has been allowed in the budget for advertising and MMexpenses? (b) who is planning the advertising, including the wording MMand design of advertisements and deciding in which MMpublications they will appear? (c) how many stages will there be in the interview process? (d) who will do the initial vetting? (e) who is to conduct the interviews? (f) where are the interviews to be held? 4. The method for attracting applicants. (a) advertising (b) notifying staff via company noticeboard (c) head-hunting (d) spreading the word among friends or associates (e) recruitment consultants or agencies (f) jobcentre. 5. Recruitment advertising. (a) Choice of media, which also depends on the nature of the MMjob. Here are some guidelines:

• Select a newspaper or journal with an established marketplace for the type of post you are advertising.

• For a junior or trainee post, regional evening newspapers offer high household coverage in their circulation area and are economic for advertising localised vacancies. (b) Advertisement presentation, which depends for success MMon layout and design, together with good crisp copyMMwriting. Display advertisements for senior posts are best


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MMhandled by your company studio or an advertising agency, MMor directly with your chosen media. Good design makes an MMimpact and is just as important as the actual size of your MMadvertisement. The aim of the advertisement is to hold the MMattention of the maximum number of applicants of the MMright sort long enough for them to read your job offer and MMreact favourably. Use this handy mnemonic to remind MMyourself what your copy should create:

• Interest people to read the advertisement. • Desire on someone’s part to want the post. • Enthusiasm to make them apply. • Action – does the advertisement make it clear how they should apply?

CHECKLIST Some pointers for writing effective recruitment advertisement copy:

• Don’t use a box number unless it’s really necessary. • Always give details of salary/earnings potential. • Don’t crowd a display advertisement. Remember that white space is an important attention-getter.

• Avoid gimmicks – you can be too clever. • Use direct, plain English. Avoid clichés such as ‘apply in the first instance’ or ‘applications are invited’.

• Remember you’re aiming to ‘sell’ the post to suitable candidates and at the same time discouraging the wrong type of applicant.

• Put all the essential factors into all job advertisements. CANDIDATE SELECTION Application forms should be sent out once initial letters of application are received. They make vetting of suitable candidates easier. Look for the following clues:

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(a) Brain power – do they appear to have fully used their brain up to now? (b) Interests – these are useful personality pointers. (c) Employment record – does it reveal steady progression upwards? Desirable qualities

• a pattern of success, including selling experience • valid reasons for leaving existing employer • good explanations for gaps in employment • above average mental ability • a mature outlook on life • good health and stamina • determination and drive • self-confidence and faith in oneself • service to the community, hobbies, interests and sporting attainments.

INTERVIEWING SKILLS When arranging interviews, ensure:

• that they will be conducted in private • there are no interruptions, such as telephone calls. Developing an effective interviewing technique comes with experience, but here are some general guidelines: 1. Prepare a written list of the questions you intend asking – and write down the answers the applicant gives during the interview. 2. Ensure the interview is conducted in a relaxed, friendly manner. Always aim to put the candidate at ease. Avoid sitting behind a desk.


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3. Warmly greet the candidate and introduce yourself. 4. Start off by chatting informally. 5. Keep control of the interview throughout, but don’t dominate it. 6. Ensure the interview progresses naturally and make informality the keynote. 7. Tell the candidate your reasons for asking certain questions or why some courses of action have to be taken. 8. Ask as many questions as possible containing ‘with, who, what, how, where, when, why’ – ‘open’ questions that cannot be answered with a straight ‘yes’ or ‘no’. 9. Give a brief profile of your company, including its products or services and market. 10. Describe the job in concise detail. ‘Sell’ the benefits and the advantages of working for the company. 11. When closing the interview, make it quite clear to the candidate what the next step will be, eg being informed by letter within the next few days whether they are being offered the job, or asked to attend a further interview. 12. Smile encouragingly throughout the interview – remember what it was like being in the applicant’s place! Experience is the name so many people give their mistakes. Oscar Wilde Types of interview The interview is designed to:

• Determine the relevance of the candidate’s experience and training to the requirements of a specific job.

• Evaluate the candidate’s personality, character and motivation.

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There are three types of interview: (a) Direct. The question and answer approach, which is useful in eliciting a lot of facts but reveals little about a candidate’s personality or motivation. (b) Indirect. Where the interviewer does not control the interview but gives the candidate free rein. Much will be learned about the candidate’s attitudes and personality. The disadvantage is that an appointment may have to be made on incomplete information. (c) Structured. This is a combination of both the above. The interviewer encourages the candidate to talk freely about relevant topics. The interview covers specific areas and progresses logically. If applicants are to attend more than one interview, you as the manager to whom the successful candidate will be ultimately reporting should conduct the initial one. The object of the first interview is to assess the basic personality of the candidate and whether they should be shortlisted for a more detailed one later on (see Figure 13). Questions and answers Asking ‘open’ questions will give the candidate a chance to talk freely and at length, and enable you to judge whether they are capable of dealing with questions clearly and succinctly. Listen carefully to what the applicant says, and make notes throughout the interview. When you are dealing with several candidates on one day it is quite easy to forget details. These are the types of question you should be asking:

• Why did you leave your last job/why do you want to leave your present post?

• If your present employer offered you a salary increase, how would you feel about staying?

• What do you think of the management in your present company?

• What do you like most about your present/last job? What do you like least about it?


Fig. 13. Interview evaluation.

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• If you were in a position to make changes, which ones would you make?

• You seem to have changed jobs rather often. Is there any particular reason for this?

• Why do you like selling? • How would you feel if any of your children wanted to become sales people?

• If you had your time over again, what career would you choose?

• What is your opinion of the sales training you have had so far? • What advantages do you think you will gain by joining our company?

• What benefits do you think you could bring to our company? • How much do you know about our company and the products and services it sells?

• What do you think you will find most satisfying about this job? • How does your family/partner feel about you changing your job?

• How would you feel about having to do a certain amount of . . . ? (Pick on one of the less attractive aspects of the post on offer.)

• Why do you feel you would be suitable for this job? • What job do you expect to be doing in ten years’ time? • What do you consider has been your greatest accomplishment so far? Second thoughts are often best. Interviewing pitfalls to beware An interviewer must be completely unbiased and never show any prejudice or let it affect their judgement during an interview. They must also steer clear of stereotyping a candidate by mentally condemning them as a member of a particular social group. An interviewer must also guard against being so impressed by one


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particular aspect of an applicant’s character that they become only too eager to credit them with abilities or qualities they do not possess. Another pitfall to avoid is what is known as ‘projection’, where the interviewer sees in the candidate imagined inadequacies, such as aggression and obstinacy, which are in fact their own. Then there is preconception, usually as a result of information or impressions from a third party, perhaps following a previous interview. The ‘halo’ effect is also a danger, where the interviewer sees themselves in the candidate and imagines skills and strengths. The second interview Have ready a sales planner, a presentation and a canned script. You will need these to explain in greater detail what the job entails. It will be up to the candidate to do a selling job on themselves, to impress you that they are the right person to have a place in your sales team. In addition to the desirable qualities already mentioned, does the candidate: 1. Conduct themselves as you would want your sales people to act? 2. Appear confident and courteous? 3. Present themselves well, describing logically what they have done and what they are capable of doing? 4. Tailor their sales talk to suit you in positive selling terms? 5. Overcome objections from you as the ‘buyer’ of their skills and experience? 6. Ask you intelligent questions? 7. Show that they have prepared for the interview? 8. Appear enthusiastic? Introducing stress A way of testing a candidate’s ability to remain unfazed by the unexpected is to introduce irrelevancies, for instance:

• Ask for their views on religion, the NHS, the welfare state. • Query if they’re too young for the job (age is no barrier to a real sales person).

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A good sales person will handle irrelevancies skilfully, then carry on selling themselves to you. Get them to role-play using the presenter. If they’re worth their salt, apart from some minor mistakes and slight hesitation they’ll do a reasonable off-the-cuff presentation. If you have any doubts about the applicant’s past, present or future, express them politely but freely. As well as being fair to your company as a potential employer, it gives the applicant a chance to answer them. Significant omissions in career details on the application form or in conversation should be followed up immediately. Companies cannot give job security – only customers can. John F. Welch, Jr

OFFERS OF EMPLOYMENT Before sending a written offer of employment to the successful candidate, it is best to notify them by phone. This gives them the opportunity to turn down the job if they have reservations that cannot be resolved or have accepted another offer in the meantime. Should either of these possibilities occur you can then fall back on your runner-up choice or readvertise the post if necessary without delay. The letter of appointment Having received a verbal acceptance from the candidate, confirm the offer in writing with a letter of appointment. It should include these details:

• The job title. • The manager to whom the person will report. • Location of the job and sales territory. • Hours of work. • The salary and how and when it will be paid. • The conditions under which a company car, etc is provided. • A precise explanation of the company expenses policy.


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• Holiday entitlement and how calculated. • The sickness and absence policy, including compassionate leave.

• The period of notice required by either party. • Pension, medical care and insurance schemes. • Any other staff benefits such as discount schemes on the company products or those of other firms.

• Details of relocation expenses if applicable. • Company policy regarding stock or samples. • A request for a letter of confirmation from the applicant accepting the job and agreeing to the terms and conditions of employment. With the letter should be enclosed any booklets or leaflets on such policies as equal opportunities and grievance procedures. Most organisations send two copies of the letter of appointment, asking the applicant to sign and date both, and to retain one copy and return the other. Let down the unsuccessful applicants gently. Word the letter in a way that won’t deflate them, pointing out the number of applications and the high standard of all the applicants. Wait until you have definitely filled the post before sending out letters of rejection!

CASE STUDIES Paul brings in a reserve When a star performer left his sales team, Paul was thankful that he’d made provision for such an eventuality by establishing a career structure. Already waiting on the touchline was promising trainee sales rep Sara, ready to take up the position. The crisis averted, Paul was able to recruit another trainee at his leisure. The right kind of applicant Shona’s company was looking to expand into Wales. An advertisement in a national newspaper for two sales people produced a huge response – but only a handful had any knowledge of

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Wales. She ran the advertisement again, this time in two regional evening newspapers. Targeting a more localised area brought a large number of applicants, this time of the right kind.

TO SUM UP

• Prepare a job specification. • Decide what qualities candidates should possess. • Ensure effective recruitment advertising to attract suitable applicants.

• Use your interviewing skills to select the right person for the job.

5 Training the Sales Team INDUCTION OF NEW STAFF: WHERE IT ALL BEGINS The first stage of establishing good staff relationships is a wellplanned programme of initial or induction training. Its aim should be to impress upon new sales people that they have joined a company run on professional, businesslike lines, which expects the same high standards from its staff. This introductory programme is their first real chance of getting a feel for their new company. It is up to you to show them by your own example to recognise the importance of good work habits and planning in successful selling. You never get a second chance to make a first impression. Elements of the induction No matter what business your company is involved in, the basic induction programme will follow this pattern:

• A welcome on behalf of your company. • Fire exits/drills – health and safety, staff policies and programmes.

• A clear declaration of company policies and aims, history and predicted future.

• An outline of the chain of command from company chairman down to senior management level, including key personnel and their individual roles, backed up by photographic portraits.

• A description of the role they, as new recruits, will play in the running of your company and how important their contribution will be to its continued success. 67

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• The need for everyone to pull together and each individual being willing to learn, accept supervision and accept individual responsibility.

• Promotion prospects, and bonus and incentive schemes offered by the company.

• Details of training programmes they will be undertaking. This initial induction is by way of a general introduction to your company. It can be therefore be a means of bringing together new staff from different departments, such as sales, administration, finance. Training tailored to the specific requirements of departments can follow later. Putting staff in the picture As with all training, induction should be as interesting and informative as you can make it. New members of staff will judge the company they have just joined on how you present it. Capture and maintain their interest. Use every visual aid at your disposal from flip charts, static display boards and videos to overhead projectors and the computerised programmes. If a picture’s worth a thousand words, so is an imaginative chart or a lively graphic to help you get a point over. Set high standards of presentation and carry them on in the next stage of training your staff in the art of creative selling.

JOB TRAINING FUNDAMENTALS Whatever their age, experience or standard of skill, all new staff need to know with confidence that they’ve become part of a strong, professional team. Let them know what back-up they can expect. Impress upon them that the company wants them to enjoy their job. After all, job satisfaction is as important as financial reward.

• Train them thoroughly on the products they’ll be selling, their duties and the company’s systems.

• Give them basic practical demonstrations of how to handle customers.

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• Stress how important it is for them to develop planning and good work habits. On the individual level, show each sales person that you are personally interested in their progress and career.

• See them individually after every session to discuss and iron out any difficulties.

• See they are kept busy – have study material at hand should work slacken for any reason.

• Ensure their colleagues have made them welcome and are giving encouragement. Remember: you’ll never achieve your objectives unless everyone involved in their training gives an active helping hand. You have two ears and one mouth – use them in direct proportion. Individual guidance There are, broadly speaking, three types of sales people. 1. At the top are those with sales skills and experience who, after their induction, can be left to get on with the job, apart from refresher training. 2. At the bottom are the sales people who need a considerable amount of help if they are to come up to scratch. 3. By far the largest number of sales people of ‘average’ ability come somewhere between the two. They’re the ones who will benefit most from continuous advice and assistance. Some managers mistakenly devote most of their attention to the high flyers, the theory being that they’re the ones who are going to maintain and increase sales. It could be that they just like to work with successful sales people – rather like a teacher who finds it more rewarding to concentrate on the brightest pupils of the class. Other managers dedicate themselves to mainly helping the ‘plodders’, the low-performers. Having perhaps played

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some part in the selection of staff, they feel responsible for the success or failure of these members of the sales team. But it is to the ‘average’ performers that you as a manager should devote your efforts. They need all the leadership, help and back-up you can give them, because they have the most potential for development. Given the right guidance, they will improve their performance to the benefit of both themselves and the company. How is improvement achieved? Get your sales people to see and hear themselves as others see and hear them. Achieve this by training, followed with roleplaying at sales meetings and discussions. If someone finds it hard to achieve the recognised standard for any part of the job, it can only be due to one – or a combination – of three reasons: 1. lack of knowledge 2. lack of ability 3. lack of the right attitude. Lack of knowledge is normally the easiest to remedy. The most difficult deficiency to address is lack of ability, unless some latent ability is there only awaiting the right conditions for release. Attitude is the most complex problem of all three to tackle. It could be fundamental, arising perhaps from a deep-rooted objection to one aspect of the sales job, or superficial, resulting from resentment over set targets or being rebuked for some minor misdemeanour. Whatever the reason for a sales person not coming up to standard, it is vital that you find and analyse why they are failing. Otherwise you could waste a great deal of your time and theirs in trying to correct things.

INDIVIDUAL SALES TRAINING Each aspect of individual training in selling or presentation skills should be planned in stages. There are five: 1. Prepare the sales person for what they are about to learn. 2. Explain to them how to do it.


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3. Show them how to do it. 4. Get them to show you how to do it. 5. Correct and praise them. Preparing them First put the sales person at their ease, showing them that you are there to help. Now tell them what you and they are going to do. Aim to create interest and enthusiasm. Explaining how Don’t burden people with too much information all at once. Keep it simple so that, for example, if you want to train them on the principle of demonstrating in sequence, stick to that and nothing else. You can cover other topics at another session. Showing how Remember that sales people are often good mimics, so give a high standard of performance yourself which they can copy. Show them one thing at a time. Give the reasons behind the principles you are demonstrating. Get them to show you how Ensure they are ready and relaxed, then get them to go over the key points first. Never interrupt and wait until they’ve finished before complimenting them. If they flounder or break down during their presentation, stop them. Be sympathetic. Tell them it’s no big deal and that others frequently fail at the first attempt, then give a repeat demonstration yourself. Correct and praise Avoid blunt criticism. Rather than telling them what went wrong, show them how something could have been better done. Never correct a person in front of others and praise before you correct. If possible, give them the chance to correct themselves, gently prompted by questions from you.

DEVELOPING THE SALES TEAM Successful achievement of your company’s objectives depends on the individual effort and ability of each of the sales team’s

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members. As a manager you are responsible for the development of all staff answering to you. That development can only be achieved by good training. Training is the process of helping people do their jobs more effectively. Like all things, if it’s worth doing it’s worth doing well. Good management – at all levels but particularly at the top – recognises that a properly coordinated and comprehensive training policy is the only way it can fulfil its development objectives. Training is a line management responsibility. In large organisations it may well be necessary to appoint staff to see that training plans and programmes are successfully implemented. Even if, as a manager, you are able to delegate, always remember that personal responsibility for training those in your sales team still remains yours. Why train? Sales people have a particular need for training because:

• In every customer they face human nature in all its complexities, a difficult, unpredictable factor in any dealing.

• The customer looks upon them as the ‘company’, making their role as your firm’s ambassador an even more responsible and important one.

• Most of the time they are working alone, out on the road, and need to be able to deal with any unexpected crisis in a capable way.

• It is upon the sales people that the company depends for its revenue and profit.

• Sales people must be kept up-to-date with every change – economic, technological, administrative, or competitor – which affects their job.

• Every company and its sales force needs to be marketing orientated and aware of customers’ needs more than ever these days. A company following an efficient training pro-


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gramme should look to find future managers from among its own sales people.

• All companies need improved performance from their sales people if they are to meet ever more intensive competition.

• Training is the only way by which individual performance can be improved. The ACME formula A logical approach to training can be summed up in the ACME formula: Aims Content Method Evaluation Aims Problems are recognised and needs identified. This is achieved by job analysis, appraising individual performances and assessing individual capacity. You also need to seek out any current difficulties, determine the level of morale, and how best time can be used. Take into consideration, too, the effects that known policies and foreseen events are likely to have. Content The Content of the training programme will follow on logically from Aims. It will depend on what problems and needs investigation has revealed. Methods There are many methods of training. You have to decide those which are the most effective and economical for achieving your particular aims for staff. Evaluation When it comes to evaluation, proving that training has achieved your given aims is not a simple matter. You should systematically gather evidence of the results of training undertaken by staff. Do this by regularly appraising the performance of each member of the sales force, especially their work in the field. A prepared

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‘improvement of performance’ statement can be used as the standard of judgement. Getting down to details Training should be:

• Relevant to the individual’s needs and to the company’s products, services and policies.

• Timetabled so that each person can fully take part without missing sessions.

• Planned and carried out in a setting conducive to learning. • Continuous – most important. This means personal coaching in the field, dual calling on customers with a manager or more experienced colleague, hand-in-hand with internal courses, role-playing, follow-up coaching and individually assigned projects. Basic objectives of training should be to: (a) Improve the individual’s ability to do the job as defined in the job specification. (b) Develop the individual’s potential to do the next job to which they may be promoted, given such potential exists. The training needs of each individual sales person separate into two parts: 1. Knowledge of: — Company products and services, particularly the benefits these offer customers. — The customers themselves, understanding them as people and buyers. — Competitors and their products, services, strengths and weaknesses. — Oneself – the individual’s own strengths and weaknesses. — All other factors likely to affect a sales person’s ability to convince customers to buy.


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2. Skills in: — Analysing potential sales in their territory. — Planning efficient use of time to cover the territory. — Preparing and planning sales calls. — Communicating. — Persuading and getting orders. — Maintaining good relations with customers. — Keeping to the company’s terms of business and controlling credit.

CLASSROOM-STYLE TRAINING As a manager you may often be involved in a classroom training situation. Perhaps you are training staff in sales techniques and principles, expanding their knowledge of products or services, or even explaining company policy. Whatever the topic, it may call for a formal presentation. Personal presentation skills Practice does not make perfect, only permanent. Be clear in your mind what the aim is. Understand your reasons for putting over the information:

• to inform • to gain acceptance • to help and advise • to get criticism • to get participation • to gain improvement and commitment. Assemble sufficient material such as:

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• facts and figures • general information • examples for evidence • relevant stories and anecdotes. This is where visual aids come into their own, to keep the attention of your audience focused on what you are saying. When you decide on what form your visuals are going to take, do make sure they’re totally relevant. And ensure you understand them fully. Hesitation or uncertainty will soon be noticed by your audience and could damage your credibility. Put over the information with zest and sparkle, however many times you’ve presented it before. Remember, it’s new to your audience. To help maintain their attention span, divide your presentation into easy to cope with periods. About one-and-a-half hours is the usual length of a session without a break. Bear in mind, too, that people often need a frequent break to recharge. Making training enjoyable Training is something to be enjoyed, not endured. Don’t give them the formal lecture routine. Be natural, friendly and relaxed. Show them you’re really interested in them, and in helping develop their sales careers and improving their performance and earnings/promotion opportunities. A good training session is a two-way thing. Ask questions to get feedback and active participation. You’ll know when you have succeeded with your guidance – your trainees discover answers for themselves. Test their knowledge from time to time by asking associated questions and providing case study or exercise material. Your presentation should be like a good story, with a beginning, a middle and an end. Spend as much time planning and preparing what you are going to say as saying. Standing up in front of a group of people is difficult enough without the added complication of knowing you’re inadequately prepared. For example, your session on product knowledge could follow this pattern:

• introduction and opening remarks • history of the product


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• its future as regards sales, markets, revenue and competition • selling points and benefits to the customer • likely objections and how to meet them • a summing up of the key points • concluding by motivating the sales team to succeed. Training hints Here are some more ways in which to make your job as a trainer easier: 1. Never leave your group sitting around waiting for you to appear. Be on time! 2. Prepare the room in advance with adequate supplies of notepads, pencils, water, ventilation and light, etc. 3. Make sure you have a white board or flip chart, with the correct felt pens. 4. If not known to you or to each other, break the ice by getting the group to introduce themselves in turn. 5. Go through the programme, giving the timing of breaks, meals and coffee arrangements, together with fire and safety information. 6. Avoid all interruptions. 7. Never talk down or patronise your participants. 8. Never lose your patience. 9. Make eye contact constantly with the group and never turn away and talk to the white board or visual aid, or bury your nose in notes. 10. Avoid open argument or confrontation, as this will tend to arouse animosity towards you. 11. Do however allow people to create and express their ideas in their own good time. You never know, their ideas could be better than yours, and certainly worthy of inclusion by way of content in your next presentation!

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12. When each day or session ends, go over the work discussed and give out necessary supporting paperwork. 13. Never let the time over-run without first getting everyone’s agreement. 14. If you don’t know the answers, say so, then find out – don’t attempt to bluff it out.

FIELD TRAINING One of your prime responsibilities as a manager is to accompany your sales people when they make their calls. Main reasons for doing so are:

• To give moral support to a sales person facing a difficult negotiation.

• To show the company flag. • To check up on a sales person’s records. • Above all, to assess a sales person’s performance. Ideally you should choose a day when you have nothing more important to do. Foremost in your mind should be the mantra: train, develop, motivate. In many organisations field training seldom happens, because field managers don’t have the confidence themselves to lead and train. Such managers will instead fill their days with meetings, large account calls, phone calls, paperwork and other things that could be more efficiently and less expensively dealt with by other people. They plead lack of time as an excuse, or claim the customers do not like two people calling and that it puts the sales person off their stroke. The same excuses are often used by a sales person reluctant for sales call accompaniment. Good reasons for field training

• It shows that the manager is interested in what sales people are doing.

• It is the only way the manager is able to appraise the sales person and their attitude objectively.


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• It can be used to encourage the sales person to build and capitalise on their strengths, and at the same time discuss any weaknesses and agree courses of action to correct them.

• The sales person and manager get the opportunity to communicate and bond with each other, developing a relationship that enables the manager to motivate the sales person to keep ‘on message’.

• The manager keeps in touch by getting first-hand experience of the ever-changing marketplace. Requirements of a field trainer Being a successful field trainer requires considerable experience coupled with analytical ability. Other assets are:

• A sense of priorities, which allows them to concentrate on the most important qualities or skills a sales person lacks.

• A managerial approach that enables the manager to judge everything observed in the field in relation to the company’s commercial purposes and interests.

• An above average degree of integrity, self-discipline and professionalism which, coupled with empathy, allows the trainer to establish a close relationship with the sales person, but at the same time remain the responsible, disciplined manager.

• Creative ability teamed with the imagination to experiment. • Tenacity, organisation and general understanding of what training is all about. This enables the trainer to see and conduct the field visit as an important part of a long-term development programme for the individual sales person. Sequence of training 1. First comes your own pre-planning. (a) Study all existing training and appraisal records. (b) Arrange and confirm, three to four days ahead, the time and place for meeting the sales person. (c) Set your objectives.

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(d) Note down separately any special points you might want to discuss with the sales person. 2. Getting the sales person prepared (a) Be early for the meeting, never late. (b) Go out of your way for the meeting – don’t disrupt the sales person’s schedule of appointments. (c) Put the sales person at ease, making sure they have no worries or fears. (d) Discuss the day’s plan. (e) Look for their objectives. 3. Pre-call analysis. (a) Check what is known about the customer and past history. (b) Ask the sales person for the objectives of the call. (c) Plan the presentation together, rehearsing if necessary. (d) Decide how to counter likely objections. (e) Check visual aids, such as brochures and samples. (f) Agree the introduction of yourself as ‘a colleague’. (g) Give the sales person some final encouragement. 4. The presentation. (a) Watch, listen and remain in the background. (b) Your sales person is the one doing the business. Do nothing to undermine their authority in the eyes of the customer. (c) Do not join in, and if the customer directs a question at you divert it to the sales person to answer. (d) Mentally note at least two good points to the sale, plus any weak points. 5. Post-call analysis. (a) Start off and finish with the good points you recorded, listing


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weak points in between like a sandwich – praise/criticism/ praise. (b) Smile throughout. Keep the conversation relaxed. (c) Ask open questions. (d) Train only on one point per call, the weakest. (e) Role-play this weak point, first with you as the sales person, then reverse roles. (f) Get the sales person to see and agree where they could do better. 6. In general. (a) If possible, after each call analyse what took place. (b) Ask, tell, show, practise and check. (c) Always be patient. (d) Use a little humour and make the day enjoyable for you both. (e) Most important, always leave the sales person with a sense of achievement. If you’ve carried out your call analysis skilfully, the sales person will go away happy feeling they have ‘learnt’ without being ‘taught’. It’s a question of you leading them into a situation of constructive self-analysis, rather than making them feel they are the object of criticism.

AFTER THE SALES CALL TRAINING This discussion between sales person and manager immediately after a sales call is a vital aspect of training in the field. It’s generally known as the ‘kerbside conference’. It should be carefully structured, just like every other training activity. A framework for the kerbside conference 1. As manager you should start by giving praise where appropriate. If you’re unable to find any part of your sales person’s performance to praise, then something is seriously wrong!

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2. First get them to analyse the call, prompting with sympathetic questions where necessary. 3. You can then point out some of the weaknesses they have missed. But don’t point out too many. Some things might best be put right at a later occasion, because even a well conducted sales call can contain minor ones. 4. It is important that the sales person genuinely agrees with your analysis of where they went wrong. Motivate them, rather than instruct them, when you come to correct them. 5. Get the sales person to summarise the call. 6. You should now show how the most important weaknesses could be remedied by role-playing, as already described, by discussion, or by reference to the training manual if your company has one. 7. End the kerbside conference by summarising the call and the training session, ending as you began by praising the sales person’s efforts. Build ’em up, don’t knock ’em down! Setting individual standards Don’t aim at too quick a rate of progress for individual sales people. Using your appraisal system as a guide, decide what level of skill a particular sales person has achieved for each aspect of the job. Be content to raise them to the next level. The logistics of field visits You need to take account of certain physical factors when planning field visits:

• the number of sales people to be supervised • intensity of supervision • frequency of visits • size of areas and distance relative to base • budgets • transport.


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The most variable of these are intensity and frequency of supervision. They require the greatest care in planning. As a sales person progresses, the intensity will normally decrease. Do not completely neglect the better sales people. They may require less training, but could need regular visits to keep them fully motivated. How long a visit? One of your first considerations when planning to accompany one of the sales team on calls will be the length of visit. There’s much to be said for spending a full day or longer with each person, because:

• Travelling time between visits is cut down. • Longer training periods often result in a greater level of improved performance.

• More aspects of a sales person’s performance can be gauged, such as route planning, use of time, etc. A quick tour with carefully planned meeting-up points has several advantages:

• New objectives and ideas can be communicated to the sales force rapidly.

• Frequent contact with the manager should motivate and encourage sales people.

• The manager can cover all their areas more speedily. • The manager gives the impression of being everywhere and always in control. Perhaps the ideal field training trip is a mix of both long and short visits. Base your overall plan on the route planning principles used for dividing up a sales person’s area. And aim to cover each part of each area within the shortest time possible.

CHECKLIST

• Have you collected together sufficient visual aids and other training materials?

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• Have you planned and put in sequence the elements of an initial induction course?

• Are you ready to follow up with basic job training fundamentals?

• Have you ensured that existing staff will encourage and help new colleagues?

• Have you determined which sales people you need to concentrate on most as things progress?

• Have you honed up your own skills as a trainer in the classroom and out in the field?

• Are you planning field visits efficiently in terms of time, distance and duration?

CASE STUDIES Stuart plans his field training visits As sales manager with a company whose manufactured products are sold nationwide, Stuart has a sales force operating from Cornwall to Scotland. His sales people’s territories range from cities like London, Birmingham, Manchester, Cardiff, Glasgow and Edinburgh to large, mainly rural areas in the South West and Scotland, with widely scattered small provincial towns. Distances to be covered are the influencing factor when planning his time effectively. He decides he can devote one day accompanying the sales person in each city where customers are located near one another in large shopping or industrial centres. He accepts that in more rural areas he will have to spend two days or more, plus his own travelling time, if training is to be effective. Fiona decides where training is needed most Fiona’s ten-strong sales team vary in their individual degree of development and ability following initial training. There are two high flyers with previous experience who have the job well in hand, then six sales people of ‘average’ ability. The remaining two are struggling. As a good manager Fiona is sympathetic to the problems of the two, but decides to fully help them later. She


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considers her first priority is the training and development of the six, who have yet to develop their potential to the benefit of themselves and the company. Fiona does not neglect the high flyers. Although they may not need much training, she visits them regularly to keep them motivated and ‘on line’.

6 Selling Proposals and Negotiation SELLING LETTERS AND PROPOSALS When writing selling proposals or composing covering letters, you must have a very clear picture of the person to whom you’re writing and why you’re writing. Concise, relatively short letters, specifically directed at relevant benefits, are far more effective than rambling accounts of all the features of a product or service. Clearly determine your aims before you begin writing – and keep them in mind from start to finish in the letter. Put yourself in the place of the person who is going to receive the letter, taking into account their:

• knowledge of present and past circumstances • authority to make buying decisions • motives for buying and

• what needs to be recorded for their future use. Constructing the letter With your aims clearly in mind, create group headings. These could fall into the following guidelines: 1. A statement of current methods, costings, disadvantages, etc. 2. A statement of application. 3. The corporate answer, which should include advantages, benefits, savings, etc. If need be, this can be broken down into sub-paragraphs to appeal to specific people where more than one person is involved in the purchasing process. 4. Costings – these can be in the form of a detailed quotation at the back of the proposal. Depreciative costs should be worked 86

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out where these apply, and where increased cost comes into it, the benefits should be compared to the depreciated cost differential. 5. Confirmation of action points, such as the next appointment, delivery, etc, to suit the time scale. 6. Finally, re-read the letter thoroughly (or get someone else to do it) to make sure: (a) you’ve achieved your aims (b) there is no ambiguity (c) the prospective buyer will readily understand what you MMhave said. Don’t do too much re-reading and re-writing, as you could make the letter confusing and dull. If the person who has the authority to purchase is absent, don’t send a quotation. Proposals and covering letters should be composed to show the absent authority in terms of the relevant benefits and why they should decide in your favour. Bear in mind that only you can write a proposal that will appeal to known needs. If it’s worth doing at all, it’s worth doing well.

DOs AND DON’Ts OF LETTER-WRITING Many letters fail to achieve their purpose because of the following:

• Clarity – the letter does not make it clear what you mean. • No logical ‘argument’ has been put forward. • Vague words or phrases (in the region of), big words (pretentious), pompous words or phrases (beg to suggest), jargon.

• Addressed wrongly or sent to the wrong person. • Incorrect title (Mr, Mrs, Miss, Ms) or position in company. • Lack of structure, eg: — greeting/thanks/preamble — purpose

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— start — middle — end — action close.

• Written in a style that does not match recipient. • Informs but doesn’t sell. The simple proposal Set out a proposal along these lines: 1. The requirements of the company 2. What is being proposed by your company 3. Benefits offered which match requirements 4. Indicative costings and terms of trade 5. The mechanicals 6. The technicals 7. Why your company should get the contract (rather than competitors) 8. Close, commitment getter or action statement. Full sales proposal 1. Sales letter (to accompany the proposal) 2. Title page 3. Acknowledgements (acknowledging past conversations, etc) 4. List of contents or index 5. Introduction and objectives, including the brief and terms of reference 6. The requirements as you understand them 7. Proposed solution and alternatives 8. Benefits of using your company 9. Back-up service, mechanicals, technicals


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10. Indicative costings, the quotation, proforma costings, terms of trade 11. Literature, company profile, quality systems, environmental and employment policies, etc 12. Testimonials, references 13. List of existing clients. Before drafting Remember the following selling points before drafting any correspondence:

• Each letter must have a definite objective. • For whom is your message intended ? (It needn’t necessarily be the addressee.)

• What are the needs of that person or those persons? • Will those needs be met by your company? • What do you want the customer to do on receipt? • How is the customer to proceed with the next step? The content of a letter 1. Make it a logical process from start to finish 2. Tempt and arouse curiosity – don’t initially attempt to present a detailed case for your product or service 3. Relate to the person’s job and industry 4. Mention how you have helped similar companies 5. Stress benefits not features 6. And tell the recipient what the key benefits are – don’t ask them to read an enclosed brochure 7. Anticipate possible objections 8. Use third parties as proof 9. Keep it short – no more than one page if possible.

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Production minus sales is scrap The close or the hook Avoid such phrases as

• ‘We look forward to hearing from you.’ • ‘We look forward to doing business with you.’ • ‘We’re only round the corner if you need us.’ • ‘I trust this meets with your approval.’ • ‘Please give me a ring if I can help.’ • ‘Why not try us?’ • ‘If I can be of further assistance.’ • ‘Please do not hesitate to contact me.’ Instead, use the direct selling/closing technique. You have a choice of closes: 1. Alternative — ‘Can I call and see you, say next week, or would the week after be better?’ — ‘Would the 21st be convenient, or would the 20th be better for us to get together?’ or 2. Concession — ‘If you decide to go ahead now we can offer a discount, but you will need to order in the next two weeks.’ 3. Summary — A listing of the key benefits, followed by an action close. 4. One removed — ‘If I may, I’ll call your secretary and fix a mutually convenient date for us to meet.’


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5. Action — ‘I’ve made a note in my diary to call you in a few days’ time to discuss our services more fully. I hope we can arrange to meet shortly after that.’ 6. Logical — ‘Can I come and have just half-an-hour of your time to discuss things or do a short, focused presentation?’ 7. Fear (don’t overdo the pressurising!) — ‘Our discount offer is only available for a limited period.’ — ‘We’re expecting a big demand.’ If the battle cannot be won, it should not be fought. Use and misuse Don’t be pompous and use phrases such as the following, which are best suited to formal letters from estate agents, the legal profession and bank managers:

• ‘I have to acknowledge with thanks . . .’ • ‘We respectfully acknowledge receipt of . . .’ • ‘Referring to your communication of . . .’ • ‘The contents of which are noted . . .’ • ‘For your personal information . . .’ • ‘We beg to advise . . .’ • ‘We are giving the matter every consideration . . .’ • ‘We have pleasure in attaching . . .’ • ‘Despatched under separate cover . . .’ • ‘This letter is for the purpose of requesting . . .’ • ‘We should like to point out that . . .’ • ‘The opportunity is taken to mention that . . .’ • ‘May we take this opportunity of . . .’

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• ‘It will be appreciated that . . .’ • ‘The position with regard to . . .’ • ‘Having regard to the fact that . . .’ • ‘Allow me to say in this instance . . .’ • ‘We are not in a position to . . .’ • ‘It is suggested that the reason . . .’ • ‘Answering in the negative (or affirmative) . . .’ • ‘The undersigned (or writer) . . .’ Bad psychology Phrases and words like these smack of coldness and aloofness:

• ‘You will have to . . .’ • ‘It’s not possible for us to . . .’ • ‘The problem was . . .’ • ‘Your complaint (or dissatisfaction) . . .’ • ‘Dictated by and signed in absence . . .’ Clichés These tired-out old phrases are best avoided when ending your letter:

• ‘Assuring you of our best attention at all times, we remain . . .’ • ‘Regretting our inability to be of service in this matter . . .’ • ‘Thanking you in advance . . .’ • ‘Awaiting a favourable reply . . .’ • ‘Trusting we may be favoured with . . .’ • ‘Please do not hesitate to . . .’ NEGOTIATING – NOT SELLING Your sales people will come to you with propositions that require your special touch as team leader. You are going to show them the art of negotiating. Basically, selling takes place when the


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salesperson’s need to sell is greater than the customer’s need to buy. Negotiation comes into play when the salesperson’s need to sell equals the customer’s need to buy. Good selling is often used to create a greater awareness in the customer’s mind of their need to have a product or service. This sets the scene for negotiation from then on. As with any job, the successful negotiator needs to have the right attitudes for the task, sufficient knowledge, and skills that will bring about a satisfactory conclusion on time. Here are lists of some of the key attitudes, areas of knowledge and skills required to which you can add others as you think of them. Attitudes • • • •

determination appearance integrity perseverance

• enthusiasm • patience • punctuality

• positiveness • loyalty • open-mindedness

Knowledge • • • •

products/pricing customers (existing and potential) human relations sales techniques

• • • •

company competitors negotiating techniques markets

Skills • • • •

objective setting • numeracy • literacy planning • control • presentation use of visual aids gaining commitment questioning techniques • overcoming objections

While you’re helping your team to be successful negotiators, now’s a good opportunity to carry out some self-analysis and assess your own strengths and weaknesses. Success comes by building on your strengths and minimising your weaknesses. Preparing for negotiation To negotiate successfully, you must prepare thoroughly. Be quite clear about your negotiating objectives. The rules for setting them are: 1. Quantify with actual figures such things as prices, gross profit margins, minimum quantities that can be ordered.

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2. Avoid open-ended time scales. Set a definite time scale. 3. Make your objective worthwhile and realistic. Think big, but don’t set your sights too high. On the other hand, don’t set them too low. 4. Set down in detail what the present situation is with the particular customer. It will give you a yardstick by which you can measure the effectiveness of your new objective. 5. Make a note, too, of any major assumptions you have had to make in setting your objectives. If your assumptions prove to be incorrect, you might need to change your objectives. The more information you have been able to assemble beforehand, the more successful you are likely to be. Structured questioning Useful information is yours for the asking, if you employ ‘open’ questions when negotiating with a customer. Questions beginning with how, what, which, why, when, where and who make it impossible for a simple yes or no answer. You can build up a complete picture of the customer and the situation. And there’s something else you need to know. To be a worthwhile customer, they must satisfy three vital criteria. These are easy to remember as MAN.

• Money – do they have the means and the budget to pay for your products or services?

• Authority – do they have the authority to buy your products or services or make the necessary decisions or influence others who do decide ?

• Need – do they need your products and services? Equally important, are they fully aware of this need? Other factors to be considered before getting down to the negotiations are: 1. The type of product or service you offer, including quality, specification, reliability, guarantees and warranties, conformity with legal requirements and literature available. 2. Prices, together with discounts, profit margins and credit terms.


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3. Service and back-up, covering technical support, after-sales service, availability and stocks of spares, training of customer’s staff where necessary.

CHECKLIST Final points to be borne in mind prior to preparation for negotiating:

• Reduce the number of negotiators to a minimum – the fewer there are the quicker you’ll reach agreement.

• Have a complete plan. • Tread warily in any contact with your competitors. • Know the needs of the other side. • Don’t plan-in promises you can’t keep. • Don’t ask the other side for promises you know they can’t fulfil.

• Be clear in your mind what the next steps will be after the meeting.

• Decide what you are prepared to concede and what you aren’t prepared to give way on.

NEGOTIATING STRATEGIES The secret of successful negotiation is compromise. This can be either actual or apparent. It’s all rather like playing poker. When negotiation starts there’s usually a gap between the terms and conditions asked for by the customer and those the salesperson says they’re prepared to offer. At first, both sides usually exaggerate the distance between them – it’s the initial strategic ploy. The good negotiator has the major strategic task of measuring accurately the gap both sides say exists between them, and to distinguish between the actual and the stated gap. If strong competitors are also involved with the customer, ask yourself these questions: (a) How well do competitors perform in negotiations?

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(b) What are their negotiating strengths and weaknesses? (c) Do they strengthen or weaken the market? (d) What main concessions do they usually make to customers? (e) How do your plans compare with what you know of theirs? (f) How can you keep their impact with the customer to a minimum? With accurate answers to these questions you can determine the initial negotiating stance you wish to adopt. They may well help you to fathom out the initial stance the customer is likely to take. To get the order, there are only two basic strategies. ‘Quick kill’ or ‘final offer first’ This strategy is only used in exceptional circumstances, as it contains a large element of risk. It means you making a final offer to the customer on a take-it-or-leave-it basis. This lends itself to situations where you are in the driving seat, such as finding yourself in a totally dominant position as the sole source of supply or service, for instance. or where you have been asked to tender with no likelihood of further negotiations after the offer is made. ‘Hold back’ strategy With this strategy the negotiator gives away only those concessions necessary to clinch the deal. By trading concessions with the customer carefully and with a show of great reluctance, you may be amazed how little you actually have to give away.

NEGOTIATING TACTICS AND TECHNIQUES When opportunity knocks, open the door. If not, its knuckles get sore and it moves on.

• Always aim high – you can trade down, but never up. • Find out all the customer’s requirements before you get down to negotiating – you need to know what the total package is before you start offering concessions on individual points.


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• Keep this complete package in mind all the time – it will help you identify the major points and the details.

• Be on the lookout for areas where you can make small concessions – one such concession from you could clinch the deal. When you make a concession, always obtain one from the customer in return. Make the most of each concession, impressing its value on the customer. Make the customer feel they are really winning something worthwhile from you. At the same time, don’t go overboard about the concessions made to you. Try to minimise their value. This way, you’ll leave the customer believing their ace negotiating has secured them the best from the deal. They will remember this when you have to negotiate with them again. Leave them with the feeling they’ve been outsmarted, however, and you’ll find negotiation much harder the next time. Ten key points for a good result Finally, keep in mind these key points of negotiation technique. 1. Never give a concession away, but trade it reluctantly. 2. Leave the customer feeling they have won a good deal too. 3. Like the small print, watch for those danger phrases such as ‘a few small details’, ‘one small point and I think we’re in business’, ‘it’s in your interest’. 4. Once you start to back down, it’s hard to climb up again. 5. In the early stages of negotiation maintain neutrality. 6. Making notes is a good way of riding an attack from a customer. 7. If you want time to think, make a phone call or read your notes through. 8. Anything a customer accepts as constant can nearly always be turned into a negotiating variable. 9. Never make an offer until you have a completed costed out list of everything the customer intends to argue about. 10. Since history began there hasn’t been a deadline that wasn’t negotiable.

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TO SUM UP 1. Keep written selling proposals short and to the point. 2. Use simple language and avoid pompous phrases. 3. Stress benefits not features. 4. Make sure each letter achieves your aims and is not ambiguous. 5. Master negotiating tactics and techniques. 6. Remember that what’s worth doing is worth doing well.

7 Customer Communication and Information Flow CUSTOMER AUDITS Feedback from customers provides us with valuable pointers as to their needs, what they think of the company and the service it provides and the areas where things could be improved. A customer audit in the form of a questionnaire is a good way to focus the business. Returned questionnaires will normally give your sales team the opportunity of a prompt follow-up, which will create a good impression and mean more business. Customers will feel that your company cares that little bit more about them than your competitors. Figure 14 shows a basic questionnaire that you can adapt to suit your own requirements:

1. Are we your only supplier of these particular products/services? (a) Yes b) No 2. Are our catalogues, web site and price lists easy to use? (please tick) (a) Yes (b) Usually (c) Sometimes (d) No Is there another company which does it better? (please specify) What additional information should be included? 3. Is the product range sufficiently comprehensive? (a) Yes (b) Usually (c) Sometimes (d) No Where could the range be expanded? Of all the companies you deal with, which has the best range? 4. When our sales representatives call are they courteous, presentable and professional? (a) Always (b) Usually (c) Sometimes (d) No Is there another company which does it better?

Fig. 14. Customer questionnaire. 99

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5. Are you always thanked for your order? (a) Yes (b) Usually (c) Sometimes Who does it better?

(d) No

6. Is our confirmation of your order and delivery prompt enough? (a) Yes b) Usually (c) Sometimes (d) No Which other company does it better? 7. Do our sales people keep you sufficiently well informed? (a) Yes (b) Usually (c) Sometimes (d) No What other company keeps you better informed? 8. If you have experienced difficulties, have these been resolved to your satisfaction? (a) Yes (b) Usually (c) Sometimes (d) No Is another company better at sorting out difficulties? 9. Do you receive good service and turnaround from us? (a) Yes (b) Usually (c) Sometimes (d) No Who else performs more efficiently? 10. Are you called on frequently enough? (a) Yes (b) No How often would you like to be visited? Who else visits you more frequently? 11.Would you like to receive more customer service phone calls? (a) Yes (b) No What would be the ideal frequency of such calls? 11. How do you rate your staff’s knowledge of our product/service? (a) Good (b) Fair (c) In need of improvement With whose products/services are they most familiar? 12. How do you rate our point of sale material? (a) Good (b) Fair (c) In need of improvement Comments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

................................................. Who has the best point of sale material?

Fig. 14. (cont.)

Customer Communication and Information Flow

13. How do you rate our advertising? (a) Good (b) Fair (c) In need of improvement Do you favour (a) Joint local participation (b) National campaigns How could advertising be improved? Who has the best advertising? 14. How effective is our PR? (a) Good (b) Fair

(c) In need of improvement

Comments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

................................................. 15. How do you rate the packaging and presentation of our products? (a) Good (b) Fair (c) In need of improvement What changes, if necessary, should be made? Which other company has better packaging and why? 16. What other products would you like to see us supply? 17. Are there any other sales aids that you would find useful? 18. Please outline three of our strengths 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2................. 3................. And three areas for improvement 1................. 2................. 3................. 19. Please give (in order of importance) the five features you look for when considering a purchase 1................. 2................. 3................. 4................. 5................. 20. Based on your experience, how satisfied are you overall with the service you receive from us? (a) Very satisfied (b) Satisfied (c) No complaints (d) Dissatisfied (e) Very dissatisfied Fig. 14. (cont.)

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21. Are there any other comments you wish to make to help us improve our performance?

.................................................. .................................................. .................................................. ..................................................

Name . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Position . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Company . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Thank you for sparing the time and trouble to help us improve our service to you, our customer. Fig. 14. (cont.)

A personally signed covering letter from you as sales team leader should accompany each questionnaire sent out. Individually addressed to the person in each company with whom you deal, it should request their co-operation in helping to monitor and improve the quality of your services to them. Anyone can have a good idea, it takes someone special to profit from it.

INFORMATION FLOW Clear, precise and accurate information flow is essential to the success of the sales operation. Everything hinges on good communication both upwards and downwards between you as leader and your team. This two-way communication enables you to inform, control and persuade, as well as linking the skills of the team to one purpose.


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From the top down Information is only useful when geared to the needs of the recipient. It should be on a need-to-know basis. Too little information leads to dissatisfaction and inefficiency, while too much creates mental indigestion. Salespeople need to know:

• general activities of the company • administrative details • product knowledge • relative profitability of different lines • competitors’ activities • the marketplace • their own performance • how their colleagues are performing. Who to tell, how and when to tell Everyone needs to know and the best way to pass on information is directly in writing or by spoken word. Writing is more permanent, but care is needed that what you write is read and clearly understood. You can use the following means:

• personal letter, memo or e-mail • circular letter, memo or e-mail • noticeboard • information sheet • newsletter or house journal. A personal communication is more effective than an impersonal one. Speaking to people is usually even more effective, because it allows them to ask questions and leads to greater understanding. One-to-one is the ideal, but is often time consuming and costly. Getting people together as a group saves time and money, although too large a group could inhibit people from asking essential questions. Sometimes in large organisations it’s not possible for the sales leader to inform each member of their team individually. There

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has to be a chain of communication involved. The danger here is that messages, whether spoken or written, could become distorted. The team leader needs to make some intermittent checks at stages in the chain. From the bottom up Equally vital is the flow of information from the sales team to you as leader. This information should include:

• customer details • customer reaction to (a) your own products, (b) competitors’ products

• details of competitors’ products, prices and margins • competitors’ activities • orders and delivery instructions • any complaints. As well as telling your team clearly what they need to report back to you, let them know why you want the information. You’ll then find they respond better and more helpfully. With a high calibre, motivated sales team performing well, you may find it unnecessary to ask your staff to submit many control reports to reassure you that they are doing what they should be doing. Control reports usually inform management about:

• sales activities (potential and secured business, and market activity)

• cash expenditure • car reports • accidents. Any control reports should be kept separate from information reports and not combined on one form. Even the most honest salesperson will be tempted at times to create a better impression in your eyes by ‘bending’ the truth. If in doing so they distort vital sales information, this can be serious.


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A good plan today is better than a great plan tomorrow.

GOOD COMMUNICATIONS As team leader you achieve objectives through your sales people’s efforts. No matter how good your ideas and decisions, they only become effective when you transmit them to your team, who then understand and act upon them. Communication is the most valuable management tool if well employed. To fail to prepare is to prepare to fail. The Industrial Society A ten-step guide Here is a guide to help you improve your skills when addressing your team as a group or as individuals. 1. Clarify your ideas before communicating them. Analyse the problem or idea first, then think how you can convey your message to the people for whom it is intended. 2. Determine the true purpose of each communication. What do you really wish to accomplish by your message? After identifying your goal, use language, tone and approach which will achieve that specific objective. 3. Consider the setting in which you are communicating. A good communicator will be sensitive to the impact their message is likely to have. They will know what their audience is expecting and tailor their communication accordingly. 4. Confer with others to help you with planning a communication. They can bring additional objectivity and insight to bear, and lend you their support in communicating your message. 5. While concentrating on getting your message across, be mindful of the overtones and undertones you might unwittingly be sounding. Your expression, tone of voice, choice of words and apparent receptiveness to the responses of your audience all have a tremendous impact on those you wish to reach. Such subtleties of communication can affect a

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listener’s reaction to your message even more than its actual content. 6. Empathise with your listeners. They’re much more likely to respond when they know you’re looking at things from their point of view. 7. Ensure follow-up to your communication. Encourage questions – they provide valuable feedback, enabling you to judge if you have been successful in getting your message across. 8. Convey a message that looks to tomorrow as well as today. The reason for proposing a certain course of action here and now is based on what we visualise happening in the future. Explained in this way, it will be better accepted and understood by your listeners. 9. Your actions should support your communications. Don’t be a ‘do as I say’ manager, but lead by example. Practise an acceptable management style, with well defined and clearly given responsibilities and authorisation, sound appraisals and controls, and fair rewards for your staff’s efforts. 10. Be a good listener. Seek to be understood, but also seek to understand. While you are talking, listen for your audience’s audible reaction and watch their body language and expressions. Agreement or disagreement can be expressed in so many subtle ways. Always keep things simple. The Industrial Society suggests dividing instruction into:

• stages – suitable portions in a logical sequence • key points – things that affect quality, make the job easy, help avoid mistakes, essential information, and safety. To talk without thinking is to shoot without aiming. Effective speaking When speaking to an audience be enthusiastic, but make sure that you’re seen to be enthusiastic. Being enthusiastic is easier if you are confident and know your subject. Learn your material


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thoroughly so that, apart from an occasional glance at your notes, you are keeping control of the audience.

• Always look up and don’t read word-for-word from a script. Keeping your head down affects volume and quality of delivery. You also can’t monitor listeners’ reactions – those facial expressions or body movements which signal understanding, disagreement, boredom or concentration.

• If using visual aids, pay the same attention to their preparation as you would the spoken word. With a visual display, keep facing the audience as much as possible to keep their interest – no one wants to look at your back or side profile.

• Always run through your material out loud to yourself before the actual event. This gives you a chance to cut out unnecessary detail, platitudes, clichés and waffle which are likely to detract from and obscure the main thrust of your talk.

• If the room is a large one, gauge its acoustics and how loudly you need to project your voice by sitting at the back while others are speaking.

• Don’t put on a theatrical act, be yourself. • Don’t be afraid to pause. A brief silence after making a point stresses its importance and gives your listeners time to think about it.

• Should you sense you are losing some of your audience, counter this with a change of pace or pitch to increase their awareness.

• A good way of countering disbelief or lack of understanding on your listeners’ part is to have a supply of more examples of the points you wish to make. It will increase your confidence to know that, if need be, you have something extra up your sleeve. Effective writing The principal requirements for written communication with staff are the same as those for communicating with customers as outlined in the previous chapter: focused thoughts presented with clarity, precision and brevity. Visualise the person or people you

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are addressing. Bear in mind your aim is to impart a message, not to impress or entertain.

CHECKLIST

• Does your letter contain exact words and expressions, not generalisations or clichés?

• Have you used short words rather than long ones? • Are your sentences reasonably short and self-contained? • Have you employed adjectives sparingly? • Are the nouns used concrete in preference to abstract ones (sank like lead, for example, has more impact than sank like a metal)?

• Will the readers readily understand any technical or business terms your communication contains? Another tip: If you have to develop a theme at length, for example in writing a report, try to produce the gist of what you have to say in a brief form. Provide any statistics, data, tables and other background material as appendices. Not everyone will want or find it necessary to read everything.

TEAM BRIEFINGS These can be: (a) Face-to-face with individual sales people as occasion demands, with the manager encouraging questions and ensuring understanding. (b) Addressing the whole team – anything from four to 15 people – on a regular basis at least once a month for 30 minutes, with dates set well in advance. This is the time for the team leader to discuss progress, people, policy, points for action and disseminating general information. (c) Informal, with the team leader visiting the place of work, asking questions and dealing with queries on the spot.


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Think with the wise, but talk with the vulgar. Old proverb Communicating the message Impress upon your staff that everything they and you do must be devoted to providing the best product and service to the customer, and maintaining and improving quality. Whether the customer comes in person, writes in or telephones, they are the most important person. Without them there would be no business. They are not someone to be argued with or regarded as a nuisance interrupting work. Quality is something to take pride in, but it has to be paid for. The common law of business is that you cannot pay a little and get a lot. Cheapest is not necessarily the best. A customer will recognise quality and not resent paying a reasonable price for that product or service. The bitterness of poor quality still remains long after the sweetness of low cost is forgotten.

CASE STUDIES Steve sets up his own intelligence service Seconded to an ailing subsidiary company as trouble shooter, Steve soon found the reason for falling sales. The demoralised sales team were working in the dark, with no real idea as to customers’ needs, a vague notion of the competition, and ignorance of their own company’s strengths and weaknesses. Steve introduced customer questionnaires to remedy the situation. These provided valuable feedback and intelligence to enable the sales team to recover their confidence and boost sales. Peter tells it in plain English Peter prided himself on being a good communicator. His reports and memos were notable for their scholarly if somewhat wordy prose. But somehow it took his staff an age to grasp what he was saying. A senior colleague on the receiving end of one of his reports pointed out to Peter that business communications were meant to inform, not to increase people’s word power. The real message was being obscured by pompous phrases and long words, he said. Peter saw where he was going wrong and responded accordingly, to everyone’s relief.

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TO SUM UP

• Establish communication with customers. • Audit customer needs. • Make internal information a two-way flow – upwards and downwards.

• Communicate effectively in both speech and writing.

8 Motivation of the Sales Team BOOSTING MORALE Morale is the most important factor contributing to success or failure in selling. Your salespeople want to work well at their jobs, realise their ambitions and to succeed, but they have to be motivated. Good management has to be in place before you can directly motivate them. This involves:

• a sound marketing policy • the correct type of organisation • the right attitude to the sales staff • the appropriate amount and quality of supervision • proper conditions of service for the sales people themselves. When staff see all these as satisfactory, directly motivating them can be very effective. Morale will be high, as will performance, in a correctly motivated sales force. Low morale reveals itself in:

• a high rate of staff turnover • an excessive number of days off sick • general moans about salaries and expenses • errors in writing out orders and other paperwork • fewer and fewer new accounts opened • a resistance to new sales ideas • an absence of creative selling • avoidance of mundane tasks like dealing with customer complaints and account collection

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• an acceptance without question of customers’ viewpoints on prices, terms, deliveries and qualities. Where any of these symptoms exist, there is an urgent need to improve motivation after investigating the causes. The most frequent reasons are absence of:

• financial security • job security • recognition • creative leadership. Creatures without backbones often have the hardest shells. Motivation = motivators minus dissatisfiers (turn ons/turn offs) Sales team leaders need to have an understanding of the real principles of motivation before attempting to raise morale with any target system or incentive plan. There are still some managers who believe in ‘KITA’ – kick in the ass – treating staff like donkeys who need persuasion with stick or carrot. A more creative manager resists resorting to this and gets to the root causes. Motivation is concerned with:

• understanding the emotions and needs of staff • and providing inducements to satisfy needs and influence people to use their full abilities when doing their work. Although rewards such as money go some way towards satisfying needs, they can only be part of an overall package. Studies have been made into human motivation and one accepted series of generalisations of basic needs and the order in which they are satisfied is: 1. survival 2. security 3. belonging

Motivation of the Sales Team

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4. esteem 5. self-realisation. There are two quite separate sets of factors involved in the motivation process.

• One concerns the environment within which a person works, and tends to produce dissatisfaction (dissatisfiers).

• The other set centres on the job itself, which tends to result in positive motivation (motivators). Dissatisfiers and motivators are either financial or nonfinancial. Financial dissatisfiers Heading the financial dissatisfier league is salary, followed by job insecurity, bonuses, pension schemes and promotion prospects, which all have financial implications. There is a difference between salary increase and absolute salary level in motivational terms. Salary level is part of the working environment and a potential dissatisfier. Sales people see salary increases as a recognition for their achievement. It is therefore a potential motivator. Although introducing other incentives may solve dissatisfaction with salary, a drastic revision of salary scales is needed where pay: (a) is below subsistence level (b) fails to provide accepted living standards (c) is seen to be unfair. Non-financial dissatisfiers These include:

• company policy and administration (misunderstood or conflicting with personal aims)

• supervision (considered intrusive or of no apparent benefit) • working conditions (deemed inadequate and not reflecting the importance and status of an individual)

• interpersonal relations (personality clashes or friction when other team members appear to be pulling in different directions or not pulling at all).

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This is where the formula motivation = motivators minus dissatisfiers comes in. Take away any dissatisfiers so that you’re left with motivators, which equal motivation. Financial motivators Obvious ones are:

• salary • profit-based incentives • expenses • company car • pension/insurance schemes. Non-financial motivators Figuring high on the list are:

• advancement by promotion • delegation of interesting projects • praise and recognition of achievement. This is where a good team leader comes in by introducing other motivators such as:

• improving the working environment • being accessible and in close contact with staff • knowing the name of each member of staff and being familiar with their personal circumstances

• involving individuals and discussing their needs • communicating and giving positive feedback to ideas • building team spirit and instilling a feeling of belonging • allocating specific responsibilities • giving clear direction • setting mutual targets and goals


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• appraising staff regularly • sound training, with particular emphasis on self-motivation. Analysing any failure on the part of staff is negative, but analysis of success can lead to success. Again, remember the right sequence – praise, criticise, then praise again. It’s tough to climb the ladder of success with your nose on the grindstone, your shoulder to the wheel, your eye on the ball and your ear to the ground.

DOs AND DON’Ts OF SUCCESSFUL SUPERVISION Do

• Give credit where credit is due. • Make sure your staff can air their views by talking to you. • Say what you think – tactfully. • Let people know how they are doing. • Take pride in the work of your department – it’s catching! • Be enthusiastic, even if you don’t always feel that way. • Be a good listener and ensure you’re available to staff. • Give everyone a share of the boring jobs where possible. • Lead by example. • Invite opinions and suggestions from your team. Don’t

• Be seen to have favourites. • Run down more senior colleagues in front of your team. • Fail to reprimand when this is warranted. • Withhold information unnecessarily. • Invent reasons or excuses to save face. • Make decisions your staff should be making.

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• Make anyone feel they are a failure. • Treat mistakes as crimes. • Criticise change (it’s essential for progress). • Reprimand anyone in public. Creditors have better memories than debtors. Basic needs After the investment your company has made in staff, it is up to you as team leader to encourage, not threaten them to work harder. As well as providing financial incentives which reward and give your sales people a feeling of security, you can help them fulfil their other important needs: (a) belonging to a team (b) having self-respect. Sales meetings provide the opportunity for building team spirit. As a form of group communication they are very effective, providing what is said at them is understood, accepted and acted upon. There are two rules: 1. Keep things simple and stick to a single theme. 2. Encourage everyone to participate. It’s an accepted fact that we remember: (a) 10 per cent of what we read (b) 20 per cent of what we hear (c) 30 per cent of what we hear and see, but (d) 90 per cent of what we discuss and participate in. Bulletins, formal training in group sessions, area contests and your own personal attitude and enthusiasm as leader also contribute to team building. Engendering self-respect and personal pride can be achieved through:

• field training


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• encouraging suggestions • taking a genuine personal interest in a person’s performance. In the field, with help and training, salespeople will become increasingly self-reliant. With this will come confidence and pride in one’s achievements. To have their suggestions welcomed is not only a boost to self-esteem, but they are also contributing to the sales effort as a whole. Praise and censure enable a sales manager to establish mutual trust with the team. Criticism and praise should be fair, balanced and constructive. Your team will accept a friendly appraisal of their work along these lines, and also appreciate your reaction to their efforts. There is nothing more demoralising than indifference from one’s superior. Motivating through promotion An awareness of their prospects helps to establish confidence, too, and strengthen loyalty to the company. Salaries should be progressive. Not everyone looks for promotion, but emphasising promotion as an incentive can lead to frustration for those who are not promoted, so do so with care. Development of individual skills often leads to promotion. It is a positive motivational activity part of training welcomed by salespeople, as opposed to negative activity when training is more concerned with checking up on people, picking holes in their performance and ‘policing’ their movements. Promotion is motivational for three main reasons:

• It may be seen as recognition of past achievement, particularly promotion up the sales scale from, say, salesperson to major account salesperson.

• It indicates personal development on the promoted person’s part.

• It opens up further, wider possibilities for further advancement. You may be disappointed if you fail, but you are doomed if you don’t try – occasional failure is the price for improvement.

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MOTIVATION – THE GREAT EXPONENTS Maslow and the need hierarchy A.H. Maslow‘s theory, dating from 1943, is based on the belief that there are five levels of basic human needs which develop in hierarchical order (see Figure 15): 1. Physiological or primary needs, such as hunger and thirst, which people must satisfy first. 2. Safety and security, involving keeping a roof over one’s head (which in the modern world equates to preoccupation with safeguards against sickness and redundancy). 3. Love, the need to belong (including social needs like relationships with work colleagues). 4. Esteem, which Maslow classified into two as: (a) desire for achievement (b) recognition and appreciation from others. 5. Self-actualisation – the desire to fulfil one’s potential and become everything one is capable of becoming.

Fig. 15. Maslow’s Hierarchy of human needs.

Hygiene factors Studies by Frederick Herzberg on ‘knowledge workers’ showed that they wanted achievement and job satisfaction. This indicates that monetary reward has diminished as a positive incentive. Herzberg placed salary with what he called hygiene factors, which


Fig. 16. Herzberg hygiene factors chart.

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play a lesser part in the motivation process. As can be seen from the chart in Figure 16, these factors have a mainly negative effect of 69 per cent dissatisfaction and only 19 per cent satisfaction, against the 31 per cent and 81 per cent respectively scored by the true motivators. Theory X and Theory Y Douglas McGregor propounds these two ways of managing workers. Theory X works on the assumption that most people are basically lazy and unambitious and so have to be managed with carrot and stick. Without active intervention by management they would be passive – in some cases resistant – to the needs of the organisation. Theory Y assumes that people have a need to work, to strive for achievement and want responsibility, and therefore require little persuasion. But management still need to motivate them, and help them develop and reach their full potential. You will not be surprised that Theory Y is becoming the more favoured choice these days. The managerial grid Behavioural scientists R.R. Blake and J.S. Mouton have translated theory into leadership terms in the form of a grid. One dimension measures concern for those employed and another concern for production. The grid (see Figure 17) provides a theoretical framework against which managers are able to understand their style of organising people to achieve the task. The 1.9 style of management is a relaxed operation which looks after people and values friendly relationships more than productivity. Quite the reverse is the 9.1 style, where management concentrates on the task in hand and regards people as ‘units of production’, ignoring their individual needs. With the 1.1 style there is little concern for people or production. The minimum effort is put in to get the required amount of work done. Style 5.5 is a compromise – a balancing act between people and productivity. The aim is to produce as much as possible without upsetting people. The 9.9 style achieves high productivity by motivating and uniting the efforts of everyone to the common purpose. An awareness of these different grid styles will help you as team leader to analyse your own style of management and vary it to meet the needs of your own staff and the situation.


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Fig. 17. Managerial grid.

Management by objective MBO is a strategy by which the overall plans and objectives of the company are first identified, then broken down into unit objectives and lastly into objectives for individual members of staff. The manager and staff members agree individual objectives, which are then used to measure performance. This goal-setting approach has been criticised because it does not often take into account the development of the team as a whole, and can conflict with the reward system. The philosophy of MBO has been summed up as:

• Agree with me the results I am to achieve. • Give me the opportunity to perform. • Let me know how I am getting on.

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• Give me guidance and training. • Reward me according to my contribution. TO SUM UP

• Boost morale before attempting to motivate your team. • Get rid of dissatisfiers and increase the satisfiers. • Salary counts, but so does job satisfaction. • Encourage, don’t threaten staff to work harder. • Use sales meetings to build team spirit.

9 Controlling and Delegating to the Sales Team THE NEED FOR CONTROL As their leader you must exercise your control of the sales team to achieve your aim. You can control everything you plan, and you must plan everything you want to control. In a nutshell, plan the work and work the plan:

• Set your targets, review periods and opportunity replanning. • Make this data accurate and timely. • Measure deviations, not absolutes. • Measure rather than assess – assess through measurement once you’ve established this.

• Concentrate and control the critical things – worrying about the minor ones is a waste of time and effort.

• Set sensible standards of performance – those that are realistic and achievable.

• Avoid crisis management by giving people enough authority to exercise the right control.

• Motivate your team so that they want to control themselves properly in a self-disciplined way. Once targets, performance standards and review times have been set, make it clear who has what authority and the extent of the control. Ensure that the most economic methods, sound techniques and best practices are employed. See that you are kept in the picture by receiving accountability information in the form of reports, returns, audits, etc. The time to go over things with staff is when the review period is up. Don’t interfere with them before unless the plan is starting to go haywire or is outside acceptable limits. A company’s control and quality systems are a 123

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fair indication of how it is being run. Guard against imposing too tight a control, though, which can have the reverse effect. Sometimes it’s necessary to take another look at objectives, target settings, planning, standards, selection and delegation. Duty is paid for, loyalty is earned. Management by exception This is a style of management in which the manager delegates as many routine matters to individual salespeople as possible. In theory this leaves the manager free to see the wheels run smoothly and deal with any problems out of the norm which arise. Its success depends on the sales team leader being able to set standards for all aspects of all activity in the field and to collect information on actual performance. Corrective action can be taken if necessary variances between performance and objectives have been analysed. We judge sales performance on sales achieved set against targets. But sales figures alone will seldom give you an indication of what could be going wrong. To diagnose the real reasons for any variance you have to ask yourself: 1. What were the objectives? 2. Are we achieving them? 3. If not, why not? Objectives and standards of performance When setting objectives for each activity that leads to attaining the sales target, decide:

• On whom the salesperson should call. • How often. • How appointments are to be obtained (by telephone, visit or initial letter followed by a telephone call).

• How many quotations should be given. • The value of those quotations. • What proportion of quotations should result in orders.

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Failure to attain any one of these standards is usually down to deficiencies in performance by the member of the sales team concerned. It is normally a training problem. By analysing the reasons for success in some areas, you can apply the lessons learned in the less successful ones. Sometimes in taking corrective action you may need to revise the original standards, such as the proportion of quotations expected to result in orders, or the types of business called on. When you have all the facts resulting from a diagnosis of variances, use them to:

• encourage sales people to be self-critical • form a basis for future guidance and training • guide you in giving praise to staff where deserved. Show your sales people that you are continually analysing objectives and standards. If you are not seen to be doing so, the reporting system may be the target of their ridicule and so lose its effectiveness. Sales activity control Many sales managers appraise the performance of their team only by results, in terms of volume or the revenue the sales people produce. They accept that there is a link between a sales person’s activity and the results they obtain. But a problem arises if they attempt to measure that activity. The minimum call rate per day or week that a sales person is expected to achieve is a measurement of activity, but the true measure of sales force activity goes much farther. The possible measurements of sales activity are: (a) Calls during the day, week or month. This is a measurement of the volume or amount of sales activity. It may indicate the quality of a sales person’s planning, but it does not reveal the quality of their work. (b) Conversion ratios. These give a good indication of the quality of a sales person’s work. Selling is, after all, a numbers game. These, for example, are some of the ratios to be considered: the ratio between orders and calls; effective calls and total

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calls; orders and demonstrations; demonstrations and effective calls; quotations and calls; orders and quotations. (c) Averages. These can also give a good idea of the quality of work, such as the average order value, the average gross profit per order, and the average product lines involved in each order. Artificial intelligence is no match for natural stupidity. Improving team performance The importance of sales activity control is evident when we seek to improve team performance. Here are the reasons why you should be monitoring sales activity:

• It enables you to measure the volume and standard of work in quantified terms instead of relying on ‘instinct’.

• Any shortcomings are revealed in good time to enable you to take any corrective action to keep the sales activity on course before negative variances begin to affect results.

• The analysis can reveal if your sales force is the right size and also indicate sales training needs.

• It prevents any danger of over reaction on your part to negative variances. Adverts pull the customer to the product – promotion pushes the product to the customer.

DELEGATION TO DEVELOP THE TEAM In very simple terms, delegation is telling a subordinate what they must do, what they can do and what will happen to them if they do or don’t get it done. When delegating, a sales manager gives members of the team long-range results for them to achieve. They are left to plan their own method of working, controlling resources at their disposal, and making decisions of which they are considered capable. They have freedom of action and, although they may do things differently from the manager, there is no interference. Monitoring


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of their performance takes place only at certain agreed check points. The manager gives help and any necessary correction by means of training and suggestions. There is a clear distinction between delegating and handing out work. Where work is handed out, the sales person is carefully supervised, the manager lays down the method of working and there is little flexibility for making decisions. There is a distinction, too, between delegation and abdication. True delegation involves the manager always being ready to give help and advice when needed, making certain that agreed resources are available, checking performance as agreed, and updating targets where necessary. Abdication is where team members are badly briefed, poorly trained, left to cope with difficult problems by themselves, and few or no checks are made on performance until it is too late. Why delegate? Delegation is necessary because

• No manager can make all the decisions needed in a sales department.

• It leaves the manager free to plan and innovate. • Salespeople are helped to develop their potential. • Specialist skills of individuals are fully used. • Teamwork is strengthened. • Junior members of the team are motivated by joining in the running of the department. Delegation is not trouble free, of course. To start with, anything involving people is difficult. As sales team leader you must guard against reluctance to loosen your grasp of the detail, and an eagerness to interfere, knowing that you can do the job better than your subordinates. Some managers find they still enjoy the technical aspects of the job they left behind on promotion. Others become paranoid, fearing their sales people may pull a fast one or perhaps outshine them. But delegation ensures good people stay with the company because they are being fully used and developed. Where there is

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insufficient delegation, only mediocre staff will remain, standards will drop and in time it really will be impossible to delegate anything. When to delegate Recurring tasks, particularly time-consuming ones, should be delegated as far as possible. These include those duties requiring uninterrupted or lengthy application which make the team leader’s schedule inflexible. Routine decision-making according to predetermined rules, the preparation of reports and organising meetings can be delegated safely to properly trained people. The manager still has to provide leadership, determine main aims and objectives, plan the work, co-ordinate the sales team and communicate with them, developing and training them. There are certain tasks which the manager alone can do and should never be delegated. Skilful delegation by you can compensate for any weaknesses on your part. The assortment of tasks facing most managers these days call for wider skills and abilities than can be found in one person. Carefully planned delegation will make you as a manager more effective, develop staff potential and ensure that you have an adequate deputy to act in your absence. Don’t be one of those executives frightened in case they delegate themselves out of a job. It’s worth remembering that without an adequately trained replacement standing in the wings, your promotion further up the ladder could be held back! What to delegate Changes in an organisation present opportunities for delegation. It is wrong to assume, though, that a new staff member will necessarily be able to do all the jobs their predecessor did. You may well have to take back some of the tasks previously delegated and devote further time to training the new arrival. On no account delegate unpopular tasks to a new staff member. Use the utmost discretion when delegating. Subsequent intervention on your part should be in the nature of a counsellor, rather than the boss. Although you can delegate responsibility


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and authority, accountability remains with you. You are still accountable for the final result.

CHECKLIST

• Do you understand the job you are delegating? Failure to do this could result in abdication.

• Is the work you are delegating appropriate to what the individual is already doing?

• Will it add to their skills and contribute to making their whole job interesting and satisfying?

• Are you confident that they can carry out the task successfully?

• Will they require training? • Have you specified the job carefully in writing, detailing the aims and objectives, resources available and the results expected?

• Have you defined the limits of responsibility and given commensurate authority?

• Are they in no doubt as to the extent of their duties and authority to make decisions and take action?

• Is there mutual agreement on all aspects of the work delegated, including methods of control or measurement and appraisal of results?

• Have you informed others in the company who need to be informed of the responsibility and authority you have delegated?

CASE STUDY Carolyn plays the numbers game Carolyn heads a 30-strong team of sales people, each of whom works 220 days a year, making a total of 6,600 days worked by the sales force over the 12 months. The average daily call rate is 5.6 calls, so 36,960 calls are carried out in the year. Using conversion ratios, Carolyn calculates that the ratio of effective calls to total

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calls is 1:1.6, which means 23,100 effective calls were made. The ratio of orders to effective calls is 1:4.1, so 5,634 orders were obtained. As the average order was worth £406.14, Carolyn does her sums and comes up with sales of £2,288,192 for the year. For the next 12 months Carolyn and her team have been set a budgeted sales figure of £2,860,000 – a 25 per cent increase. Carolyn has not been allowed to increase staffing or receive any increase in market support. Again, using the current year’s figures, Carolyn calculates that she and her team can realistically improve activity by: (a) raising the average call rate from 5.6 to 5.9 per day (b) increasing the ratio of effective calls to total calls from 1:1.6 to 1:1.4 (c) increasing the ratio of orders to effective calls from 1:4.1 to 1:3.8 (d) upping the average order value to £425 from £406.14. This means aiming for 38,940 total calls, 27,814 effective calls, and 7,319 orders bringing in £3,110,776 revenue, which represents a 36 per cent increase over the previous year’s sales. Fill that sales activity pipeline – more going in at the input end should give more at the result end. Then fine tune your activity ratios!

10 Sales Meetings and Feedback SEQUENCE AND STRUCTURE OF MEETINGS Your aim at every sales meeting should be to bring together your sales people, who all share common objectives, and encourage an improved performance from all of them. Don’t let your team look upon it as an opportunity to air their grievances. And it is not a platform for you, their leader, to give orders or issue instructions. A sales meeting is effective only if used for:

• communication • motivation • building team spirit • analysing sales • training • reinforcing individual commitment. Get the timing right Although holding a meeting outside working hours would be ideal, this is not a practical proposition. As with workers in other fields, sales people regard this as an encroachment on their valued leisure time. There is no purpose in getting together an unenthusiastic, resentful group of people with a constant eye on the clock. Give careful thought to arranging a time and day for the meeting when it will least affect the field activities of your team. Meetings that drag on are not popular. Determine the length of the meeting beforehand and keep to it. Plan in breaks if the meeting is going to last more than two hours. Always let everyone know in advance about the meeting, to avoid clashing with other meetings or commitments. Include the following details in the memo you circulate:

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• date of the meeting • starting and closing time • venue • agenda showing subjects to be covered. Tell those expected to provide figures and/or reports what is required of them, so that they can prepare. Progress depends on very unreasonable people. George Bernard Shaw Planning the sequence A good sales meeting proceeds on logical lines. A typical sequence is: 1. Operations and administration – product details, expenses, company cars, distribution problems, problem products, credit control. 2. Performance review – analysis of last month’s sales, past sales activity, competitors’ activity, market intelligence, review of action plan, territory plans. 3. Future objectives – short-term targets and activity levels, launch and development of new products, the latest promotions and advertising campaigns. 4. Sales training and planning – reporting systems, technology and tactics, product training, role-playing, questionnaires, and how objectives are to be achieved. 5. Action plan establishing who has to do what by when, boosting the level of individual and collective team motivation. If a meeting has achieved its purpose, all those present will leave on an enthusiastic high. Organise the pattern of the meeting to ensure that motivational subjects are first on the list, so that the meeting builds up to and ends with a high level of commitment on everyone’s part (see Figure 18). Employing a visual aid during the meeting can be an advantage. Choose one that helps you to:

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Fig. 18. Sales meeting pattern graph.

• increase listener interest in what you are saying • simplify presentation of material • help your sales team form correct impressions • increase their retention of information • interrelate the aspects of a subject. As team leader, you are in charge of the sales meeting. Show authority and confidence. You will have chosen a venue, such as a hotel conference room, which will be free of normal work distractions and interruptions. With your sales people comfortably seated in well-lit, noise-free, properly ventilated surroundings, start the meeting on time. Make your opening remarks sincere, to the point and short. Participation – the motivational agenda If one of your team has a success story to tell, let them address the meeting next. It will start the proceedings on a positive note. It’s also a good idea to get a respected senior salesperson to sum up the

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points covered at the end of the meeting. Keep control throughout and let everyone have a chance to contribute their thoughts and ideas (it’s their meeting, too), but step in the moment discussion begins to stray from the point. Check the agenda and, as each part of your planned programme is completed, tick it off. Keep everything moving along smoothly, avoiding any lulls in the proceedings. Don’t try to cover too many subjects at one meeting to the exclusion of valuable time for questions or discussion. Don’t let the meeting drag on needlessly. Bring it to a conclusion on time and end on a high note. It’s rather like closing the sale. Satisfy yourself that the meeting has achieved its objective. Points to watch for 1. Although minutes should not normally be necessary for a sales meeting, make sure someone is briefed to record all agreed actions by the group or an individual. This function should revolve amongst all the regular participants at the meeting. 2. Ensure that you have ready all the facts and figures you need to back up every assertion you make. 3. Always guide team members’ participation towards what you want to achieve with the meeting. Tie it in with the discussion and never ignore a question or leave it unanswered. 4. Participation is an aid towards achieving your objectives at a meeting, but it is not an objective in itself. 5. Use open questions to involve all members of the sales team. Make sure there are no passengers. 6. Make every individual present feel that you are speaking to them personally by making eye contact with them in turn. It’s too easy to address your remarks to someone who seems to be hanging on your every word. Assumption is the mother of error.

FEEDBACK POST-MEETING Feedback from staff afterwards gives the team leader a useful guide to the planning and conduct of future meetings. To be really useful, feedback has to fulfil the following conditions:


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• You must ask for feedback from your team at the earliest opportunity after the meeting while impressions are still fresh in their minds.

• It has to be solicited rather than imposed, with you as the receiver formulating the kind of questions that will bring the answers you want.

• The needs of both you and your staff must be taken into account. Feedback can be destructive if it serves their needs, but fails to take yours into account.

• It is directed towards things that you can control or change. There is nothing so frustrating as being reminded of some shortcoming over which you have control.

• When feedback is given on behalf of the team, you must have the opportunity to check on the accuracy of the feedback. Is this one person’s impression or an impression shared by other members of the team? Similarly, each member of the team has a right to check on accuracy.

• There must be description rather than evaluation. If team members describe their reactions, you are free to make use of the feedback or not as you see fit. Should they start evaluating action taken, you could feel it necessary to react defensively.

• You have to be clear as to what the sender is actually saying. One way to do this would be to try to rephrase the feedback received to see if it corresponds with what the sender intended.

• The feedback must be specific rather than general. For instance, being informed that you are ‘dictatorial’ is not as useful as learning that ‘you told us of your decision regarding stationery requisition without giving us a chance to air our views.’

• Asking people for feedback on an informal basis is a hit-andmiss affair. Some will be only too willing to respond, but others will ignore your request, pleading pressure of work or conveniently letting it slip their minds. By passing round copies of a special evaluation form at the end of the meeting you can ensure that everyone has a copy and set a date for its return. The form can be simple and along the lines shown in Figure 19.

End of Sales Meeting Evaluation 1. Did you find the sales meeting interesting? Very interesting ❑ Reasonably interesting ❑ In parts ❑ Not very ❑ 2. Do you feel that the team as a whole found the meeting interesting? Very interesting ❑ Reasonably interesting ❑ In parts ❑ Not very ❑ 3. Did you learn any new facts and get any new ideas? Yes, many ❑ Yes, quite a few ❑ Not many ❑ Hardly any ❑ 4. Did the meeting result in you changing any of your previous opinions? Yes, many ❑ Yes, quite a few ❑ Not many ❑ Hardly any ❑ 5. Were your previous opinions confirmed or strengthened? Very much so ❑ Quite a lot ❑ Not a lot ❑ Very little ❑ 6. Do you think the team made progress or accomplished anything as a result of the meeting? It certainly did ❑ It probably did ❑ Doubtful ❑ Nothing ❑ 7. Was there sufficient preparation for the meeting? More than was needed ❑ All that was needed ❑ Needed more ❑ Needed a lot more ❑ 8. Did everyone have enough opportunity to contribute to the discussion? A little too much ❑ All that was needed ❑ Not enough ❑ Lacking altogether ❑ 9. Would the meeting have been better if some subjects had been left off the agenda? Certainly ❑ Perhaps ❑ Very probably ❑ Definitely not ❑ 10. Was the atmosphere at the meeting congenial and interesting? Excellent ❑ Quite good ❑ All right ❑ Not very ❑ 11. Do you have any suggestions for improving future meetings, such as introducing other topics that you think might help you and your fellow sales people?

Fig. 19. End of sales meeting evaluation.


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TO SUM UP

• Hold sales meetings at regular intervals. • Choose a day and time which has the minimum effect on sales activity.

• Select the most suitable venue you can find. • Let people know well in advance to give them time to prepare. • Make sure you have ready all your facts and figures. • Start and finish on time. • Use the meeting to motivate as well as to review progress. • Stick to a logical sequence and leave your team on a ‘high’. • Keep control of the meeting throughout. • Solicit feedback afterwards and act on it where necessary.

11 Sales Reporting, Forecasting and Appraisal SALES PERFORMANCE ANALYSIS Who is doing what/with whom/and why? As sales manager ideally you should know where every member of your team is at a particular time during the day. Unforeseen delays caused by roadworks, heavy traffic, vehicle breakdown, or an appointment overrunning its time throw out of line the most carefully planned schedule, but get staff to phone in and inform you when this happens, so that you can continue to keep track. Each sales person should complete and hand in a weekly Sales Diary sheet, indicating by letter and/or colour code whether the planned visits involve new business, existing or extra business, or are service calls. Periods spent in the office on administration duties and leave days should also be entered (see Figure 20). Don’t maximise profits – optimise them. Optimum body temperature is 98.4°F – maximum body temperature is likely to kill you.

SALES REPORTS Reporting daily, weekly and monthly A balance has to be struck between overburdening staff with unnecessary paperwork to the detriment of actual selling and asking them to provide reports which are of value in compiling the overall sales picture. Sales reports on sales activity and results are necessary because they enable a team leader to control the whole sales operation. They also:

• provide sales facts and figures which help identify trends and aid forecasting 138

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Fig. 20. Sales diary form.

• give a good idea of individual and team performances • focus the minds of sales people filling them in on their objectives and the job in hand

• enable the team leader to maintain control of the whole sales operation. Managers require different information and in this chapter you will find examples of daily, weekly and monthly sales report forms (see Figures 21–26) which will be useful as a foundation on which to build and personalise your own team sales reports. Witness the statistician who drowned crossing a river whose average depth was 3ft.

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Fig. 21. Daily visit report sheet.

Fig. 22. Week ending results.


Fig. 23. Sales person analysis.

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Fig. 23. (cont).

Key performance indicators Sales reports completed by all sales staff should keep the team leader informed by means of key performance indicators (KPI). The actual sales results will mirror the reports and define areas of personal development from team members. Figure 28 shows two analysis reports of one representative’s performance during fourweekly periods which have had KPI extrapolated from them, along with analysis reports from other sales team members, to give the regional averages shown in the third. This type of breakdown, when done regularly, highlights high performance and under-achievement. Rome did not create a great empire by having meetings, they did it by beating the opposition.


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Fig. 24. Contract report.

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Fig. 25. Sales report.


Fig. 26. Weekly activity report.

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Fig. 27. Sales representative activity report.


Fig. 28. Using key performance indicators.

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Personal league tables Keeping monthly new business league tables lets the team leader see at a glance how each sales person is performing and the overall number of new accounts being opened and their total value. It also gives each team member a chance to compare their own performance with others. A simple but effective league table can be set out as follows:

FEBRUARY 2001 Sales executive new business league table Sales executive J. Smith A. N. Other R. Jones A. Newman K. Williams

Territory London E. Midlands W. Yorkshire W. Midlands E. Anglia

Totals:

Companies 22 14 10 9 3

Revenue £10,850 £4,789 £3,500 £2, 920 £790

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£12,849

Each sales representative’s totals can be broken down to show more detailed information such as the name and revenue obtained: Sales executive K. Williams

Territory E. Anglia

Companies XYZ Co ABC (Norwich) Acmecolour

Total revenue

Revenue £250 £350 £190

£790

It’s always easier to decide you cannot do something – decide you can.

FORECASTING – NOT CRYSTAL GAZING Sales forecasting cannot be an exact science, but with actual figures at hand – not ones grabbed out of the air – and past performance for comparison, a reasonable prediction can be made. When checking over past and present forecasts, I am


Fig. 29. Sales forecast report.

149

150


amazed at how many names disappear. Historical comparison is a wonderful thing! A simple form of report is shown in Figure 29. Very focused, it looks four or more months ahead at projected business ‘in the pipeline’. It is broken down into regular or daily business and project or one-off business. The chances of successful closure are weighted by percentage – one ends up with client names, value of business, time scale and the likelihood of success. Beware of the same names appearing month after month and declining percentage of success! Sales forecasting is a good topic for regular in-depth discussion at sales meetings, a useful tool leading to accompanied client visits and coaching opportunities, and is systematic in approach. Everyone makes mistakes – only fools persist in making them.

PERFORMANCE APPRAISAL OBJECTIVES A team leader should meet with individual sales people regularly to review their past performance, agree remedial action needed to sort out any problems and update their objectives if necessary. It’s also an opportunity to see motivation and morale remain high, for without these the rot will set in and sales will suffer. Your objectives for holding an appraisal interview are: (a) To enable you to keep close in touch with your staff and manage through agreed objectives. (b) To give the sales person feedback on how you and the company view them and their work. (c) To offer advice on career progress and prospects. (d) To agree a timetable for the next stage in the sales person’s development. Before each interview determine performance standards to be set, ensuring that these are fair, objective and within the capabilities of the person you are seeing. Be critical by all means, but be understanding and helpful.


151

• Remember: praise/criticism/praise. Let the person leave your office buoyant with enthusiasm, not deflated. Issue them with two copies of the points agreed at the meeting, one to be returned to you, signed, the other to be retained by the interviewee. They should also be allowed to comment in writing about any parts they think need clarifying or amending.

Employee’s Name . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Age . . . . . . . . . . . . . Job title: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Department/branch office: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Length of service in post: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Length of service with Company . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

OVERALL RATING

6

Excellent – an outstanding performance which constantly exceeds requirements in all key areas

5

Substantially above average

4

Above average – a commendable performance which achieves all key aspects of the job

3

Average – a performance which achieves all key aspects of the job

2

Below average – a marginal performance which meets some significant requirements of the job but gives concern in others

Fig. 30. Appraisal form 1.

152


1

Poor – a performance which is consistently below the job requirements

Appraised by: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Date of appriasal: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Employee’s signature: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Reviewed:. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Date copy sent to personnel: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

6 5 4 3 2 1 Ability to learn Extent to which employee can grasp new ideas and techniques Self-confidence Extent to which employee is assertive, decisive and willing to direct others Analysis and planning How well does job holder analyse, plan and organise against objectives? Ability to communicate Clarity of speech and writing, plus ability to tailor communication according to the receiver Problem-solving How well the employee balances the judgement of facts in problems and making decisions

Fig. 30. (cont.)

Comments


6 5 4 3 2 1

Comments

Managing relationships How well the holder of the post makes and maintains effective personal relationships at all levels Attitude and flexibility Willingness to move on to new tasks, accept changes in the job and to adopt and run with new ideas Leadership How effective is the holder of the post in motivating those under them and developing their skills? Appearance How appropriate to the job? Total number of ticks in each column Multiplied x rating

TOTAL POINTS ÷ 10 =

Extent to which the employee has reached or surpassed objectives set at last appraisal review

Fig. 30. (cont.)

153

Overall Rating

Rate 1 to 6

154


Date of Appraisal 1 Planning Preparation (a) Information (b) Sales tools (c) Action plan 2 Approach (a) Opening remarks (b) Sales aids 3 Presentation (a) Product knowledge (b) Selling benefits (c) Buyer benefits (d) Buying motives (e) Sales aids (f) Handling objections (g) Selling sequence 4 Closing the sale (a) Buying signals (b) Closing (c) Departure 5 Call analysis (a) Records and reports (b) Information (c) Self-analysis 6 Territory management (a) Use of selling time (b) Competitors’ activities (c) Territory devleopment 7 Personal (a) Appearance (b) Attitude Appraiser’s Signature

Fig. 31. Appraisal form 2.


Standard

155

1 Planning preparation

Above standard

Needs Improvement

(a) Information

Has all the relevant Has most of the Has some relevant information for every relevant information information for most call for every call calls

(b) Sales tools

Always carries all relevant equipment, stationery, etc

Invariably carries some relevant equipment, stationery, etc

(c) Action plan

Always prepares detailed action plans

Invariably prepares Often prepares an an action plan action plan

(a) Opening remarks

Always gains attention by using opening phrases and ‘benefit’ statements

Occasionally fails to gain attention by not using skilful opening phrases and ‘benefit’ statements

(b) Sales aids

Always uses sales aids where appropriate

Often uses a sales aid in approach

Often carries some relevant equipment, stationery, etc

2 Approach Seldom uses skilful opening phrases and ‘benefit’ statements

3 Presentation (a) Product knowledge

Fully conversant with Well informed all products and about all products applications and applications

Knows some selling points for most products

(b) Selling points

Knows and uses all selling points for all products

Knows most selling points for all products

Knows some selling points for most products

(c) Buyer benefits

Always translates selling points into benefits

Occasionally fails to translate selling points into benefits

Sometimes translates selling points into benefits

(d) Buying motives

Always makes presentation appeal to buyer’s motives

Occasionally fails to Often fails to make make presentation presentation appeal to appeal to buyer’s buyer’s motives motives

(e) Sales aids

Always uses them to maximum advantage

Always uses them, often to maximum advantage

Sometimes uses sales aids to advantage

(f) Handling objections

Always handles objections successfully, leaving the buyer satisfied

Handles most objections successfully, leaving leaving the buyer satisfied

Handles some objections successfully, but does not always leave the buyer satisfied

(g) Selling sequence

Always uses correct sequence

Often uses correct sequence

Seldom uses correct sequence

Always recognises and acts upon buying signals

Occasionally fails to Often fails to recognise recognise and act and act upon buying upon buying signals signals

4 Closing the sale (a) Buying signals

Fig. 31. (cont.)

156


Above standard

Standard

Needs Improvement

(b) Closing

Always closes down Occasionally fails to Often fails to close and gets commitment close down and get down and get commitment commitment

(c) Departure

Always thanks, reassures or questions the buyer as appropriate`

Occasionally fails to thank, reassure or question the buyer as appropriate

(a) Records and reports

Always completed accurately, promptly and up to date

Occasionally fails to Always completed, but complete accurately, not always accurate, promptly and up to prompt and up to date date

(b) Information

Always records information for future use

Occasionally fails to Sometimes records record information information for for future use future use

(c) Self-analysis

Invariably analyses personal performance

Often analyses personal performance

Seldom analyses personal performance

(a) Use of selling time

Plans very carefully and wastes no time

Plans carefully and wastes little time

Poor planning. Wastes time on unnecessary journeys and visits

(b) Competitors’ activities

Actively seeks relevant information and keeps everybody informed

Generally good at reporting information

Seldom reports competitor activity

(c) Territory Development

Constantly active and opening new accounts in addition to developing existing accounts

Develops existing accounts and occasinally opens new accounts

Inclined to concentrate on existing business too long. Poor at seeking out new opportunities

(a) Appearance

Always exceptionally well turned out, and a credit to the company

Always well turned out, and a credit to the company

Not always well turned out and could be more of a credit to the company

(b) Attitude

Always expresses a positive attitude towards the company its products, policies and its customers

Occasionally fails to express a positive attitude towards the company, its products, policies and its customers

Often expresses a negative attitude towards the company, its products, policies and its customers

Often fails to thank, reassure or question the buyer as appropriate

5 Call analysis

6 Territory management

7 Personal

8 Other Relevant Points

Fig. 31. (cont.)

Name: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Attitudes to work Date Flexibility – readiness to adopt new ideas Implementation – changes in job procedure Enthusiasm Humour Determination Self-discipline Postive attitude Empathy with customers Punctuality/time keeping Overall attendance Impact/manner/appearance Integrity Confidence/assertiveness Loyalty to company Patience Decisiveness Motivation Initiative Creativity – ideas/solutions Dependability Approachability Courtesy

Knowledge Products Market Competition Customer Company Technical – phone/computer Finance/profitability Territory planning Buying motives Selling benefits Fig. 32. Appraisal form 3.

Handling objections Buying signals Closing the sale

Skills Co-operation with colleagues Working with other departments Effective managing of relationships Accuracy of result Productivity/actioning Literacy Numeracy Communication – clear and tailored to recipient Negotiating Public speaking Presentation Letter writing Planning/prioritisation Diplomacy Information collating Problem-solving Judgement/decision-making Analysis/interpretation (facts, figures, opinions) Customer relations (approach and retention) Handling difficult phone calls/complaints Filing and upkeep of records/reports Overall quality of work Overall quantity of work Skills at helping and developing new staff A = Well above requirements; B = Above acceptability;

C = Acceptable for job (relative to job experience); D = Barely acceptable; E = Below acceptability.

Fig. 32. (cont.)

Sales Reporting, Forecasting and Appraisal 159

Fig. 33. Guide to employee performance appraisal – humerous hints.

160 Drive a Great Sales Team

Fig. 34. Useful hints for the manager when filing in staff reports.


161

APPRAISAL FORMS I have included at the end of this chapter two appraisal forms which I have found very useful (Figures 30, 31 and 32). One focuses on attitudes, knowledge and skills, while the second concentrates on highlighting areas for development. I have added two other ‘guides’ to appraisals in a more frivolous vein (Figures 33 and 34).

TO SUM UP

• Ensure you know what each sales-person is doing, with whom and why.

• Keep up to date with daily, weekly and monthly sales reports and make sure your team completes them on time.

• Look for key performance indicators (KPI). • Forecast sales with figures you can rely on – don’t crystal gaze. • Hold appraisal interviews with all staff at least every six months.

• Be honest and critical, but temper it with understanding and advice.

• Keep individual motivation and team morale high. • Remember the golden rule: praise – criticise – praise.

12 It Ain’t Necessarily So A collection of not altogether positive ideas.

• Only the meetings they can’t start without you are the ones worth attending. (Kevin Spacey, Swimming with Sharks)

• A person who smiles in the face of adversity . . . has not understood the situation or has a scapegoat.

• Teamwork . . . means never having to take all the blame yourself.

• If at first you don’t succeed, teach management. • Eagles may soar, but weasels don’t get sucked into jet engines. • Go the extra mile. It makes your boss look like an incompetent slacker.

• Indecision is the key to flexibility. • If you can stay calm, while all around you is chaos . . . then you probably haven’t completely understood the situation.

• Never put off until tomorrow what you can avoid altogether. • The toes you tread on today could belong to the feet that walk over you tomorrow.

• Doing a job right the first time gets the job done. Doing the job wrong 14 times gives you job security.

• It’s not just a question of starting at the bottom, but the right bottom.

• Customers are perishable, and no customer can be worse than no customer.

• Getting forgiveness is easier than obtaining permission. • If you can manage to break even, you at least get another opportunity. 162

It Ain’t Necessarily So . . .

163

• The trouble with self-made people is that they worship their creator.

• Mediocracy is self-inflicted, genius is self-bestowed. • The beatings will continue until morale improves. • The more I practise – the luckier I get. (Nick Faldo) • Hang in there. Retirement is only 30 years away! • Nothing matters very much, and in the end, very little matters at all. (Balfour)

FINAL THOUGHTS ON BEING A WINNER THE WINNER . . .

THE LOSER . . .

. . . listens

. . . waits their turn to talk

. . . works harder and still has time

. . . is always under pressure mentally

. . . does what’s important

. . . does what’s urgent

. . . solves a problem directly

. . . goes round a problem and never really solves it

. . . feels strong enough to be friendly

. . . is rarely friendly

. . . gets commitment from people

. . . promises before thinking

. . . feels responsible for more than just their own work

. . . says, ‘I work here’

. . . respects those more clever and tries to learn from them

. . . doesn’t recognise others’ strengths but tries to find their weaknesses

. . . uses time to improve

. . . uses time to avoid criticism

. . . sets their own pace

. . . has two speeds – apathetic and hysterical

. . . focuses on possibilities

. . . focuses on problems

. . . explains

. . . explains away

. . . isn’t afraid of making mistakes in order to improve

. . . refrains from doing something for fear of making a mistake or what others will say

. . . focuses on solutions

. . . focuses on excuses

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Further Reading GENERAL How To Be An Even Better Manager, Michael Armstrong (Kogan Page, 1988) Managing Individual Performance, Kieran Baldwin (How To Books, 1999) Managing Performance Reviews, Nigel Hunt (How To Books, 1999) Managing Through People, John Humphries (How To Books, 1998) The Management Handbook, Arthur Young (Sphere Books, 1986) Organising Effective Training, James Chalmers (How To Books, 1996) First Time Manager, Joan Iaconetti & Patrick O’Hara (MacMillan, 1985)

COMMUNICATION SKILLS IN BUSINESS Mastering Business English, Michael Bennie (How To Books, 1998) Mastering Public Speaking, Ann Nicholls (How To Books, 1998) Publish a Newsletter, Graham Jones (How To Books, 1995) Writing a Press Release, Peter Bartram (How To Books, 1999) Writing a Report, John Bowden (How To Books, 1997)

RECRUITMENT Recruiting for Results, Steve Kneeland (How To Books, 1999)

TEAMS AND LEADERSHIP Effective Problem-Solving, Steve Kneeland (How To Books, 1999) 165

166


Managing Successful Teams, John Humphries (How To Books, 1998) Not Bosses But Leaders, John Adair (Kogan Page, 1981) Teamwork, Vincent Nolan (Sphere, 1987)

ORGANISING YOURSELF Getting Things Done: The ABC of Time Management, Edwin C Biss (Warner Publications) 10-Minute Time and Stress Management, Dr David Lewis (Piatkus)

MARKETING & PROMOTION Effective Negotiating, C Robinson (Kogan Page, 1995) How to Do Your Own PR, Ian Phillipson (How To Books, 1995) Making Direct Mail Work, Peter Arnold (How To Books, 1999) Managing Your Sales Team, John Humphries (How To Books, 2nd edition, 1999) The Secrets of Effective Direct Mail, John Fraser-Robinson (McGraw-Hill, London 1989) The Secrets of Successful Copywriting, Patrick Quinn (Heinemann, London) Seductive Selling, Kit Sadgrove (Kogan Press) Total Confidence, Philippa Davies (Piatkus) Writing to Sell, The Complete Guide to Copywriting for Business, Kit Sadgrove (Robert Gale, London 1991) How to Plan Direct Mail, I Maitland (Cassell, 1995) How to Sell a Service, Malcolm McDonald and John Leppart (Heinemann, 1986) How to Win Customers, Heinz Goldman (Plan, London 1980) Selling, P Allen (Pitman Publishing, 1991) Selling to the Public Sector, Jim Green (How To Books, 2000) Successful Marketing for the Small Business, Dave Patten (Kogan Page) Successful Negotiation, R Maddox (Kogan Page, 1988) Writing a Report, John Bowden (How To Books, 4th edition 1997)

Useful Addresses PROFESSIONAL BODIES Advertising Association, 15 Wilton Road, London SW1V 1LT. Tel: (020) 7828 2771. Association of Conference Executives, Riverside House, High Street, Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire PE18 6SG. Tel: (01480) 457595. Fax: (01480) 411341. Chartered Institute of Marketing, Moor Hall, Cookham, Berkshire SL6 9QH. Tel: (01628) 524922. Fax: (01628) 522104. The leading professional body in the UK for marketing and sales executives. Training services are provided by a division of the Institute, CIM Marketing Training. Communications, Advertising & Marketing Foundation, Abford House, 15 Wilton Road, London SW1V 1NJ. Tel: (020) 7828 7506. Fax: (020) 7936 5140. Industrial Marketing Research Association, 11 Bird Street, Lichfield, Staffordshire WS13 6PW. Tel: (01543) 263448. Fax (01543) 250929. Institute of Direct Marketing, 1 Park Road, Teddington, Middlesex, TW11 0AR. Tel: (020) 8977 5705. Fax: (020) 8943 2535. Email: [email protected] Website: www.theidm.com Institute of Export, 64 Clifton Street, London EC2A 4HB. Tel: (020) 7247 9812. Institute of Personnel Management, IPM House, Camp Road, Wimbledon, London SW19 4UX. Tel: (020) 8946 9100. Institute of Practitioners in Advertising, 44 Belgrave Square, London SW1X 8QR. Tel: (020) 7235 7020. Institute of Public Relations, 15 Northburgh Street, London EC1V 0AH. Tel: (020) 7253 5151. The Institute of Sales & Marketing Management, Romeland House, Romeland Hill, St Albans, Hertfordshire, AL3 4ET. Tel: (01727) 812500. Fax: (01727) 812525. Email: [email protected] Website: www.ismm.co.uk Institute of Sales Promotion, Arena House, 66–68 Pentonville 167

168


Road, Islington, London N1 9HS. Tel: (020) 7837 5340. Fax: (020) 7837 5326. Email: [email protected] Website: www.isp.org.uk Sales Promotion Consultants Association, 47 Margaret Street, 2nd Floor, London W1W 8SD. Tel: (020) 7580 8225. Fax: (020) 7580 8189. Email: [email protected] Website: www.spca.org.uk Industrial Society, 48 Bryanston Square, London W1. Tel: (020) 7479 1000.

Index acceptance, 25 aggression, 22 aims, 15 communicating the message, 109 communication, 16, 105 confidence, 26 consideration, 25 control, 123, 125 courage, 25 customer audits, 99 decision-making, 43 delegation, 127 effective speaking, 106 effective writing, 107 emptiness, 23 experience, 13 external image, 11 failure, 21 feedback (sales meetings), 134 forcasting (sales), 148 frustration, 22 Herzberg, F., 118 image, 11, 12 imagination, 15 impression, 11 individual (sales training), 70 induction (new staff), 67

information flow, 16, 102 insecurity, 23 interuption, 32 interview (evaluation), 61 interviews, 58, 59, 62 job specification (sales person), 53 kerbside conference, 81 key performance indicators, 142 leadership, 37 learning process, 14 letter (of appointment), 64 letters (sales proposals), 86, 89 letter writing, 87 loneliness, 23 losers, 63 managment by exception, 121, 124 management by objective, 121 management (plans), 34, 46 management (style), 33 managerial grid, 120 Maslow, A. H., 118 McGregor, D., 120 morale (boosting), 111 motivation, 112, 117 negotiating not selling, 92 negotiating strategies, 95 169

170


negotiating techniques, 96 objectivity, 12, 15 offer (of employment), 64 participation (motivation), 133 perception, 16 performance improvement, 126 performance standards, 124, 150 personality, 27 planning, 16 planning (sales meetings), 132 positive, 25, 27, 28 problem analysis, 42, 44 proposals (sales), 86, 88 recruitment, 55 relationships, 17 reporting (sales), 145 resentment, 23 respect, 36 sales analysis, 128

sales meetings, 136 sales persons (role), 52 selection (recruitment), 57 self-esteem, 26 self-motivation, 23 standards, 82 stress (interviews), 63 success, 14, 24 supervision (do’s and don’ts), 115 survival, 18 team briefings, 108 thinking (negative), 13 training (after call), 81 training (classroom), 75 training (field), 78 training (hints), 77 training (new staff), 67 training (sequence), 68, 79 uncertainty, 23 winners, 163

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