Capstone Sales Development Blog

Posted by Charles Ingram @ 11:30 a.m. 7/21/09

There are times when you just shouldn’t start a sales training program. Sounds rather counter-productive for me to say that, doesn’t it?  

In talking to prospective clients, I’m always struck by the things that scare them and the things that don’t. Many of those who’ve called us have done so because someone they know has said, “Capstone did this great training program for our sales team, and now our team is pursuing new business more purposefully, methodically, and with an increased energy…”   So the discussion starts with some variant of “I want what they got.”  

Then follows my explanation that the reason sales training worked so well is that it was the “outgrowth” of a thorough process in which we first evaluated the people, systems, and strategies of that other company. I tell the prospect that we’d be happy to begin that process with him as well. If in that process we find that a training program for his front-line sales people would be beneficial, we’ll get it started right away.  

In far too many instances, you’d have thought we killed his dog. The CEO then counters with variations of:   “Can’t you just take my word that we need training? I already know we have great people; they just need some new tricks they can use in the field.” Or, “I’m sure it’s not a management problem. The manager we have now was the best salesperson this company ever had.”  

This type of resistance makes me wonder:  Why would a company trust us to use a scalpel on the sales team but not a stethoscope?  

Even in exploratory surgery, there is some plan being followed. Hours of research and diagnostic time are spent. The surgeon doesn’t just start cutting and hope he finds what’s ailing you.  

In the case of an underperforming sales organization, a good training program can be an important step on the road to improvement, but think of the issues it can’t address:   
     ·Poor communication of the overall vision 
     ·Misalignment of the executive and management strategies 
     ·Misunderstood company priorities 
     ·Ineffective sales management 
     ·Sales people who are not trainable    

Sales training without an understanding of what ails your organization will at best be inefficient and at worst ineffective. You work too hard for your capital to have those as the only options.  

If your surgeon says to you “I don’t know what’s wrong with you; let me try some surgery and we’ll see how you feel afterwards,” — don’t let him get near you with a scalpel!  

So, what do you think? Do you agree that using a stethoscope to diagnose your sales organization is the right first step to improving your sales team? Or would you go for the scalpel first and hope the training works?  

Posted by Jim Lee on Monday, July 6, 2009 @ 9:45 a.m.

You would think that setting sales objectives for the year would be simple. After all, how much sales experience or expertise does it take to know what has to be done the next 12 months, especially since our objectives and sales quotas are frequently assigned to us by our managers?

However, my experience is that the opposite is true. Maybe it’s a fear of raising the bar too high. Maybe we’re afraid if our managers knew just how low we want the bar set it would cost us credibility. Or maybe we’ve never realized just how useful the exercise can be to managing our business.

The primary purpose of setting sales objectives is to provide a performance yardstick and roadmap. Properly set objectives allow us to continuously gauge whether we’re on the right track and targeting all our efforts in the right direction. They should help us prioritize our time and energy each and every day.

The trick, of course, is to ensure we’re measuring the right aspects of our business. We must ensure that we’re being held responsible (or at least accountable) for only those activities that lead to the accomplishment of our goals. Here is an easy acronym to remember to keep your goal-setting on track. Objectives should be:

Specific. An objective that is vague (e.g. I want to develop a better working relationship with the buyer at my biggest account) might appear to be easier to achieve, but it is also almost impossible to quantify. How will you measure it? How will you be able to say with any certainty that it’s been accomplished? Instead, a more specific objective might be, “I want to be the vendor chosen to lead the category business review.”

Measureable. An important element of specificity is measurability. It not only allows you to determine whether you were successful at the end of the year, but just as importantly allows you to track results during the course of the year. If you’ve just closed the books on the first quarter, you need to be able to tell whether you’re at least close to 25% of the way to success. For example, an objective that only says you want to grow the business at your biggest customer is difficult to measure. To decide to grow the business by 10% vs. the previous year at your biggest customer allows you to know exactly where you stand at any time.

Achievable. Setting an audacious goal might be laudable, but it might also set you up to fail. You’re probably not going to double your business with your biggest customer in tough economic times. On the other hand, a 5% increase might be just enough to keep you properly challenged.

Consistent. You wouldn’t want to set an objective to grow your widget business if the rest of your company is focused on gadgets. Or, if the strength of your multi-faceted business is clothing, that’s where you want to focus the majority of your time and effort. All your objectives should align with your ultimate goals and strengths.

Objectives should be SMAC – Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Consistent. This will improve the odds of your and your organization’s success.