My views and My Thoughts
By Richard Dillard
Everything changes and gets old, except one thing- connecting with people.
We communicate our values and expectations in everything we do, and in everything we don't do. It's my job as a senior manager to stay connected and see that the sales force gets the right signals and stays on course to meet the organization's financial objectives.
I successfully accomplish that by continuing to be a producer as well as a manager.
Once the sales management infra-structure is in place to support sales, sales management isn't over. It's just beginning. Someone has to manage the sales processes.
We need a vision- for instance
Vision Statement like:
Ignited by an empowered staff
We create unique and compelling experiences
That actively attract clients
And keep them coming back
Building richer lives for our staff
Our clients
And our communities
- West Community Credit Union
We must communicate the company's objectives, expectations, preferred way of selling, performance results, and rewards- in other words, someone has to manage the process.
We must continually refine techniques and improving processes.
We must help create good habits.
About me
I have a unique combination technical skills, energy, intellect, fire in the belly from beliefs, and the emotional intelligence that make helping others natural to me- I am a puzzle solver.
I naturally break down information to be more easily understood.
Weakness
There's no on-going criticism. I am always trying to improve and welcome the opportunity to improve.
Strength
I like to help others and make a profit doing so.
I have a natural tendency to consider new solutions, solve the puzzle.
I’m always ready to learn new skills and adapt my methods to become better at what I do.
Character/Personality Traits
I’m thoughtful, disciplined, respectful and reliable. I have a good sense of humor, am a contributor and a great team player.
I pride myself on my customer service skills and my ability to resolve what could be difficult situations.
My views on Motivation
Sales management isn't about motivating salespeople. It's about removing obstacles that de-motivate them.
Sales and motivation can't be forced or intellectually taught, it becomes congruent from a person's personal achievement drive. Occasional “One to One” coaching brings together an alignment of a person's belief system and sales. Occasional is used because good sales people don’t like to feel “micro-managed”.
Employees want be considered and treated as members of a team, working together for personal and company goals. Coach them instead of manage.
Motivation comes from different things for different people, more responsibility, financial, time off- carve incentives to match employee- incentive pool.
Know their view of selling, view of abilities, commitment to activities, values, and belief in products will help match their belief system with our vision.
Why Coaching
Mistakes are training issues. More mistakes are coaching opportunities.
Training is the what, coaching is the how and the why.
Once good performance is clearly defined, coaching becomes primarily goal setting and feedback.
My coaching style
· Help the salesperson define a vision for themselves
· Merge that vision with ours
· Set short and long term, personal and professional goals
· Develop and implement specific plans to reach those goals
· Learn to identify negative behaviors that sabotage performance.
My coaching style will help to:
· To assess perceptions, beliefs, judgments and expectations, our market, our company and our competition in relation to interaction with clients.
· To maintain a healthy self-concept and keep your self-esteem and confidence intact.
· To create new strategies to uncover information without making the client uncomfortable and quickly determine client needs and qualifications.
· To discover and learn “painless” ways to prospect for new customers and get referrals without the stress normally associated with this task.
Continued Education
If I become aware of a weakness in my knowledge base or in the way I perform my duties, I seek formal training, informal training, or input directly from my colleagues.
Effective training requires repetition and reinforcement. For instance, people are more apt to learn what they experience than what they hear. It’s not about a one day seminar and then you cross your fingers hoping everyone will improve. Just like learning a sport or a musical instrument, it takes a series of lessons and practices to create the good habits.
Sales
Traditional approaches to selling and negotiating have always been based on exploitative and manipulative behaviors. Over used closes, outdated one liners, and so called win-win strategies, have created an environment of mistrust and vulnerability for both sides of the negotiation.
Sales’ planning involves translating product goals into sales goals, determining the priority markets and target customers that offer the greatest potential. To support the goals, we must identifying key sales skills and activities that are the most critical when calling on markets and customers.
Sales planning must include a buy-in, or commitment process, designed to help managers get input from the staff regarding their goals, markets, customers, and activities.
Process over numbers
Adherence to a preferred sales process is on the same level of importance as numbers, knowing that if they work the process well, the numbers will be there. Most companies reward short term profitability at the expense of sales process thus sending a message to all managers that the process doesn't count. Banking is one of the few industries in which managers usually aren't appraised and rewarded for development of their personnel.
“Selling" the Sales Process
Managers need to be selling their mission and their expectations to sales unit managers in quarterly sales meetings. Most sales leaders are often far removed from the sales force which is a barrier to modeling of best practices and to "selling" the preferred sales process, the sales mission, and what achieving the mission means for frontline employees.
Selling Smarter Will Improve profits
Credit unions are outselling many of their large bank competitors and sustaining customer loyalty with true portfolio management of their best customers and with proactive, "hands on" direction of their employees by their senior managers. We need to manage the sales process, not the sales people.
Also, if we have a limited budget for sales incentives I strongly urge consolidation of those dollars to create a strong compensation plan for sales supervisors. If they’re motivated, they'll find a way to motivate others- see motivation above.
Workforce Focus
Simple, but not "easy". It requires the time, focus and proactive leadership of senior managers and development of an integrated sales management infrastructure that will provide sustainable gains in sales.
The scale and focus for senior executives is to provide the "hands on" sales leadership that can change an organization almost overnight to capitalize on the weakness of their competitors. Again, I am talikng about managing the sales process, not the sales people.
It's the sales manager's job to see that the sales force gets the right signals and stays on course to meet the organization's financial objectives. There will always be up markets and down markets, but the overall trend needs to be up.
Sales managers have to sell their ideas in the same way they sell their products. They have to "sell" selling and peak performance to the sales force.
Most sales managers spend too much time supervising their employees and too little time supporting them. The only time most salespeople hear from their sales managers is when they foul up.
Sales management provides controls on the sales climate, but talking with your sales people adds a common vision that unleashes energy and motivation.
Since most financial institutions have a strong service culture and many of their employees have fears about being viewed as "pushy salespeople" by their clients if they adopt a sales culture. It’s effective for sales managers to position "selling" in their sales communications as a step up in excellence in service. Good sales organizations don't avoid using the word "sales." They simply redefine selling as a helping process.
To solidify sales as a regular way of doing business rather than as a "program" that will eventually go away, sales should also be positioned in communications as a permanent, step-by-step process of serving clients better. The goal is to foster a pervasive attitude that customers come first and that selling is important, expected and the way to get rewarded.
SELLING THE SALES MISSION
• Constantly use the word "sales" in communications.
• Integrate the company's marketing research data and strategic objectives with your sales training.
• Sell the sales force on rallying behind a competitive lead product that they really believe in.
• Name the sales process so employees won't label it as a "program."
• Emphasize sales and service expectations and values to new hires during their orientation.
• Assign senior executives a small portfolio of key members to contact periodically along with the assigned sales representative.
• Constantly remind everyone of what the organization believes in by pinpointing and magnifying select sales and service incidents in speeches and memos.
• Constantly stress value rather than price.
• Arrange for the senior managers to spend time in highly visible sales activity such as making sales calls, attending sales meetings, reviewing sales reports, and meeting personally with top sales performers.
SETTING GOALS THAT WILL BE PERCEIVED AS REALISTIC, FAIR AND MOTIVATING
• Provide employees with historical performance data to support recommended goal levels
• Negotiate goals with sales unit managers and employees to the extent possible
• Customize goals based on market area potential
• Customize goals based on individual skills, experience, and opportunity
• Limit goal categories to no more than 3-5 per employee. Too many goal categories will overwhelm employees.
Peak performers spend more sales time on calls building relationships, solving "nonfinancial" problems and getting information than in giving information.
The best sales people sell relationships, not products.
GIVE THE ORGANIZATION THE FEEL OF SUCCESS¨
Developing a sales organization is simple, but it's not easy.
The difficult part is gaining the commitment of our sales leaders to reinforce our Preferred Way of Selling¨ every month, every week, every day.
If we give our organization a repeatable process for success in selling, we can give every employee in our organization “The Feel of Success¨.
Everything changes and gets old, except one thing- connecting with people.
We communicate our values and expectations in everything we do, and in everything we don't do. It's my job as a senior manager to stay connected and see that the sales force gets the right signals and stays on course to meet the organization's financial objectives.
I successfully accomplish that by continuing to be a producer as well as a manager.
Once the sales management infra-structure is in place to support sales, sales management isn't over. It's just beginning. Someone has to manage the sales processes.
We need a vision- for instance
Vision Statement like:
Ignited by an empowered staff
We create unique and compelling experiences
That actively attract clients
And keep them coming back
Building richer lives for our staff
Our clients
And our communities
- West Community Credit Union
We must communicate the company's objectives, expectations, preferred way of selling, performance results, and rewards- in other words, someone has to manage the process.
We must continually refine techniques and improving processes.
We must help create good habits.
About me
I have a unique combination technical skills, energy, intellect, fire in the belly from beliefs, and the emotional intelligence that make helping others natural to me- I am a puzzle solver.
I naturally break down information to be more easily understood.
Weakness
There's no on-going criticism. I am always trying to improve and welcome the opportunity to improve.
Strength
I like to help others and make a profit doing so.
I have a natural tendency to consider new solutions, solve the puzzle.
I’m always ready to learn new skills and adapt my methods to become better at what I do.
Character/Personality Traits
I’m thoughtful, disciplined, respectful and reliable. I have a good sense of humor, am a contributor and a great team player.
I pride myself on my customer service skills and my ability to resolve what could be difficult situations.
My views on Motivation
Sales management isn't about motivating salespeople. It's about removing obstacles that de-motivate them.
Sales and motivation can't be forced or intellectually taught, it becomes congruent from a person's personal achievement drive. Occasional “One to One” coaching brings together an alignment of a person's belief system and sales. Occasional is used because good sales people don’t like to feel “micro-managed”.
Employees want be considered and treated as members of a team, working together for personal and company goals. Coach them instead of manage.
Motivation comes from different things for different people, more responsibility, financial, time off- carve incentives to match employee- incentive pool.
Know their view of selling, view of abilities, commitment to activities, values, and belief in products will help match their belief system with our vision.
Why Coaching
Mistakes are training issues. More mistakes are coaching opportunities.
Training is the what, coaching is the how and the why.
Once good performance is clearly defined, coaching becomes primarily goal setting and feedback.
My coaching style
· Help the salesperson define a vision for themselves
· Merge that vision with ours
· Set short and long term, personal and professional goals
· Develop and implement specific plans to reach those goals
· Learn to identify negative behaviors that sabotage performance.
My coaching style will help to:
· To assess perceptions, beliefs, judgments and expectations, our market, our company and our competition in relation to interaction with clients.
· To maintain a healthy self-concept and keep your self-esteem and confidence intact.
· To create new strategies to uncover information without making the client uncomfortable and quickly determine client needs and qualifications.
· To discover and learn “painless” ways to prospect for new customers and get referrals without the stress normally associated with this task.
Continued Education
If I become aware of a weakness in my knowledge base or in the way I perform my duties, I seek formal training, informal training, or input directly from my colleagues.
- Stark and Assoc Executive Briefing
- Schneider News Letter
- Missouri Small Business Alliance/ Economic Development Alliance
- Missouri Quality Award
- CUNA Resource Link
- Industry magazines
- Sales magazines
- SBA
- EDC
- BNI
Effective training requires repetition and reinforcement. For instance, people are more apt to learn what they experience than what they hear. It’s not about a one day seminar and then you cross your fingers hoping everyone will improve. Just like learning a sport or a musical instrument, it takes a series of lessons and practices to create the good habits.
Sales
Traditional approaches to selling and negotiating have always been based on exploitative and manipulative behaviors. Over used closes, outdated one liners, and so called win-win strategies, have created an environment of mistrust and vulnerability for both sides of the negotiation.
Sales’ planning involves translating product goals into sales goals, determining the priority markets and target customers that offer the greatest potential. To support the goals, we must identifying key sales skills and activities that are the most critical when calling on markets and customers.
Sales planning must include a buy-in, or commitment process, designed to help managers get input from the staff regarding their goals, markets, customers, and activities.
Process over numbers
Adherence to a preferred sales process is on the same level of importance as numbers, knowing that if they work the process well, the numbers will be there. Most companies reward short term profitability at the expense of sales process thus sending a message to all managers that the process doesn't count. Banking is one of the few industries in which managers usually aren't appraised and rewarded for development of their personnel.
“Selling" the Sales Process
Managers need to be selling their mission and their expectations to sales unit managers in quarterly sales meetings. Most sales leaders are often far removed from the sales force which is a barrier to modeling of best practices and to "selling" the preferred sales process, the sales mission, and what achieving the mission means for frontline employees.
Selling Smarter Will Improve profits
Credit unions are outselling many of their large bank competitors and sustaining customer loyalty with true portfolio management of their best customers and with proactive, "hands on" direction of their employees by their senior managers. We need to manage the sales process, not the sales people.
Also, if we have a limited budget for sales incentives I strongly urge consolidation of those dollars to create a strong compensation plan for sales supervisors. If they’re motivated, they'll find a way to motivate others- see motivation above.
Workforce Focus
Simple, but not "easy". It requires the time, focus and proactive leadership of senior managers and development of an integrated sales management infrastructure that will provide sustainable gains in sales.
The scale and focus for senior executives is to provide the "hands on" sales leadership that can change an organization almost overnight to capitalize on the weakness of their competitors. Again, I am talikng about managing the sales process, not the sales people.
It's the sales manager's job to see that the sales force gets the right signals and stays on course to meet the organization's financial objectives. There will always be up markets and down markets, but the overall trend needs to be up.
Sales managers have to sell their ideas in the same way they sell their products. They have to "sell" selling and peak performance to the sales force.
Most sales managers spend too much time supervising their employees and too little time supporting them. The only time most salespeople hear from their sales managers is when they foul up.
Sales management provides controls on the sales climate, but talking with your sales people adds a common vision that unleashes energy and motivation.
Since most financial institutions have a strong service culture and many of their employees have fears about being viewed as "pushy salespeople" by their clients if they adopt a sales culture. It’s effective for sales managers to position "selling" in their sales communications as a step up in excellence in service. Good sales organizations don't avoid using the word "sales." They simply redefine selling as a helping process.
To solidify sales as a regular way of doing business rather than as a "program" that will eventually go away, sales should also be positioned in communications as a permanent, step-by-step process of serving clients better. The goal is to foster a pervasive attitude that customers come first and that selling is important, expected and the way to get rewarded.
SELLING THE SALES MISSION
• Constantly use the word "sales" in communications.
• Integrate the company's marketing research data and strategic objectives with your sales training.
• Sell the sales force on rallying behind a competitive lead product that they really believe in.
• Name the sales process so employees won't label it as a "program."
• Emphasize sales and service expectations and values to new hires during their orientation.
• Assign senior executives a small portfolio of key members to contact periodically along with the assigned sales representative.
• Constantly remind everyone of what the organization believes in by pinpointing and magnifying select sales and service incidents in speeches and memos.
• Constantly stress value rather than price.
• Arrange for the senior managers to spend time in highly visible sales activity such as making sales calls, attending sales meetings, reviewing sales reports, and meeting personally with top sales performers.
SETTING GOALS THAT WILL BE PERCEIVED AS REALISTIC, FAIR AND MOTIVATING
• Provide employees with historical performance data to support recommended goal levels
• Negotiate goals with sales unit managers and employees to the extent possible
• Customize goals based on market area potential
• Customize goals based on individual skills, experience, and opportunity
• Limit goal categories to no more than 3-5 per employee. Too many goal categories will overwhelm employees.
Peak performers spend more sales time on calls building relationships, solving "nonfinancial" problems and getting information than in giving information.
- They sell with purpose to solve problems
- They project energy and personality
- They focus on the person before the facts
- They're always restocking their sales pipeline
- They sell through third parties
- They set goals
The best sales people sell relationships, not products.
GIVE THE ORGANIZATION THE FEEL OF SUCCESS¨
Developing a sales organization is simple, but it's not easy.
The difficult part is gaining the commitment of our sales leaders to reinforce our Preferred Way of Selling¨ every month, every week, every day.
If we give our organization a repeatable process for success in selling, we can give every employee in our organization “The Feel of Success¨.