UPSA - United Professional Sales Association

How to Keep Sales Skills at a High Level

admin — Wed, 19 Jan 2011 13:23:10 +0000

When you run a business you frequently find yourself in a selling situation. You may be selling an idea, a concept, a product or service. Often you may be in a position where you are trying to persuade a member of staff to do things differently. All these situations can be categorized as selling.

Over a period of time your selling skills become blunted and it is very easy to fall into bad habits. It pays to constantly check your performance to keep your skills at the highest level. As a business owner or manager you are constantly promoting your business to people you encounter socially as well has commercially.

Before going into a selling situation, it’s good practice to remind yourself of a few basic points. You may even want to write down or make notes about some the questions that you wish to ask. You may want to remind yourself that the art of selling revolves around your ability to gather information about the other person’s situation before you start explaining yours.

At the end of the conversation there are some questions which you can ask yourself to ensure that you are keeping on track. A good question to ask yourself is, “Did I control the conversation so that I was only speaking 20% of the time and the other person was speaking 80% of time?” If your objective is to gather information about the person’s situation, you are not learning anything whilst you are talking. It’s very easy to be so enthusiastic about your product or services that you dominate the conversation.

Another question to ask yourself is, “Did I get the information I was seeking by asking key questions?” It’s quite easy to go away from the conversation with out some vital piece of information. To avoid this, make notes of the questions that you want to ask prior to the conversation.

During any conversation of this nature it will be necessary to get your own point across. The question to ask yourself is, “How did I know that I got my point across and it was understood?” Sometimes we make the assumption because we have said something, it has been fully understood. To avoid this potentially dangerous situation, you have to check that understanding has taken place by asking indirect questions.

By considering these three areas after your conversation, you will be able to ensure that you continue with your high level of sales skills indefinitely.

Thank you for reading this article. Peter L Mitchell invites you to visit his web site where you will discover a wealth of resources such as free downloads, ideas, articles, information and books, This site is udated nearly every day. Click here http://plmitchell.com/

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Buying Decision Makers – Sell to Who Matters

admin — Tue, 18 Jan 2011 19:15:06 +0000

Not all buying professionals are the same in their role within the buying organization. There are various different roles that a buyer can play in helping an organization make a buying decision. The decision on the part of a large company to make a substantial purchase is usually not made by a single person or a few people. The buying decision is usually made through a process comprised of decision makers and influencers. The decision process may initially be invisible to the selling organization, and it is often the role of the sales professional to determine key buying roles. During the course of meetings and sales calls or tele-conferences, it is helpful for sales professionals to determine each person’s motivations in the decision process.

Executive Signer: the person who actually makes the purchase ultimate and acts as a final decision maker.

Initiator: the person who first suggests or thinks of the idea to buy a product or service

Coach: the person who helps the selling organization determine any part or the whole part of the buying decision. The coach may help the selling organization identify whether or not the buying organization will buy, what they intend to buy, how they buy, when they will buy, or even where they will buy from.

Influencer: the person who explicitly or implicitly carries some influence over the final decision.

Requirements Decision Maker: evaluates based on practical realities of adding a selling organization’s product or service offering to day-to-day processes of the company.

Financial Decision Maker: evaluates and recommends based on costs, budgets, and return-on-investment.

End-User: the person or people who consume or use the product or service. They are individuals who experience the problem and will use your product or service everyday.

Brian is a highly sought after world-wide speaker, author, and trainer on sales competency, sales performance, sales process, sales professionalism, sales ethics, and sales process. Find out about Brian at http://www.forrester.com/rb/analyst/brian_lambert

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Effective Sales Training – 7 Action Steps to Increase Your Advantage

admin — Tue, 18 Jan 2011 17:07:01 +0000

With spring and so to be summer temperatures rising, these ten facts may provide some “chill: for you as the C-Suite level executive, small business owner or sales manager:

48% of sales people never follow-up with a prospect (a.k.a. potential customer)
20% of sales people make a second contact and stop
12% of sales people only make three contacts and stop
10% of sales people make more than three contacts
20% of your sales people delivery 80% of your sales results
55% of sales people should be doing something else
50% of the sales managers are too busy to train and develop their sales teams
5% Reduction in customer defection rate can increase profits from 25% to 80%
Retaining customers is 7 to 10 times cheaper than acquiring new customers
Average company loses 10% to 30% of its customers each year

With the U.S. economy still in the doldrums, jobs still being cut, global competition knocking on the door and companies looking to run lean and mean, many companies are wanting their sales teams to “win one for the Gipper.” Yet, given the just mentioned statistics, it appears that “Houston we have a problem” when it comes to developing high performance sales people and sales teams.

According to Training Industry, 2009 will experience a decrease in the $100 billion training market except in sales where expenditures will increase by 8% overall. Within sales management and sales coaching, these two areas may see a potential increase of almost 28%. Sales Coaching Tip: Stop using an elephant gun to kill a fly. Invest the time to determine the real problem instead of attempting to solve a symptom disguised as a problem.

So what is a poor business executive or owner supposed to do? That is a great question and by the end of this article, you will have seven (7) solid action steps to begin to immediately implement.

Strategic Plan – The First Action Step
Return to your strategic business action plan and your supporting plans of marketing, sales, customers and management and leadership. Before taking any action to implement any sales training, you must determine exactly what you want that training to deliver.

For example, research by Gartner suggests that 92% of all customer interactions happen via the phone. If you are losing customers or your goal is to build customer loyalty, then maybe you need to look at common telephone courtesy as well as basic communication skills instead of focusing of mores specific sales skills such as negotiating or fact finding.

Define Desired Results – The Second Action Step
In the 1960′s a graduate student by the name of Donald Kirkpatrick created the 4 Levels of Evaluation. What he discovered is that most training (learning) happens within Level I (Emotional – Did I) and Level II (Cognitive). However for learning to have any impact to the person and the organization, the training needed to reach Level III (Application) and Level IV (Impact).

When you begin with the desired end results, you are looking at the Level IV – Impact of the Training on the organization. For example, if you want to increase sales and realize that 80% of your sales force delivers less than 20% of your sales results, you can quickly weed out of the non-performers without having to invest any new dollars in sales training.

Now if your desire is to improve your sales results by having them work with existing clients, you can predetermine those projected benchmarks and then construct what is a reasonable investment for sales training.

Engagement Schedule – The Third Action Step
Look at your current sales training schedule. You can save a lot of money by not sending your people to a one day or two day seminar to improve communication skills or whatever the sales training objective is.

Do you know what 10×10 equals? Did 100 come immediately to mind? Now if I asked you what 25×24 equals would your mental response be as quick? Probably not. The reason for the speed of your answer to 10×10 is that you practiced over and over your multiplication tables up to 12.

For learning to be sustainable and that means to deliver a positive return on your hard earn profit dollars, there must be time for practice through repetition. Also, as I tell my sales coaching and executive coaching clients, the human brain will only absorb what the butt will endure. After an hour, two at the most, your sales people are no longer actively engaged in the learning process. Their minds have returned back to their desk and everything that they need to do.

By having shorter learning schedules spread over a longer amount of time, you can dramatically improve your return on investment as well as to achieve those goals to increase sales and build customer loyalty. In the past, bringing everyone together was expensive, but now technology allows for webcasts to teleconferencing.

Attitude Development – The Fourth Action Step
In the majority of sales training programs that I have participated in or have reviewed, the focus is at least 90% of the time on learning that being the acquisition of knowledge. Unfortunately, most sales performance failure can be traced back to poor attitudes rather than a lack of knowledge.

At the beginning of this article, the first stated statistic is a result of poor attitudes and habits rather than a lack of knowledge and skills. At least 80% of all sales professionals know that they must follow-up on leads as this the first step in the sales process. Therefore, this suggests one reason sales training does not deliver sustainable results is because the focus is not on developing good attitudes and habits.

Habit creation is a matter of practice and repetition. Sustainable sales training must build both in depth knowledge and skills along with positive attitudes and habits.

Curriculum Content and Delivery – The Fifth Action Step
Developing curriculum takes time and really needs a trained instructional designer. There are a plethora of sales training programs that can easily be adapted to your strategy, your organizational climate and your industry. By working with an experienced instructional designer, you can utilize her or his knowledge as to what makes an effective curriculum.

Also, look to include audio reinforcement as well. Spaced repetition or what used to be called rote memorization is a proven process to ensure long term cognitive memory. Having the curriculum recorded on CDs allows for your sales team to hear a concept a multitude of times.

Curriculum content works with curriculum delivery. There should be many interactive opportunities including: role playing, team group to individual presentations. Leave the didactic model of lecture for academia and allow your sales team to go beyond knowledge acquisition and into knowledge application.
Sales Coaching Tip: Performance is the application of knowledge.

A skilled and experienced facilitator can bring your curriculum to life as well as your sales team. The inclusion of coaching can further increase your return on investment.

Finally, the curriculum needs to include individual proven assessments such as Attribute Index, DISC profile or a Values Index. In some cases conducting an organizational assessment that is aligned to quality criteria such as Baldrige could also be beneficial.

Communication – The Sixth Action Step
Even if your sales training is aligned to your strategic action plan, you must communicate your expectations to your team as well as to the sales trainer. This communication starts with your involvement as the senior executive to sales manager during the first training session. Let your sales team know that this is an investment in them because you value them as members of your organization. This one simple action can yield hundreds to thousands of dollars because you have demonstrated through your communication the importance of this sales training program.

Commitment – The Seventh Action Step
Since most sales training programs evolve from the K-16 experience, their sustainability is weakened because of a lack of commitment to understanding how people react to change and therefore learn. In 1965, Dr. Bruce Tuckman published his 4 Stages of Team Development otherwise known as Forming, Storming, Norming and Performing.

When a team of sales professionals comes together, initially their collective behavior is united and there may be an upward move towards the desired results. This is the forming stage. Then with a little time, the team members start demonstrating negative behaviors in the second stage of storming. With time, practice and support, things start to click together during the third phase of norming. Finally, once everything and everyone have clarity about what they are doing and how to do it, the team starts performing (Stage Four).

By understanding that sales training takes time and being committed to staying the course, your organization can secure a positive return on its training dollars. Remember with information doubling every year your sales team needs to be ahead of the competition. The development and delivery of an effective sales training program is your competitive advantage.

Free sales skills assessment by Results Sales Coach Leanne Hoagland-Smith who helps with sales coaching, leadership to sales management development. Do you know the talents of your team? Learn more about how to maximize these talents so you work smarter and not harder.

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How Selling Strategies Are Created

admin — Mon, 17 Jan 2011 23:22:16 +0000

Understanding how sales strategies are created will help you determine where you will fit within the sales organization. Many times, salespeople have a misperception of what the job will entail because they do not fully understand the sales strategy employed by their organization. While there are several different types of sales positions, you should first start by understanding the sales strategy of an organization by conducting an in-depth analysis of:

How much face-to-face time is needed to gain and hold onto new customers?
What types of activities the buyers demand to build trust?
What is the competition is doing in the marketplace?
What is the ability of the sales effort to maximize the firm’s growth plans?

Based on analyses of these four questions, organizations will decide to employ a sales strategy comprised of essentially two components:

territory segmentation – which is used to determine the size of a salesperson’s territory
type of sales positions – determines the total number of sales professionals needed as well as where and how they will work.

To determine the segmentation and types of sales positions needed, the leadership of the sales organization will have to understand “the market.” The market is defined as the entire universe of available prospects for your company’s product or service. To understand the market, organizations will rely on Marketing’s use of focus groups, surveys, customer feedback, etc. Based on this understanding, the complexity and size of the product or service will be determined:

Complexity is defined by the number of decision makers needed to make a purchase as well as the number of different functions (such as finance, IT, marketing, training, etc) that need to sign off on the purchases
The size of the sale is determined by the average investment (as determined by time and cost) needed by the customer.

Therefore the types of positions needed in the sales organization are based on the buyer. A larger size deal (in the eyes of the buyer) will require more time for implementation and cost more than a smaller size deal. For example, XYZ Company sells highly complex multi-million dollar Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) software. In this type of sale, many decision makers are involved from the buying organization and a sale entails many different departments to sign off on the purchase of the software. How does the selling organization determine how many sales people to employ? In this situation, the selling organization would employ a direct sales strategy (as opposed indirect sales) where they decide how to segment their sales efforts and the types of sales roles based on the complexity and size of the sale.

Dr. Brian Lambert is a senior analyst for Forrester Research serving Technology Sales Enablement Professionals. He covers the strategy, processes, and execution associated with helping sales team members achieve their desired business outcomes through more effective collaboration and behavior change. Brian researches key challenges associated with sales enablement, including helping sales team member’s effectively model customer needs and map solution capabilities to those needs within each sales conversation. He also researches the impact of today’s complex and changing business environment on portfolio, marketing, and sales team members as they design; implement; and reinforce training, talent management, leadership development, performance, and adoption strategies needed to improve the skill, expertise, and results of team members.

Brian is a highly sought after world-wide speaker, author, and trainer on sales competency, sales performance, sales process, sales professionalism, sales ethics, and sales process.

Find out about Brian at http://www.forrester.com/rb/analyst/brian_lambert

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Sales Training ROI – Keys to Measuring Business Impact

admin — Sun, 16 Jan 2011 05:13:13 +0000

Measuring the effectiveness and business impact of sales training should be rigorous, but also practical. Many tools are available from the two traditions of educational inquiry – qualitative and quantitative – and each has its own strengths and weaknesses.

In the qualitative research method, you collect in-depth data from a limited number of sources (e.g., sales training participants and their managers). For example, you attend and observe the training session, conduct in-depth interviews with participants, and observe their behaviors on the job through attending their sales calls. You may also interview a handful of their customers to explore their behavioral changes post training, or interview sales managers to explore behavioral changes in their sales reps on the job and to gauge the impact of their new behaviors on metrics such as revenue, sales cycle, etc. The resulting qualitative data is analyzed and reported through business impact cases and direct quotations from participants, managers, or customers.

In the quantitative research method, you collect large quantities of data through surveys and data extracts from corporate databases (e.g., HR or sales), and you use statistical analysis technique to measure participant satisfaction, learning, and impact of participants’ behavioral changes on metrics such as customer satisfaction, sales quota attainment, and retention of the sales force. Sometimes performance of those who attended sales training is compared to those who did not, and statistical analysis techniques are used to determine whether investment in sales training made a difference. The results in quantitative research methods are reported through graphic representation of customer satisfaction over a period of time before, during, and after implementation of a sales training program or in tables that represent quota attainment of those who attended training versus those who did not. (See McMillan and Schumacher (1997) and Marshall and Rossman (1995) for more detail on these two methodologies.)

Introducing a Blended Methodology to Measure Sales Training Impact

Both quantitative and qualitative methods have strengths and weaknesses. The methodology described in this Infoline uses a blended approach that capitalizes on each tool’s benefits while avoiding its shortcomings. In this way, the methodology effectively manages the complexity of measuring the business impact of sales training programs.

Overview of the Methodology

Implementation of the methodology results in a six-phase process:

Phase 1: Context Discovery & Metrics Definition

This phase of the process consists of two steps – defining measurement requirements and preparing a “business value chain.” These two steps are critical to the success of the measurement effort because they help build management buy-in for your measurement efforts. They also define the scope of the measurement effort, customize the process to the needs of your organization, and build a blueprint for your measurement activities by determining what to measure (i.e., learning outcomes, desired behaviors on the job, and metrics impacted by application of what was learned in the program).

Phase 2: Research Design & Instrumentation

This phase enables you to define the types and sources of needed data, create a research design that enables you to collect and analyze valid and reliable data, and construct data collection instruments. Successful completion of this phase ensures that you collect the right data, from the right sources, at the right time, in the right way, and with the right tools.

Phase 3: Sampling

This phase consists of the critical step of selecting representative samples of sales training participants and non-participants and their managers, peers, and customers. It is impractical, expensive, and unnecessary to collect data from all participants in sales training. Using appropriate sampling techniques enables you to collect a manageable set of data and to generalize the findings to the broader population.

Phase 4: Data Collection & Analysis

This phase is the most labor-intensive part of the process. It is when you collect and analyze data, validate the findings, and formulate recommendations for continuous improvement of the training program. It consists of four steps:

Testing business metrics data collection procedures and collecting baseline data
Collecting data on achievement of learning objectives, resulting behavioral changes, and business metrics
Analyzing data and identifying areas for improvement
Triangulating data from multiple sources to ensure valid inferences and recommendations

Phase 5: Reporting

This phase is the most visible phase of the measurement process. This is when you communicate measurement findings, conclusions, and recommendations through reports and presentations to key stakeholders and members of the organization. Clear, objective, and persuasive communication of findings and recommendations is critical to demonstrate not only the value of the sales training program but also the value of the measurement effort. Audiences for this communication include:

Sales training managers – to demonstrate accountability to business sponsors who have invested in the program
Design and deployment team – to celebrate their contribution to creating value for the organization through development of effective and high-impact sale training programs and through implementation of the recommendations for continuous improvement
Business sponsors and sale managers – to appreciate the value generated through investment in sales training

Phase 6: Data Storage & Security

Measurement of the effectiveness of sales training and especially of its business impact is not a once-and-for-all-time effort. For some programs, such as those that continue in the organization over time, you need to revisit the data collected to build trends and to measure the continuing contribution of the program. Because the data will be needed in the future, it is imperative to store it securely. The sensitivity and confidentiality of HR and business data requires that you take the necessary steps to ensure it is secure.

Brian is a highly sought after world-wide speaker, author, and trainer on sales competency, sales performance, sales process, sales professionalism, sales ethics, and sales process.

Find out about Brian at http://www.forrester.com/rb/analyst/brian_lambert

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Putting Your Sales Training Under the Microscope

admin — Sat, 08 Jan 2011 13:18:53 +0000

Sales training is organized and carried out very differently from business to business. Many companies regularly train their employees in a planned way, whereas others only train sporadically.

Training for sales people is not cheap. On top of the direct costs, there is also the cost of lost time that the salespeople could have spent actively selling. Because of this, it is important to ensure all sales training is effectively planned, organized and implemented. In the article below some of the key areas relating to the planning of training, together with who should be responsible for managing the whole process, are discussed. How does your business compare?

Who is responsible for deciding on the training program? In large businesses the sales manager and/or in-house sales trainer are responsible for these decisions. However, in smaller companies the Managing Director or Senior Executive is responsible for training matters.

Who sets the training budget? In large companies only a third of the budget is set by the business management with the most important role being played by the training department, followed by the sales managers. In smaller companies the order is reversed: in most cases responsibility for the budget lies with the business management, followed by the sales managers.

If technical competence primarily controls budgeting for training matters in large businesses, in smaller ones the responsibility follows the formal hierarchy.

Who plans and organizes the sales training? In over 90% of large businesses the training department is responsible. In smaller businesses either the business or the sales management have the responsibility. It is astonishing that with such an important task there is often very little co-operation between the responsible parties.

Who delivers the sales training? In the majority of large companies the in-house trainers carry out the training and in the third of all businesses they are supported by sales managers. In smaller companies, as a rule, the training is carried out by Sales Managers. However, more and more companies are seeking external suppliers to provide structured sales training programs.

Co-ordination and communication. Trainers should obtain feedback from the sales leadership at every step. Even if this starts by increasing the costs of planning, the improved communication between the sales manager and trainer will lead to a better prepared and, above all, more targeted training session. In this context intensive questioning of those to be involved in the training is important.

Who Sets specific, measurable goals? Business management, sales management, training departments and training suppliers must determine the training goals and outcomes together. Agreement of goals and outcomes prior to delivering training ensures everyone pulls in the same direction and the training is designed to achieve these goals.

Once the goals have been defined they should be communicated to everyone involved in the training. In particular, it is very important that the goals are explained to the participants and that this happens before the training session. Participants should be briefed on what they should learn and why they need what they are going to learn! This should be done by their sales manager.

Who selects the delegates? Where courses are of various levels it is important that the delegates attend the correct level of training. So before every training course the standard of the participants’ knowledge should be determined. This assessment should be by the line manager, often in partnership with the trainer. Of course, the following classifications can be applied to parts or individual topics within a general course and used to focus delegates on particular areas for improvement.

Vague idea. The people just know that this problem/phenomenon exists. Example: they have heard or read the term Trade Marketing, but do not know what it is about.

Partial knowledge. Knowledge is partial or superficial. They have heard something ringing but do not know where the bells are.

Understanding. The subject being discussed is well known theoretically. The training course participant can correctly explain what Trade Marketing is.

Experience. Delegates are not only able to talk about the subject expertly, but they have already worked successfully in some fields.

Specialist competence. Course participants have a complete mastery of the subject area. They are experts in theory and practice.

Overall view. Course delegates do not just have a mastery of the special subject, but they see it in a broader context at the same time. They understand not only possibilities, but also limitations.

Who assesses the sales training? In very few businesses, whether large or small, does the business management get involved in the assessment of training effectiveness. This is surprising insofar as sales training is an extremely important and costly measure.

The question, What has it yielded? is as justified as it is difficult to answer. The idea of just observing a salesperson’s turnover development following their attendance on a training course falls short of the mark.

So how can you measure the effective uses of a training session?There is a four-stage assessment procedure that in its basic principles is over 30 years old and is now being increasingly used in budgetary difficult times. The following four different effect levels are considered:

Level 1: Reaction. Immediately after the training course the participants are asked to fill out an assessment questionnaire in which they express their satisfaction with each part of the course. The questionnaire provides feedback and should be used to improve any parts of the course that were seen to be weak.

Level 2: Learning success. Did the training course improve the salespeople’s knowledge, attitude towards sales, attitude towards the client, argumentation skills etc…? Tests can easily be followed by a standardized questionnaire. The assessment of this level, as with level 1, can be carried out directly after the training session. You can compare it to previous knowledge and behavior. However, it can only be compared afterward if you have already carried out an initial test with the same questions.

Level 3: Behaviour. Has the training course altered the salesperson’s behavior? Do the participants use their newly acquired skills in their sales negotiations, in their personal working style and in their dealings with clients and colleagues?

Remember, changes require time and opportunity. A sensible amount of time to monitor behavioral changes is generally two to three months after the training course. This assessment presupposes that you have recorded the salesperson’s behavior before attendance at the course. Level 3 is the most costly one for assessment.

Level 4: Results: What effect has the training course had on the figures? Take into consideration turnover, the amount of discounts granted, costs per sale, number of complaints etc. Here a before and after comparison is informative. Ideally, you would compare the performance of salespeople who have been on the training course with that of salespeople who have not.

This short summary of the possible evaluation methods available to you for training courses shows that you need to prepare for sales training courses and assess them afterward if you want to be able to note any change such as success. It makes no difference whether you have the training course in-house or externally.

There is another advantage of systematically evaluating training: it is easier to get approval for your training budget for the next year if you can prove the effect of the training courses you have invested in.

Richard Stone is a Director for Spearhead Training Limited (http://www.spearhead-training.co.uk/) that specializes in running management and sales training courses. Richard provides consultancy advice for numerous world leading companies.

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Sales Competence Isn’t About Quota Performance!

admin — Sun, 31 Oct 2010 03:55:10 +0000

If you stop any sales person on the street and ask them if they are good at what they do, chances are, they will all say “yes!” But ask their manager, marketing department, customer service area, human resources department (or any other function of the firm), and chances are the answer is “no.” The difference in defining sales competence is a matter of perspective.

Compounding the problem are two myths regarding measures of competency in sales.

Myth#1: Quota performance does not equate to sales competency – A salesperson’s quota is usually determined by management. More often than not, the quota is set as a way to attain a goal of an increased share price or its just pulled out of the air as a “nice-to-have-number” that is bigger than last year. It’s a rare organization that can articulate how a quota was set. It’s even rarer to find an organization that sits down to do the sales math and determine the realistic quota and stretch quota for their salespeople. Without this understanding, how do you know if the quota is too high? How do you know if it is too low? You don’t! Therefore the salesperson that hits quota in an organization that doesn’t know how to set one is not proving his or her competence.

Myth#2: Activity level does not equate to sales competency – Many organizations set sales activity goals. They will ask their salespeople to accomplish X sales calls, X phone calls, and X proposals a day. These types of measurements, and constantly hitting them, do not mean the person can sell. Sure, there is a positive correlation between activity and selling, but if I play the lottery every single day I probably won’t win. If I play X lottery games, in X states, and with X amount of money, it doesn’t mean I’m driving towards a win. It simply means I’m increasing my chances. I’d rather have someone that knows exactly what they are doing and not playing the lottery with their sales territory.

So what exactly is sales competency? Competence is defined as someone’s knowledge, skill and internal motivation. Knowledge is the building block of competence. Effective sales professionals are continuously learning and they have developed a framework and process for accessing their knowledge. They have a solid knowledge foundation and they understand their strengths and weaknesses. Skill is determined by the knowledge a salesperson has gained plus their experience level. The most skilled sales professionals have stayed in one vertical market or industry for a longer period of time. They have also stayed in the same sales role for a longer length of time (such as outside sales). They have also followed a defined career path with increasing levels of responsibility and complexity of sale. Internal motivation is someone’s self talk, drive, and purpose. Their passion for the product, zeal for the organization where they work, and their positive attitude form the cornerstone for the ability to overcome objections, handle rejection, or deal with poorly set sales quotas.

A competent sales person has the ability to move into any organization and gain the trust of the decision-makers. They work to create a situation where buying can occur within an ethical environment at a fair price. They have the knowledge to speak to a CEO, the front-line manager, or the newest employee about what issues and challenges they face. Most of all they strive to increase their knowledge, skill, and motivation so they can be the best at what they do.

Brian Lambert is the Director of Sales Development and Performance at the American Society for Training & Development (ASTD). In this role, he is responsible for meeting the unique challenges of performance professionals focused on the sales profession. He is responsible for conducting primary research and creating resources, articles, and other custom content that helps individuals design and deliver sales training, manage and develop high performing sales talent, and improve salesperson performance. Brian has fifteen years of experience in sales, sales management, sales training, and sales consulting and is an internationally recognized expert on the state of the sales profession as well as current trends in transforming sales team systems, processes, and people.

Brian is a highly sought after world-wide speaker, author, and trainer on sales competency, sales performance, sales process, sales professionalism, sales ethics, and sales process.

Find out about Brian at http://www.salestrainingdrivers.com Visit ASTD’s Sales Training Initiative at: http://www.astd.org/communities/salestraining

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Higher Hiring Standards For Better Hires?

admin — Thu, 23 Sep 2010 14:38:38 +0000

In my former life as a field manager and executive I would find myself working with plant locations that needed help. Maybe they were missing their sales and growth goals. Maybe they were missing their profit and quality objectives. Some were missing everything.

No two situations were exactly the same. But they all had two things in common… poor employee relationships and poor hiring and staffing decisions. When these combined, the locations were always characterized by high employee turnover. I learned very quickly that if we solved the hiring problems and improved employee relations, we nearly always cut employee turnover in half.

Cutting employee turnover has an immediate impact on operating costs. Expensive employee replacement costs are drastically reduced. Costly mistakes made by new employees nearly disappear. Lowering employee turnover allows managers to spend more time working with customers and coaching employees instead of recruiting and interviewing. Quality improves which reduces service costs and makes for very happy customers. What I didn’t know at the time, because of our accounting methods, was the impact that lower employee turnover was having on healthcare benefit costs and other operating problems related to health issues – like presenteeism and absenteeism.

Leaders have the responsibility to develop peak performing, “winning” teams. Whether we are running a small business or a department with a few employees – or a large operation with hundreds – the responsibility of developing people and improving performance is the same. Great leaders make good hiring and staffing decisions. They consistently select the right people for the right job.

Who we hire has more to do with the ultimate outcome of performance than anything else we do as leaders. More than anything else, our hiring practices and personal hiring skills impact our team’s success…or failure.

A poor hiring process increases employee turnover, which is death to any initiative to improve productivity. Bad hires don’t last – they leave or are asked to leave. Sometimes they leave when they realize they don’t like the job, the company, or the people. In these cases, the new hire “fires” the company. They’re asked to leave when they can’t learn, won’t learn, commit some violation, or demonstrate some character flaw. Then the company fires them. Under weak management non-performers linger on to become “deadwood”. In any case, they were miscast, and set up for failure from the beginning. Whose fault was that??

In most cases the company. The company may not have developed a hiring process – or the people using the process didn’t do their job. In the final analysis, a recent hire is out of work and going through the trauma and stress of job change, because of your mistake!

ATTRIBUTES OF COMPANIES THAT HIRE WELL

Many years ago I was asked to put together a standard hiring process and a training program to teach our managers how to use it. This was a major project and ultimately contributed to one of the paradigms enabling the corporation’s dramatic growth at the time. We all knew the problems created by poor hiring. If we were going to accomplish our ambitions, hiring well had to become one of our basic corporate competencies. With the help of the C.E.O., I was afforded the opportunity to visit several corporations noted for their excellent management teams to learn about their hiring and development processes.

I returned from each trip with fresh ideas about how to hire effectively and systematically. I learned about hiring processes, hiring tools, carefully honed interviewing skills, and much more. All of this information went into developing a hiring system of our own, which we called “Meticulous Hiring”, that is still in use today.

The systems and processes we developed had an immediate impact on the quality of new hires and early management turnover. The point is that effective systematic hiring has a huge impact on growth, profitability, turnover, and management development

While talking to managers and executives of the companies I visited, and observing their practices, I noticed some similarities in their views and attitudes about the importance of hiring well. These became the five guiding principles of hiring that we taught every manager, and that I still teach clients today. Companies committed to hiring well have certain common attributes….

Hiring is a disciplined process: Every company has certain processes critical to their business that are rigidly enforced. There are consequences for employees not in compliance with those processes. While hiring is arguably one the most important activities performed in a growing business, many companies do not approach it systematically. They have established procedures for processing orders, invoicing customers, handling collections, and even enrolling employees in their healthcare plan. But hiring is not done systematically. The function is – well… kind of ‘helter-skelter’. Every hiring need is handled in a different way with managers espousing their pet theories on how it should be done.

Great companies have effective hiring processes and like other important processes, they are rigidly enforced. There are consequences for managers not in compliance with the system. Great companies recognize the importance of hiring systematically and believe that hiring well is a key component of their strategic plans.

Hiring Standards are aligned to business strategy: Great companies have defined job requirements and hiring standards for every key position. They know what they’re looking for in candidates. They have identified and defined the key human skills and characteristics needed to succeed and help the company accomplish their objectives.

Aligning hiring standards with your business strategy avoids hiring mistakes and misfits. For example, suppose that K-mart is looking for a Vice President of marketing. And, let’s suppose they learn that the Vice President of marketing of Nordstrom might be available. What would happen if they successfully recruited and hired the Nordstrom executive to run their marketing efforts? Do you foresee any problems?

Of course there would be problems. While both companies are in the retail merchandising business, they have totally different business strategies. K-mart has an effective discount self service strategy. Nordstrom markets to customers who demand individual service and high-end products. Here we have two successful companies in basically the same industry, but with totally different cultures and methods of operating. The new K-mart Marketing Vice President would likely have a problem adjusting to their self service strategy and culture.

Leaders are held accountable: When hiring processes are established, leaders are held accountable to use them. Leaders must discard their personal hiring theories.
It’s important to hold leader’s accountable for the quality of their hiring decisions to avoid hiring mistakes.

In today’s world, it’s easy to lose individual accountability for hiring decisions. A popular hiring technique commonly used these days is “consensus” hiring. With consensus hiring a committee, or panel, makes the hiring decision. With this arrangement, no one can be held accountable for making a bad hire.

While I believe that panel interviewing is a good technique in some circumstances, and the use of hiring committees is important, they should not be allowed to cloud the issue of individual hiring accountability. Panels and committees should be used to provide the Hiring Manager with facts and information to help the Hiring Manager make better and more thoughtful hiring decisions. But one manager should make the decision, and that manager should be held accountable for the quality of hiring. In the end, this not only leads to better hiring decisions, but strengthens the Hiring Manager’s commitment to help the candidate succeed.

Interviewers are well trained: Companies with effective hiring processes view the costs of training interviewers as an investment – not an expense. Interviewers are the most important component of any hiring system, and they should not be forced to learn by trial and error. Their errors can be very expensive.

No one in your organization should conduct interviews without thorough training. Interviewing is an investigative process and investigative skills don’t come naturally.

Hiring well is an ethical standard: Take a brief moment and visualize the five most important things in your life. Certainly, the top two would be faith and family. But, think about the next three?

We all have different life’s values. But in my opinion, if you’re a manager, executive, or business owner – your business or career ranks somewhere in the top five important things in your life. Think about the last job change you made. It’s usually a pretty traumatic experience. So much depends on making the right choices. Stepping into the wrong job can affect your wealth, security, family life… and even your health.

Managers should take their hiring responsibilities very seriously. Hiring someone is one of the few instances where you execute raw power over someone’s future. Your hiring decisions not only impact the success or failure of your company, but they impact the destiny and the lives of good people as well. I believe that it is morally reprehensible to hire sloppily, or by chance, hoping that “things just work out”. Hiring well should become a personal and company moral ethical standard.

HIRING WELL ISN’T ROCKET SCIENCE
There are only two components to hiring well… First, you must understand the job that you’re trying to fill. You must identify the human skills and traits required to succeed in the job. Second, you must understand the candidate. Does the candidate possess the skills and traits that you’re looking for? Hiring is really not that difficult. You can’t make this complicated. Good hiring boils down to knowing what you’re look for, and using a process to assess the candidate’s qualifications. It’s that simple.

It’s absolutely amazing to me the number of managers and companies that begin a job search with a sketchy, or no idea of what they’re looking for in a candidate. Even for important key positions, some companies don’t take the time to figure out what the job requires. They’re hiring in the dark and I think you can predict the outcome of their hiring efforts.

Some companies understand what they need, but haven’t created a formal process for evaluating candidates and have people conducting interviews who have no idea what they’re doing. These folks make hiring decisions that rely solely on an interviewers “gut feel” using their pet theories to find candidates they think can do the job.

I’ve even talked to some companies that don’t do either… they have no idea what they’re looking for – they wing their way through interviews – and get any warm body who has time on their hands to interview and help check the candidates out.

The results in all of these cases are bad hires, mis-fits, workers compensation claims, high turnover, legal hassles that accompany terminations and… high healthcare costs and the risk of serious insurance claims.

The fundamentals and components of hiring well are easy to learn but cannot be compromised. While the components are easy, there are no short cuts. You must understand the job requirements based upon a Job Analysis. Then you must translate the job requirements into a list of hiring standards. Finally, you must have effective hiring processes staffed by people that know what they’re doing.

JOB ANALYSIS
An effective hiring system starts with understanding the job. Hiring employees by guesswork, gut feel, or pet theories could put them in harms way. The job could physically exasperate a health problem. You could be setting the employee up for failure, causing job dissatisfaction and stress which leads to turnover and needless claims risk. The foundation of an effective hiring system is “The Job Analysis”. We must analyze the job to determine the human requirements for success while avoiding the trip wires to failure.

I cannot overemphasize the importance of a good job analysis. It is the most important step in designing a good hiring system. A haphazard approach dramatically increases the odds of poor hires, turnover and trouble. Getting your system right depends upon getting your job analysis right!

Unfortunately, some leaders short-cut this step or by-pass it altogether thinking there’s some big mystery about it. They lack confidence. Candidly, I admit that job analysis is the most difficult step in designing your hiring system. It’s also the most time consuming. You may need a little outside help to get started but with a little training and practice most managers can quickly learn.

The difficulty of conducting a job analysis is exaggerated. The secret to job analysis is commitment, a little knowledge, and a planned structured approach…and that’s what we’re going to talk about in this section.

The Approach: We’ll start by selecting a team of “subject matter experts”. A team of five or six works just fine, but you can have a few more or less. Subject matter experts are managers and employees who have a vested interest in the job – people that are impacted by a new employee’s success or failure in the position. These could be managers responsible for the job, or successful employees doing the job. Members of the team should be knowledgeable, open minded, and able to reach consensus. They should understand how to participate in a brain storming session.

The team’s objective is to identify as many job requirements as possible… write them down and tape them to the wall. It’s a brain storming session so anything goes. If any member thinks that a requirement is important it should be added to the list. This is not the time for questions or debate. Don’t worry about legal concerns or redundancy. That will all get straightened out later. The idea now is to get every requirement that your team can think of on the list and taped to the wall.

To prevent total chaos, and to keep the session organized, I use a special agenda. The team looks at the job from three perspectives and answers three key questions about the position….

• First – “Obvious Risk Factors”: Are there any risks involved that would prevent the new hire’s success? Is there any factor or situation that would heighten the likelihood of failure? Are there past mistakes we don’t want to repeat?
• Second – “General or Conventional Requirements”: From past data, experience, and intuition— What does it take to succeed in your culture, and in this specific job?
• Third – What “Behaviors” should candidates possess to increase the likelihood of success? When you think of employees who have been successful in the job, what behaviors make them stand out from others?

I begin the job analysis by talking about past hiring mistakes. What was learned from bad hiring decisions? Are there “Risk Factors”, that are obvious causes of failure? A few examples that I’ve experienced have been the long drive to the office, the amount of travel, the emphasis on selling new accounts, or the weekend work requirements. There are many more and I’m sure that you’ve experienced some common reasons yourself. The key word in this step of the analysis is “obvious”. Your hiring system should include a way of avoiding hiring people who obviously can’t succeed in the job.

There are two situations that that should always be on your list of risk factors to avoid. One is cultural incompatibility. Some people will never by happy working in your company’s culture. Maybe the pace is too fast, ethical standards too high, or the types of customers you serve. The other is compensation compatibility. Your total compensation package must satisfy the candidate’s financial needs. If it doesn’t, the candidate is a high risk for job dissatisfaction and turnover. Avoid hiring candidates not compatible with your culture or your compensation package at all cost. They’re a sure bet for failure.

In the next step of the analysis, we explore and discuss the General or Conventional job requirements. I use a little more structure in this step to guide the discussion. I call it the “PEMS” model. Using the PEMS model as an outline for our discussion we explore the….

The Physical Requirements- These are the most “tangible” obvious requirements. They involve human physical abilities, experience, and situations. These might include lifting, professional appearance, mobility, traveling, job history, etc.

The Emotional Requirements- These relate to the amount of “stress” inherent in the position. Jobs requiring decision-making, meeting deadlines, dealing with conflict and change, usually have stress related with them. To be successful in these jobs, people must maintain control and stay cool and calm under pressure.

The Mental Requirements- These involve the type and degree of intelligence, education, academic background, and special training required.

The Social Requirements- These requirements have to do with “people” skills and the amount of interaction with others. Some jobs require high interaction. Other jobs are performed in solitude. Some jobs are better suited for extroverts…other jobs for introverts.

As your team tackles each of these questions, there may be some redundancy. Not to worry. Job analysis is a “brainstorming session”. There’s no lengthy discussion or debate on any team member’s suggestions. There will be time to question and clean up the list later. Besides, redundancy may underscore the importance of the requirement. The goal is to gather as many ideas as we can on paper.

Behavior Patterns
As we grow into adulthood, we develop behavior patterns which reflect our personality. These behavior patterns are rigid and usually require a major life event to change them. Business leaders are not equipped to reshape personality or behavior patterns. Some managers try. I call them…”Armchair Psychologists”.

Armchair Psychologists believe that they can change and reform people. They believe that they can change the candidate’s personality traits and behaviors to satisfy the job requirements. Effective leaders, on the other hand, use a different approach. They’ve learned that it’s much easier to hire someone suited for the job. They hire candidates who have demonstrated the required behaviors in their past.

This brings us to one of the most important principles in hiring. It’s so important that I call it “The Golden Rule of Hiring”. If you have identified the behaviors that lead to job success and the candidate has demonstrated those behaviors in the past, you have the best predictor of future success. If the candidate was assertive in the past, it’s likely that he’ll be assertive in the future. If the candidate demonstrated good organizational and time management skills in the past, he’ll be organized in the future. If he had a strong work ethic in the past, he’ll have a strong work ethic in the future. Why? We know that past behaviors predict future behaviors.

After your team has exhausted their ideas and input on Risk Factors, Conventional Job Requirements (PEMS), and Behavioral Requirements, you will notice that your meeting room has changed… you’ve “wall papered” one or two walls with notes captured during your job analysis. In my experience, clients usually capture for 100 to 200 job requirements. This is far too many to construct a practical hiring system. You have to condense the list to about fifteen to twenty-five requirements. This leads us to the next step… developing hiring standards.

DEVELOPING HIRING STANDARDS

There’s a lot of information on the wall. The job now is to translate that knowledge into a much smaller list of hiring standards which will become the foundation of your hiring system. Hiring standards are a refined list of job requirements. Hiring standards are the “yardstick” we use to measure and size up candidates’ ability to do the job and their chances of succeeding. After determining hiring standards, they should be carefully documented with clear definitions and descriptions of them. They should be well understood by everyone involved in the process, especially interviewers.

Condensing job requirements into hiring standards looks a little overwhelming with all of that information taped to the wall. And without an organized approach it can be. I use a simple four step procedure to help my clients through this process.

First… As your team was analyzing the job you may have listed some things that you felt a little edgy about because of legal concerns. This happens occasionally. After all, job analysis is a brainstorming session and you’re not experts in labor law. This is the time to consider legalities. If you and your team even suspect that anything on your list is illegal, eliminate it.

Second…eliminate redundancy. You should line out any duplicate requirements that came up during the session. There will always be some redundancy because many of the requirements that come up in your discussions fall into several categories. As a rule of thumb, the more often a requirement comes up in different categories just under scores its importance. You’ll also find similar requirements expressed in a different ways. Some of these can be restated into one standard that encapsulates their meaning. For example, the team may have listed professional appearance, self confidence, and friendly as requirements. They might be consolidated into one standard… personal impact.

Third… Consider the importance of the requirement and debate its relevancy Look at the remaining Job Requirements with a discerning eye. Developing hiring standards is serious business. They will drive your hiring system, and your system will be built around them. You will be making life changing decisions based on them. Your team should ask…”Is this requirement really important? Does it really contribute to job success? If the requirement isn’t important…eliminate it from the list.

Fourth… The last step is prioritizing the remaining job requirements. I use a very simple prioritizing system. Instead of ranking our standards from most important to least important, I use a two tier classification system. Hiring standards should be classified as “Must Have”…or “Preferred”.

A must have standard predicts failure. If a candidate does not meet a must have job standard, we know he’ll fail. Would you hire someone you knew would fail?

Must Have hiring standards are knock outs. They are rigid and never compromised. You should not be willing to train and develop candidates lacking these requirements. If a candidate doesn’t meet a must have standard, he should not be considered for employment – - no exceptions.

Preferred hiring standards predict success. These standards are just as important as your must have standards, but they’re not used as knockouts. The difference is your willingness to train and develop candidates in these areas. A candidate lacking a preferred requirement must have the ability to learn. If not, they should be rejected.

Compromising hiring standards

Sometimes there’s tremendous pressure on managers to compromise hiring standards. In my former life as an operating executive, my managers would often send me totally unqualified candidates that they were recommending we hire. When I talked to the manager I typically heard this excuse… “The market’s bad. It’s different here. I can’t find good people”.

This happened most frequently in good economic times with periods of low unemployment. These managers had a “Tight Labor Market Mentality”. Low unemployment caused them to compromise their hiring standards. They were allowing economic conditions to drive their staffing strategy and hiring standards. Bad decision!

The talents required to run and grow your business should drive hiring decisions – not the unemployment rate. Granted, in times of low unemployment, recruiting talent may be more difficult, expensive, and require some creativity. But your hiring standards must always drive hiring decisions – not economic conditions.

Hiring standards should be the “rock” of your hiring strategy. Enforcing them will bring about needed business change. When my manager insisted that he “couldn’t find good people”, it wasn’t a hollow excuse. But he should have realized that there was a reason he was having trouble finding candidates. In this case, it was his recruiting strategy. His “tight labor market mentality” revealed his dependence on a large number of unemployed people to generate qualified candidates. His recruiting methods needed to be more aggressive and to search for candidates that were currently employed. That might require bringing in some outside recruiting help.

In good economic conditions, the price of talent increases. Enforcing the standards might have required him to raise starting salary. The point is, enforcing hiring standards will flush out problems and force you to question existing strategy and tactics from time to time. On the other hand, compromising standards only covers up the root cause of hiring problems.

Here’s another word of caution. There is nothing wrong with hiring unemployed candidates, assuming they meet your hiring standards. But the business world has changed. In the past, in hard economic times, companies eliminated jobs based on employee tenure – “last in first out”. Tenure earned job security. The trend today is different. Companies value talent and want to preserve it. So in tough economic times, companies release marginal performers first. There is not a hard and fast rule, but recruiting strategies targeting only the unemployed have an added risk of attracting more non-performers.

The dynamic nature of hiring standards

While hiring standards should be rigidly enforced, they are never static. They are subject to change. There are multitudes of reasons for changing them. New technology, changes in your market, changes in strategy, or changes in other internal systems can all impact your high standards. They are dynamic and will require updating from time to time. But there must be a formal procedure for bringing about any change to any standard. The CEO or business owner has the right to assume that the existing hiring standards are in force and being used, unless he approves any change.

Up to this point we’ve been carefully defining qualifications of a hirable candidate. You have “your arms around the job” and clear hiring standards. You know the mistakes to avoid. You have must have and preferred hiring standards. By carefully defining and understanding the job, you’ve taken the first step to stabilize your workforce and lower employee turnover. You know what you’re looking for in candidates. You’ve set the stage for increased performance and lower healthcare costs. The issue now is…how can you determine a candidate’s qualifications? How can you determine how well a candidate satisfies your hiring standards and requirements? That’s the primary objective of a Performance Hiring Process and effective interviewing which will be the subject of my next article.

Performance Leadership, LLC 6504 Clawfoot Ct. Maineville, OH 45039
513- 673-7347

William E. Miller, Performance Leadership, LLC

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How to Become a “Silent Sales Leader”

admin — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 14:40:42 +0000

On this episode of Sales Management Mastery we teach you how to use silent might to empower you sales leadership with 5 powerful techniques.

The longer I used to talk to my salespeople, typically the more silent I would actually become.

This is not usually what sales managers do, and I certainly didn’t start out that way. I was always very much interested them in telling them how much I knew, and I wanted to direct them and lead them in the right direction, so instead of listening to them, I would typically not listen to them and just go on with my own agenda and what I thought that they should do in any particular sales situation.

I quickly learned that some of the best sales managers in the world do the exact opposite. That’s what this show here today is all about; silent might

If talking to your sales people about company strategies or goals, or interviewing your sales people, it’s more important to ask the right questions, than to wait patiently to get the right revealing sort of answers. Trying not to interrupt toward the end of the conversation, when they may let down their defenses and really tell you exactly what the situation is about. It helps you to discuss this critical, sensitive information.

We are going to give you 5 different techniques to use silent might to empower your sales people and enhance your own leadership.

#1 Convey your concern

When you are upset, you usually scold, lecture or yell. At least that is what most people do when they get upset. But try silence instead. You’ll find that a deliberate pause makes others understand that you are annoyed. By showing some silence and blurting out an answer and letting it get the best of you. Showing silence and letting them continue on with whatever they are discussing is a great way to show concern so that they air out their grievance whatever the situation may be.

#2 Build trust

If you are always looking for chances to interrupt or talk over people, they may figure out that you are not interested in their comments at all. Keeping quiet can signal that you’re attentive and sensitive to others’ needs.

During my sales performance appraisal, I will typically allow time to be silent and let them share what they think about the performance appraisal or work contact form. This way they can air out their concerns and talk about things that are specific to them. The only way to do this is and to find out what is on their minds, is to stay silent, and you will also build trust at the same time.

By being quiet, you give them an opportunity to express their opinions at their own pace.

#3 Demonstrate your curiosity

Silence is a good indicator of a well thought out response, instead of just shooting from the hip, because it carries more weight. That way you able to remain silent and stay patient, and it makes others realize that you intend to listen to them.

Demonstrate your curiosity and draw more out of whatever the situation is, a sales call, a sales strategy, a year end performance appraisal, any sort of given situation between yourself and your sale managers this is great opportunity to demonstrate your curiosity and at the same time underscore and reinforces your leadership.

#4 Act as a sounding board

If someone shares a tough decision that he or she is facing, your tendency is to rush in and give advice, and that is not always what the speaker really wants to hear. Silence shows that you are not trying to solve the problem necessarily. And not by saying anything, you can give someone the empathy that they are looking for. You relieve yourself of always having to come up with an answer as well.

They may figure out the answer to issue by continuing to talk. So act as a sounding

#5 Illicit input

When you ask questions, purge yourself of your discomfort if you don’t get a prompt response. Some people need a few seconds to think about things before they speak. I would usually start my meetings by asking lots of questions and then keeping quiet. Some of my best meetings that I ever had were when I had talked very little and the group talked a tremendous amount. People will start talking once you give them the opportunity and you remain silent. That gets us to a more open discussion. One of the best sales meeting that I ever had was when I had no slides, no agenda, just a wall chart with a bunch of magic markers and I said, “obviously there are some issues here, tell me what it is that is most concerning to you and then let’s have an open discussion on how we can collectively solve that particular problem.

Obviously me being the leader, I would help spearhead the solutions. This conversation turned from a bitch session, which I think most sales people are bound to, so make sure that you monitor this very carefully and make sure that it doesn’t turn into just a gripe session. “Gripes go up”, as Tom Hanks said in “Private Ryan”, they don’t go down, so listen to the grip from your sales people, because often behind some of the gripping you will find opportunity.

Another great thing to do as a silent sales manager, at the top of the agenda, say, “okay, you can make any complaint, and make any gripe, but there is one rule, you have to come up with at least one solution.” That way you let yourself off the hook, but also your sales people will come up with some very good solutions to issues, some may not be realistic, but there might be ideas that you have never thought of. Open discussions are tremendous ways to get resolution and creative solutions to problems that you and your sales force are facing, but also it reinforces your ability to be a silent leader.

A great example of silent leadership is from James O’Tooles’ book, “Leadership A – Z”. He talks about Michael Eisner and how he would use silent leadership and questioning to lead the remarkable transformation of Disney Corporation. The Disney that we think of now is this mammoth media power house. But there was a time, twenty or so years ago, when Disney was just an old, aged, not very fresh corporation with an aging library of movies from the 50′s and 60′s. It was not the media powerhouse that it is today.

The man that was responsible for that transformation was Michael Eisner. He used a tremendous amount of silent leadership not only to turn around the corporation but to spurn and foster new ideas. Michael Eisner and his team had formed a design team to find out if either of these attractions could be turned into theme parks that made money.

The design team did all sorts of research for months and months, and they made a large presentation to Eisner. And Eisner listened carefully, and then asked each of the team members question after question. After he did it, it was clear to everyone in the group that he didn’t have any preconceived notion of what the park would look like, but he put himself in the shoes of his potential customers. What would they get for their money? How much would they spend in the park? Would they have lunch in the park? Would they make a return visit? All typical questions that he wanted to find out to determine if people would go to either of their places. Is this going to be a money-making venture for Disney?

Eisner grilled the team until they had realized that they weren’t as far along in their thinking as they had thought because he started to poke holes in their preconceived notions of what either one of these attractions could do for the Disney Corporation.

The team back to the drawing board but they had a slightly tighter deadline that he put them on to find out if they would exercise the options that they had on these properties.

A month later, they came back, and returned in front of Eisner. As he queried them, a consensus grew and built among the team members that they didn’t think that any their ideas could float. They eventually decided not to move forward on these lease options on either one of these properties. They still sit in Los Angeles to this day.

One of the people in the group said, “basically because of Eisner’s questioning and his long pauses and long silences, we finally got the answer to the basic questions that there was no way in hell that anyone could make a silk purse out of this sow’s ear!” As I said, Disney passed on the option.

Let’s look at why this is an example of silent leadership.

During the entire process, Eisner never issued a command, he never barked out an order, he never raised his voice, never badgered or punished or threatened anybody. He didn’t invent the strategy, he didn’t contribute any usable ideas all that he used was silence and questions in order to get his team to come to a conclusion so that it would be the best decision possible.

In this particular case it was to pass on the option.

It could be said, that because of his questioning and silence, he led that effort and led it brilliantly, because he created the conditions for his team to do their best work effectively.

Instead of investing millions of dollars, and finding out later on that it was a money losing venture, they passed on the offer because of his silent leadership.

This brings up a good point, you as a sales leader, do not need to know all of the answers, but you do need to know a lot of the questions. And when you ask those questions, stay silent, so that you can let you sales people give you the ideas and the fuel to create solutions and create more opportunities for enhanced sales. So that together you can lead your company and increase your revenues using the ideas from these feedback sessions.

Just like Michael Eisner did in determining whether the Spruce Goose and the Queen Mary could potentially be entertainment venture for Disney, you can do the same thing for your sales team.

To review

#1 Convey your concern
When you are upset, try silence instead. A deliberate pause often makes others understand that you are annoyed, but you are not coming out and saying that you’ve lost your cool, or that you are angry. It is a very powerful way to convey your concern.

#2 Build trust
If you are always looking for chances to talk over people, keeping quiet is an attentive and respectful way to draw out what others are thinking.

#3 Demonstrate your curiosity.
You’ll find that silence is an indicator of a well thought out response. If you typically shoot from the hip and blurt out answers for whatever issues there are, you may not get much feedback from your audience. Demonstrate your curiosity and it will help your people your people come to their own conclusions as you guide them in the process.

#4 Act as a sounding board
If someone shares a tough decision that they are facing, by not saying anything you can give someone the empathy that they are looking for and you can relieve yourself of having to come up with the answers on your own.

#5 Illicit input
When you ask questions, rid yourself from the discomfort if you don’t know what the direct response is. Some people need a few seconds to thing before they speak. Eventually people will start talking and that will lead to a more open discussion.

Use these 5 techniques in order to become a silent sales leader

To get immediate FREE access to your choice of sales management training at The Sales Management Mastery Academy. Get your own free sales manager training course – you can actually choose which one you want. Free courses include: “How to Motivate Your Sales Reps to Peak Performance”, “How to Turn Around Your Underperformers in 30 Days” and “How To Hire A Sales Superstar”…plus you’ll get dozens of free tools and resources to turn sales managers into top-performing sales managers. Get it today.

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The UPSA Challenge

admin — Mon, 09 Aug 2010 19:25:16 +0000

We are where serious sales professionals come to collaborate, learn, and connect at a higher level. From the CEO to the front-line sales representative, our freely available universal selling framework and professional selling ethical framework help the entire organization improve their selling abilities. We help individuals focus on the customer, achieve desired results, hire based on the the right competencies, and understand strengths and weaknesses.

We Take Your Success Seriously..
In today’s highly competitive market, salespeople struggle to stand out. It’s not good enough to be “accessible,” you have to be different and credible. To us, this means “differentiation through individual leadership.” By taking a leadership role in the profession, you act differently, talk differently, and more importantly, you sell differently. It’s something that buyers notice — no matter where they are across the globe. Our services help you:.

Uniting the Profession..
Self regulation and one-voice. These are the hallmarks of any true profession. When salespeople get together to discuss the UPSA standard, magical things happen.

	Facilitating Real Results… The sales profession has evolved. Now, great salespeople and even their organizations customize their own unique approach based on keen insight and best practices. We support this with a highly effective framework: For Buyers For Salespeople For Organizations For HR, Services, Others

How Do Customers See High Performing Salespeople?

We intuitively know there are skill and proficiency differences between salespeople who consistently achieve high results and those who don’t. The search for defining those differences has been a robust area of discussion and study for many years. The assumption is that if you can define the behaviors that correlate with success, you can hire and/or train to that profile. Competency studies, formal academic research, anecdotal stories, and insights from sales managers and executives have all been the bases of models of high performance that, in the final analysis, revolve around some level of customer focus as a salient, unifying concept as well as on face-to-face, product knowledge and relationship skills.

At C-Lens Index, after working for many years with different sales organizations, we recognize that all these studies and discussions describe a salesperson focused on delivering value through the sales process. That means the customer actually benefits from the sales experience, both before buying anything and throughout the relationship that follows. For example, the discovery process results in new insights about needs and their impact on the business, products and services can be creatively configured to the situation, the salesperson’s resource network can be brought in to help, and application ideas and examples from other sources in the customer’s industry are discussed. To put this example in plain terms, if you are a car insurance consultant then you need to use insightful questioning to ascertain the needs of a particular customer, and use your response to these needs to build rapport and present a solution to the customer’s need. You may add value to the customer’s experience if you compare bike insurance options as well as car insurance options. This is what a superior sales person does. In all, the relationship-through the sales process-becomes an added value from the vendor. Our point of view is that a salesperson who recognizes that delivering this value is the key to his or her role and whose actions reflect that philosophy will be a High Performer compared to those who are otherwise focused on product, fulfillment, or price-based selling.

We’ve been able to identify the behavioral indicators of that value-laden relationship and use them to measure what customers are actually seeing in the sales process. We call those indicators “Sales Actions,” and they mirror the behavior and attitude of a salesperson who is focused on customer value. In a recent C-Lens Index scan for a manufacturing company, we collected data from over 400 customers on their views of their salesperson. We asked them how frequently they saw the sales actions played out and how important those actions were to them. In analyzing the data, we compared the results of salespeople who were identified as High Performers with those identified as Low Performers. These were defined by our client in terms of consistent long-term results as well as reputation in the company for professionalism. In our sample of 58 salespeople, we worked with eight salespeople in each category. The results provide some insights into what customers are seeing High Performers do more frequently than Low Performers.

High Performers Seen Performing All Sales Actions More Frequently

Overall, customers see High Performers demonstrating each and every C-Lens Index sales action to a greater extent than low performers. While this helps to validate the C-Lens items and concept, it also shows that High Performers are seen differently in the eyes of the customer. The average frequency score of High Performers was 64.28 percent while the Low Performers scored 47.75 percent. The larger differences will be discussed below. However, it is important to point out that these sales actions are associated with success, and they are aligned with delivering a value-based experience to the customer. Apparently, customers see this difference.

The Largest Gaps Between High and Low Performers

We identified 12 Sales Actions out of 28 where High Performers scored 20 percentage points or more than Low Performers in terms of frequency as seen by customers. It doesn’t matter what products are being sold whether they are payday loans or investment properties or fancy dress or even an essay writing service, these figures tend to stay true in any market. Since the numbers in the sample were not large enough for statistical comparisons, we felt 20 percent was a sufficient arbitrary difference to note any trends or themes between the groups. The following are the Sales Actions which were the largest gaps between High and Low performers

1. Asks in-depth probing questions to better understand my business and my needs.
2. Discovers what is on my mind by focusing on what I say and how I say it
3. Reassures me that the vendor company’s team working with me has experience and expertise in addressing needs
4. Finds other valuable resources for me that also might help address my needs
5. Always remains diplomatically straightforward in describing issues
6. Tells me how the vendor company, its products and services are uniquely different from other vendors
7. Provides clear, easy-to-understand examples of how the vendor company, its products or services will help me and my own customers
8. Directly and creatively addresses real or perceived concerns that I raise
9. Takes appropriate steps within the vendor company to accomplish tasks for me in a timely manner
10. Uses internal/external experts and resources to maximize the value to me of the vendor company’s products and services
11. Ensures my company and I are receiving the promised benefits of the products and service provided
12. Stays current and informed about my business performance, its strategy, recent changes, and emerging needs

What this tells us about High Performers versus Low Performers is most interesting:

High performers more frequently practice basic face-to-face selling skills. [Asking questions (1) and Listening (3).] We presume that comfort in using these fundamental skills effectively is an indicator of High Performance. Euso The lower frequency by Low Performers may indicate a need for training, lack of experience, differences in coaching and supervision or poor execution.

High performers also are seen more frequently describing product or service uniqueness and examples of how these can be applied. [Tell how uniquely different (6), Provide clear examples (7), other basic face-to-face skills.] Fluency and confidence in product knowledge is apparently an indicator of high performance. It is one thing to describe features and benefits and quite another to tell convincing stories about how product or service uniqueness plays out and how applications actually work for customers.

High performers more frequently bring other resources and expertise that can help the customer to the sales process and, if needed, help solve problems. [Find other resources (4), Creatively address concerns (8), Use internal/external experts (10.] This suggests an openness to leverage value that salespeople have cultivated in their own personal networks as well as to widen out the scope of the customer’s situation and open it up to creative problem-solving. Seeing beyond the immediate set of facts and data is a sophisticated skill that not only requires product and service knowledge, but confidence and knowledge of other applications. Creatively solving problems-whether independently or with internal colleagues-shows a command of concepts and applications and fluency of thinking skills.

High performers show empathy as reflected in reassuring the customer that he or she is in good hands and acting diplomatically. For example a sales consultant for resveratrol would show sympathy with the problem of ageing and assure the prospect that others have had good results from using the product. [Reassures me the team has experience (3) and Always remains straightforward (5).] Is this a matter of higher emotional intelligence or experience in pre-empting difficult situations? These Sales Actions could signify the High Performer is more “tuned in” to the customer’s reactions as the relationship unfolds.

Finally, High Performers are seen as more frequently being invested in the customer’s company and the buyer. [Ensures benefits (11) and Stays current and informed (12).] These are higher-order Sales Actions, requiring an effort and a certain amount of risk by opening up the possibility that the customer is not getting what he or she bought. Hydroxatone Nevertheless, this kind of pro-active inquiry into the outcomes of product and service applications as well as customer status is a mark of being truly interested in serving the customer.

Emerging Profile of High Performers

This study is certainly far from definitive, but it suggests what customers see in high and low performing salespeople. For one thing, customers of high performing salespeople see them demonstrating all the Sales Actions more frequently than Low Performers. While a small number of these Sales Actions are seen only slightly more frequently in High Performers than in Low Performers, most Sales Actions show enough of a gap to stimulate questions about what drives customers to see these differences. It remains to be seen whether these behaviors are more “visible” because of experience, the deliberative nature with which they are applied, or other reasons.

When the more extreme gaps (20 percent +) are examined, an interesting set of suppositions emerges. We will present these as questions rather than as definitive statements that will hopefully create more dialogue about what is at the core of high performance in salespeople.

1. Are High Performers more comfortable and fluent with a broader scope of knowledge about customers, their businesses and how products and services are used than Low Performers?
2. Do High Performers have wider networks and effective working relationships with a variety of resources inside and external to the vendor company?
3. Are High Performers basically more empathetic or at least better able to identify what customers are facing both personally and professionally?
4. Is it possible that High Performers are more engaged with what it takes to make customers satisfied, ensuring the value of product and services and a long-term, profitable relationship?

While these answers are as yet not defined, the data from this study suggest that skills and knowledge go only so far in creating high performing salespeople. PMH If these data are on the right track, then perhaps the path to high performance needs to include educating salespeople about the role they can play in the customer’s business and professional success.

Michael D. Maginn has been working with and studying selling for over 25 years. He has interviewed hundreds of sales people in many different lines of business in developing custom sales training programs, always searching for the behaviors that define high performers. As Vice President, Research and Development for The Forum Corporation, he completed one of a number of landmark sales competency studies and subsequent best-selling sales programs. Since then, as the president of Singularity Group, Hamilton, MA., he has worked with many sales organizations in defining how the sales process can add value to the customer’s experience. He is the designer of C-Lens Index, a sales assessment tool which gathers data on the customer’s view of the sales process as well as the author of 5 Skills of Master Salespeople, available from Amazon.com.

Focus on The Buying Process

In order to increase your chances of making the sale, you must understand the buying process that the average customer goes through before making a decision. This is not a formal process, of course, but a mental process. Some buyers may skip some of the steps depending upon their situation and personality, but if you can determine where your prospect is in this process, you have a much better chance of closing the sale.

The Six Steps of the Buying Process

1. Satisfaction/Dissatisfaction. The prospect has recognized that he or she is either happy with the way things currently are and doesn’t want to make a change, or the prospect is unhappy with the way things currently are and is considering a change.

2. Maybe. The prospect is in an uncertain state of mind, thinking “I might want to do something different, but I might not want to do anything different.”

3. Deciding. The prospect wants to take action but is uncertain what action to take.

4. Gathering information. The prospect is interested in finding out what options are available.

5. Analyzing and comparing. The prospect wants to weigh all of the options before making a final decision.

6. Ripe to take action. The prospect is ready to make a decision.

Every time you come into contact with a prospect whether the product is outdoor furniture or a local product such as flooring Garland or SEO Dallas , their thoughts will no doubt be somewhere on this list of steps. It’s up to you as a professional salesperson to determine which step it is through the questions you ask and the observations you make. Some people go through the steps quickly, and some will spend a good bit of time in each area.

No matter your prospect’s pace, if you rush ahead of them, you will lose the sale. Just as you must learn to understand the prospect’s personality type, you need to understand his or her place in the buying process in order to tailor your presentation accordingly.

People who are in steps one and two, for example, need to be convinced that their current situation could be greatly improved. For example if you are a seller of the e cigarette you need to present a solid argument for why E cigarettes are superior to cigarettes that are simply purchased from the local store. In addition to simply presenting the features, ensure you emphasise the direct benefit to the customer. In the example above this would mean emphasising that E cigarettes do not contain tar or other additives so they are much safer to use and do not produce undesirable odors. A person in step three needs to know how your particular product will improve their circumstances.

For step four, be ready to answer detailed questions and highlight the product’s benefits that are specific to this person’s needs. For example a potential customer needs to hear exactly how Crescent Processing electronic payment services are going to make it easier for their clients to make payments and how it will make business processes also more streamlined before they are ready to move to the next step.

Customers in steps five and six are ready to hear why your product or service – above all others – is the one they should choose.

You have a much greater chance of making a sale if you can determine where your prospect’s mind falls within the six steps. You will be able to ask the right questions and offer the information they need to know without pushing them too far too soon.

J. Garces Jr. is an Internet marketer and author of http://www.myleadgenerationsecrets.com – a guide to getting more leads than you can handle using insider marketing strategies.Do you have marketing and sales skills? If so, then join my team helping to market our big-ticket product and start earning a CEO’s salary!

How to Choose a Sales Training Program

Whether you are a corporate sales executive needing to increase company revenues, a sales manager wanting to improve your team’s results, or a sales professional looking to invest in your own self improvement, you need to evaluate any sales or sales management training course properly before buying it. All courses are not created equal and a high price tag does not necessarily guarantee results.

Do You Really Need Sales Training?

The first decision you need to make in choosing a sales training program is whether you even need sales training in the first place. Is sales training really necessary? To answer that question, you need to look at the facts.

Numerous studies show that 25 percent of sales representatives produce 90 to 95 percent of all sales. Clearly, most sales people are not selling up to their potential and therefore not making the incomes they could, nor producing the revenues they should. Why is this case? It’s not that the job can’t be done because 25 percent are doing it, and doing it well. It’s because the other 75 percent either are not in the right sales position or they truly don’t know how to sell. If all sales people knew and did what the top 25 percent do, then all sales people would be selling more!

You want your mechanic well trained, you want your financial advisor well trained, you want your doctor well trained and yes, you should want your sales team well trained and you would want them to have the best online CRM tool to use for leads and customer management. It is amazing that some companies today spend more on photocopier maintenance than they invest in those employees in charge of driving revenue for the company, the very lifeblood of the business!

Both managers and sales representatives alike need to buy into the fact that, regardless of the years of experience in the trade, the learning should never stop. If most of the sales are produced by so few of the sales representatives, obviously there is room for improvement for the rest. Great sales people and sales managers are not born, they are made! They are the result of hard work, passion, motivation to excellence and most importantly, training.

Why Most Sales Training Programs Fail

Many sales representatives and companies who have invested in sales and sales management training have been disappointed with the results. Icon Res In many cases, after spending tens of thousands of dollars on a training program, there was no positive change in behavior or no measurable improvement in sales results.

The reason for these failures is not because of the size of the investment or the skill level of the participants, it’s because of the methods of the training program itself. As quantified in a study by Dale, the average person forgets 90% of what they hear in a lecture based training program. Yet most sales training courses still consist of only seminars given around a board room table.

When you think about it, lecture based training is like trying to train a professional sports team by inviting a “facilitator” to talk to your athletes about how to play the game and then sending them into competition and expecting them to be successful. Sounds ludicrous, doesn’t it? So why then do so many companies believe they can train their sales people by sending them to training programs where they only listen to a lecture for a few hours and expect them to be able to sell when they hit the streets the next day?

How You Should Evaluate Sales Training Programs

To achieve the desired results from sales or sales management training, you must look for programs that take into account how people learn. As summarized from Sullivan et al, there are eight principals required for effective adult learning:

1. The student should be ready to learn.
2. The program should build on what the student already knows or has experienced.
3. Students should be aware of what they need to learn.
4. A variety of training methods and techniques works best.
5. Opportunities to practice skills are essential for skill acquisition and competency.
6. Repetition is necessary to become competent or proficient in a skill.
7. The more realistic the learning situation, the more effective the learning.
8. Feedback should be immediate, positive and nonjudgmental.

The keys to success are ensuring that each participant has the opportunity to actually practice their newly learned skills (as opposed to just being lectured to), and that each new skill introduced builds on a previous one learned. It is also critical that the participants have access to their trainer/coach after the training course is complete for ongoing feedback and support. Unfortunately, most lecture based sales training programs do not provide any of this, and therefore ultimately fail to provide the desired results.

In addition to the need for practical exercises and ongoing coaching support discussed above, other questions to consider when evaluating sales and sales management training programs include:

• Do the techniques and materials being taught actually produce measurable results? Are the training programs guaranteed? Its one thing for a training company to say they have great programs, but it quite another for them to stand behind them with a guarantee.
• Are you learning from a qualified trainer? Anyone can attempt to provide sales training by reading a book and delivering a seminar. To be successful, your trainer should be experienced, knowledgeable, and have a proven track record of success.
• Are the programs customizable for you and your products? You don’t just want to talk about theories about how to sell any product, you want to be able to put those theories into practice so that you start to sell your product.
• Is there a mechanism like testing or accreditation exams in place to ensure that the participants are learning the materials? If you don’t keep score, how do you know you are winning?
• Are the training programs broken into sessions over a period of time or are they a one shot deal? Sales is a process that can be repeated, but no one is going to learn that process in one afternoon.
• Are the programs available in different formats, like self study programs, online interactive webinars, as well as just the traditional onsite programs? You must consider travel time and expenses when evaluating your training options, and today’s e-learning alternatives may be a better fit to your budget.

There is no question that investing in yourself or your team is the right way to go to point you down the road to achieving your sales potential. However, if you want to improve your sales or sales management training results, then you have to change the way you deliver your sales training!

For a free copy of the B2B Sales Connections Training Program Decision Matrix to help you choose a training program that is right for you, send me an email and I will send you a copy immediately. Whatever program you choose, we wish you nothing but success in your future.

Aim Higher!

Susan A. Enns, B2B Sales Connections

Susan A. Enns is managing partner of B2B Sales Connections, the online sales training website with free sales resources, a specialized sales job board and free resume listing services dedicated only to business to business sales professionals. She has a proven track record of success, with over 22 years of direct sales, management and executive level business to business experience. Her accomplishments include being the top sales rep in Canada, managing the top sales branch, and achieving outstanding sales growth in a national channel sales organization. She has written the downloadable e-courses “Action Plan For Sales Success” and “Action Plan For Sales Management Success”, as well as many automated sales tools, and as the B2B Sales Coach, she writes and edits the company’s newsletter, AIM HIGHER. Currently Susan serves on the Leadership Executive of the Sales Professionals of Ottawa as Vice President. For more information, visit http://www.b2bsalesconnections.com.

Is ‘Sales Profession’ an Oxymoron?

When you hear somebody say, “that Joe is quite a sales guy,” it is usually not intended as a compliment. Sales professionals have even been depicted as shady in children’s cartoons. They are typically saying that Joe is a fast-talking, glad-handing, person who can make you want something that you have heretofore had no need for, and will find no need for once you own one of each of the items he’s selling.

If you are in Sales, you have probably heard these before:

Q: “How can you tell a sales person is lying?”

A: “His lips are moving.”

Q: “Why do lawyers like sales people?”

A: “They give them someone to look down on.”

Sadly, the term sales professional is often seen as an oxymoron, in much the same manner as plastic silverware, accurate forecast, or affordable housing in the metro DC area.

In the interest of complete candor, many of our predecessors, and some of our contemporaries, have earned this less than stellar reputation for our profession. You know who you are, especially if you just felt the urge to stop reading. In the interest of fairness though, every profession has its bad apples. Would you want to face the IRS backed with Enron’s accountants? Or how about looking up at your surgeon to see that he is one of those weight loss infomercial doctors? An entire profession should not be judged by the behavior of a small minority.

The next time you meet a sales person, ask them about their thoughts on the “Ethics Triad.” The Ethics Triad is something that all professionals should have, and the salesperson is no exception. True sales professionals subscribe either consciously or unconsciously to the Ethics Triad – rooted in the trio of questions of “is it legal?” “is it moral?” “is it ethical?”

Is it legal? Are the actions you are considering, or the recommendation you are making conform to the laws of your community, your country, and the policies of your firm? If there is some question in your mind, then you owe it to yourself, your firm, and your customers to review what you are doing with senior management or legal council.

Is it moral? Is what you are doing fair to all parties involved? It is said that a person’s character is measured by what they do when nobody is looking. In the harsh light of day, are you pursuing a course of action that you would be proud to have broadcast on the evening news in your hometown?

Is it ethical? The ethics of the medical profession are rooted in three simple, yet powerful words: do no harm. The ethics of the sales profession can be rooted in three equally simple, and powerful words: serve your customer. The true sales professionals seek to achieve his goals, through helping his customers achieve their goals. By subordinating his wants to the needs of the customer, the sales professional demonstrates his commitment to service, and inoculates himself against the twin demons of temptation and greed.

The most precious asset of the sales professional is his or her reputation in the marketplace. By focusing on your customer, keeping the ethics triad in mind, and building a relationship with your client, you will earn a reputation for being trustworthy, honesty, integrity, and a commitment to service. These are the pillars upon which your professional reputation rests-think about it.

Brian is a highly sought after world-wide speaker, author, and trainer on sales competency, sales performance, sales process, sales professionalism, sales ethics, and sales process.

Find out about Brian at http://www.salestrainingdrivers.com Visit ASTD’s Sales Training Initiative at: http://www.astd.org/communities/salestraining

Selling War – Only The Strong Survive?

Everywhere we turn these days – whether its the media, our co-workers, financial specialists – there is a continual stream of bad news. Horrible economic forecasts, rising costs, unemployment, sales slumps.

EXCUSES! EXCUSES! EXCUSES!

Some people just love to make excuse after excuse when times are tough. Some days are just harder than others – just as the difficulties of raising kids is more difficult at different stages in their lives. We just need to continue to adapt and grow and find new ways to forge through each “stage”.

Selling is selling. Granted, nowadays it harder. We all get that. NO ONE WILL BE ABLE TO JUST SIT BACK AND WAIT FOR A SALE TO HAPPEN. Sales should never be about that. Rather, being a salesman should only be for those who enjoy the process and know that it takes old-fashioned hard work.

In times of economic hardship, a “filtering out” of the so-so salesmen will occur, making room for the others who really strive to put the time in day after day – not making excuses – and do the job they were hired to do.

As sales leaders, we are NOT BUILT TO WAIT FOR THINGS TO COME TO US. Rather, we hunt – and hunt with a vengeance. We need to gather as much business intelligence as we can and use this to guide our sales efforts. We need to be proactive in speaking to our customers and in ”being out there” and present in the market through advertising our services. This doesn’t have to be through highly expensive giant billboards. It can be something much more subtle like custom lanyards with your company logo on them that can be handed out to prospective customers. They will appreciate the freebie and also appreciate the fact that you didn’t ram your sales message down their throats! Not in a negative way, but rather, we hunt with passion, and determination, and the desire to prove to our clients that we deserve their business.

I, personally, am someone who thrives in the current environment. THE WEAK DO NOT BELONG IN SALES.

When salesmen say that “customers just aren’t easy to find” and “it’s impossible to get a sale in this economy”, I fight back and say to myself that it is these times, and this applies to any business, that we begin to separate the strong from the weak.

I just recently did a major renovation to my property. After interviewing various contractors, I would eventually hire the ones who did not come to me all “gangbusters” – who’s ego’s I could feel before they even began talking to me. Rather, I respected the ones who asked many questions, and allowed me to let them know my needs. In other words, I felt as if “I” mattered. Look – in sales, of course it’s all about making money. We all need to make a living. However, this is never something that you want your customer to see or feel during the project. As I stress over and over in my book, relationship selling is the key. Never “over-sell” them. LISTEN LISTEN LISTEN. And then you tell them how you can get them to their goal.

Bad economy or not, we all still need to buy things and services. And we always will. People are just being more cautious about how and where they spend it. Which is why only the strong and competent and deserving salesmen will prosper. People and customers are looking at things with a keener eye. So as sales leaders, we need to sharpen our pencils daily, keep a line of effective communication with our customers, and continue to nurture the business relationship.

Only the strong will survive – as it should be. It sounds harsh, but if you can’t stand the heat, get out of the kitchen.

And those who do survive? STAND PROUD!

Continue to sharpen your skills, ALWAYS LISTEN TO THE NEEDS OF YOUR CUSTOMERS, continue to focus on your strengths and work on areas that you need to improve.

THE SALES ARE STILL OUT THERE….

As a 30-year industry veteran, Marco Giunta has always had a futurist look at IT, and worked with many of the leading companies in the Outsourcing industry, in the likes of Tata, Accenture, Collective Technologies, Storage Networks, Cordiant Communications, Decision One and IBM.

Marco has held various positions of increasing responsibility in management, sales, technology, and business development covering Information Technology, E-commerce, Data Center infrastructure, Startup Companies and enterprise software and communications.

The Sign of a True Sales Pro – Admitting We’re Never Too Good For Coaching

Ringggg. Ringggg. Not my favorite sound in the evening when I am in the midst of all kinds of fun mothering activities – homework, cleaning, and moderating disagreements between teenagers. And yet I picked up the phone…

“Hi Nancy, it’s Virginia.”

Oh, okay, I know who this is…and after some pleasantries…

“I’m calling to tell you about my work because you asked me about my new job the other night.”

Hmmm. Okay.

She continued…”I’m so excited and want you to meet the guys I work with.”

And so the discussion went. Me justifying why I didn’t need to meet these “guys” as I don’t need their services and Virginia giving me more and more options on times and locations because I should meet them. She was determined that I needed to do this because they are so great! And I was determined that I wasn’t taking a half day of my life to meet with anyone I didn’t need to meet with.

I hung up feeling like I had dodged the bullet for now…and went on with my evening.

Forty-five minutes later…Ringggg. Ringggg. Now who?

“Hi, it’s Virginia again. I’m calling to get some advice. Do you have a few minutes?”

Of course…

“I don’t think the conversation went the best before and I want your advice on what I can do to have different outcomes in making my calls.”

What??? Calling a sales expert who trains people to be more successful in sales to ask for advice? Now THAT got me interested! We then had over an hour discussion on the objective of making calls, how to put the focus on the caller instead of our own excitement about what we do, asking good questions and being a great listener. Fortunately, all of these actions are critical skills she had already developed in her years in the medical profession. Now she needed to apply them to her new career in sales.

Virginia showed great professionalism. She did what so many sales professionals will not do. She:

• Evaluated her call objectively
• Acknowledged that it could have gone much better
• Asked for coaching to do better next time

Can you imagine how hard it was for Virginia to pick up the phone and call me back? She realized that these first calls in her new role – to the people she had existing relationships with – could make or break her future. She didn’t get defensive. She listened to the advice, asked for clarification and drilled down to specific actions she could take. And finally Virginia then committed to those actions.

What a great demonstration of strong emotional intelligence!

Rookie or not, Virginia’s willingness to call me back sets her apart from a lot of seasoned sales professionals. I think she has a great career ahead of her with that type of mindset.

What about you? What are you currently doing that isn’t producing the results you want/need? Who can you call for advice or coaching so you can do better? I challenge you to pick up the phone and call them and let us know what you learned.

Sharpenz is dedicated to providing sales managers the resources and tools they need to energize, engage and equip their sales team to sell each week. Our 30-minute power sales booster meetings help companies increase sales by providing the right tools and training – fast. Designed with the busy manager in mind, Sharpenz ready-to-go sales training kits will give your sales team the opportunity to grow and earn more – all in a half hour of power. To learn more, visit http://www.sharpenz.com and sign up for your free ready-to-go sales training kit today!

Three Core Competencies Sales People Must Have Or Develop

Sales training helps you keep it moving! What does it take to be a superstar-sales rep? It’s not easy. There are at least 51 competencies for which a sales rep must excel in order to produce stardom and maximize payouts. A competency is an aspect or the qualities people posses will cause that person to excel in sales. Awareness of competencies is the first step to improving your career. Three related top competencies include “Driving for Results”, being “Action Orientated”, and “Acting with Courage”. There is a fine line between too little of a good thing and too much. Let’s define how much is too much.

Drive for Result… What picture comes in mind when you think about driving for results? You may think about driving a huge truck down the road with the petal to the metal. This competency is about staying focused on pursuing a goal. A person who drives for results is able to appropriately set priorities than dismissing items that might distract him or her from achieving the goal. In achieving goals, the person who drives for results can be counted on for hitting goals consistently. This person is highly prized by her company and by the competition.

Be careful because it is possible to overuse the skill of driving for results. Movies are made up of people that overuse the skill of “Driving for Results”. You can picture the person who pursues goals, getting things done, so much so that they run over people in the process. There are plenty of dead bodies in the wake of this person’s pursuit of the goal. In addition, this person shows no regard for processes, thus, constantly shortcuts processes, causing problems for others to clean up along the way. I’ve managed these types of sales reps in my career. At first I was happy because we were getting sales in the door. The results were great, however, the dead bodies were piled up to the point where I couldn’t ignore that we had an issue. Soon after discovering the dead bodies, I found there were tons of broken promises made to customers. The sales rep that overused the “Drive for Results” had promised services we could not deliver; the customers were unhappy and became disenchanted with our company as a result. Not good.

What does it mean to be action orientated? Being action orientated means having boundless energy to get things done quickly, even difficult challenging items. It means having the ability to seize upon opportunities, even in the spur of the moment. Excellent sales reps know that they need to be prepared to take advantage of opportunities when the opportunities are presented.

As a sales leader, I could easily identify the direct reports were not action orientated enough. There were three signs that these folks were slacking. First, the list of accounts in the pipeline didn’t change and the sales process wasn’t moving forward. This meant that my direct reports were comfortable working with the same people while in the field and were not pushing the envelope to increase the pipeline or expanding the people they were meeting. Second, these sales reps were uncomfortable with trying new strategies. For example, if my direct reports required that a new strategy be planned out to in very concrete terms, then I knew that they were not pushing to expand their skills. Last clue was the inability to ask the client to help move the sales process forward. These sales reps were more comfortable making social calls rather than sales calls.

Is it possible to be too action orientated? You bet. From a personal standpoint, I have been guilty of overdoing it on occasion. How do I know when I am overusing this aptitude? I know I am overdoing it when I forget to follow up on the promises that I made to clients or when I can’t follow up on the promises because there is not enough time in the day to do so. Another sign is that I generated errors in my communications to others. When I review emails and find that the email are riddled with mistakes and make no sense, I know I need to slow down. I also find that when I am moving too fast, I lose my ability to listen to others and that emotionally I lose my temper easily. Be aware that are too much action is harmful.

Last, the word courage comes from the Old French word, “cuer” which means “heart and spirit”. Courage perfectly links with “Drive for Results” and being “Action Orientated” because in order to excel in sales; you must have the courage to act when your inner critic tells you differently and “Drive for Results” when most people would give up. The fact is you will need courage most when you are working with both your external and internal clients to surpass even the toughest goals.

Your inner critic can work against you as you work with your external clients. Each person’s inner critic has different messages of fear. My inner critic, for example, works against me whenever I have to deal with a specific customer type. Explicitly, customers that were highly analytical, skeptical, and short tempered. I usual hear my inner critic indicate that it would take too much time to understand this customer types explicit need and I that there is no way I can bring this person around. In turn, I am tempted to not approach these types of customers or to act timid. The result from listening to my inner critic is disastrous. I have heard the inner critic of others toil against them as well. For example, I hear things like, “This product will never sell” or “There is nothing we can do to stop that customer from leaving us and going to the competition” and “I can’t ask for a higher price, I will lose business.” Unfortunately, the inner critic’s mantras continue even in the face of evidence that says otherwise. It takes courage to question the inner critic and begin to act differently. Questions such as “How can I keep the customer and ask for a better price?”, “How can I keep the customer from going to the competition?”, and “How would I characterizes a customer that would love this product?” help to overcome the inner critic.

It also takes courage to work effectively with internal clients. Your internal clients are the people that are relied upon to get things done for your clients even when you are not there. These may be the people that put together bids, gather pricing, write up custom proposals, approve processes for clients, and act as customer or technical support for your clients. In general, these people, in all likelihood, do not report to you, however, you must be a leader among them. It takes courage to act as a leader. As a leader you must ask that these folks deliver information and deliverables on time and in a professional manner. You are essentially asking these folks to keep promises so that you can, in turn, meet the promises you made with your clients. If your internal clients break their promises, it will take courage to work through the broken promises in a professional, courteous, and effective manner. Becoming a leader among your company is where the average fail and the best sales reps excel. The average sales rep feels it’s the bosses’ job to hold people accountable whereas the best sales reps feel it is their job to hold people accountable.

The best sales reps have the courage to push through even in the most difficult of times and in the face of obstacles. It is because the best have the courage, the will, the heart, and the passion to take action. The best sales reps step up to the plate when working with difficult customers and when dealing with broken promises. The sales leaders step up in effective ways that spurs teams of people to success. In the face of hardship, when others pepper in resistant cynicism and doubt, or their inner critic puts them down, the sales super stars find a way to persevere. In the face of such challenges, the best sales reps are able to utilize their competency of courage, action orientation, and drive for results to produce sales growth.

How do you use this information to improve your career? First, stay balanced. Time management tools and priority lists helps to achieve balance. Stay steady, have a plan, don’t overpromise yet insure that you are moving your sales processes forward. Your goal should be to make sure you are getting right things done and completed correctly. Second, keep track of your stories. Collect stories illustrating the goal you were after, what you did to stay motivated to hit the goal, what you did to stay focused, how did you use others to help you hit your goals, your results, and how you celebrated. It’s important that you collect these stories in real time so that you are able to recant the most important elements of the story. Next, remind your manager of the stories when it comes to employee review time as these stories will help your boss obtain the best raise for you. Last, record these stories in your brag book so that should an awesome job opportunity come your way, you can present the stories during your interview.

Devynn King is dedicated to helping sales professionals meet their sales career potential. Helping people meet their full potential not only requires sales excellence, it also requires the ability to dream for more and ask for more. Devynn King has done just that. She is an excellent sales professional, delivering double digit growth for her company’s year after year and has advanced her career through many different positions, up to and including multiple leadership positions. Devynn wants empower you to achieve personal, professional, and sales career transformations. Claim the Sales Tips to take your sales results to another level today.

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Better Sales is Understanding ‘What’ Not ‘How’

admin — Tue, 03 Aug 2010 17:49:23 +0000

You try everything. Be better. Do faster. More calls. More appointments. Feed the funnel. Fill the pipeline. Drive to close. Drive to open. Drive. Drive. Drive.

What can you do – to do more, with less? Is ‘more’ the right focus? Do you really have ‘less’? More what? Less what?

The answer is not to continue to beat yourself up over the myriad of reasons why a sale was booked or not. The answer is to better understand how your selling style and your target’s buying style can integrate.

What does it take to make a sale lately?

In Sales, we used to focus on the “Sales Cycle.” Maybe you still do? The problem with the traditional definition of the ‘Sales Cycle’ is that it is focused on YOU and not on your prospect. More recently, the focus has shifted to the ‘Buying Cycle’ and learning how to synchronize it to gain a win-win relationship. To sell successfully in today’s market, your focus must be on the integration of the ‘Sales Cycle’ and the ‘Buying Cycle’ into an overall sales system based on trust, ethics, win-win, and driving towards a transaction. This “commerce cycle” is rooted in the buying and selling relationship, with special emphasis on value – the value that both the buyer and seller each bring to the relationship.

Commerce is a much more applicable term to understand the complete nature of selling, where the acts of buying and selling integrate. Just like the laws of nature, for every action there is an opposite reaction. The same holds true for sales.

To leverage the ‘Commerce Cycle’ it is important to understand: 1) the buyer(s) and his/her buying cycle(s), 2) your sales cycle, and 3) how and when the two intersect. A variation of this approach used to be referred to as ‘reducing the sales cycle.’ In reality nothing was reduced, you just learned when to engage. Understand the buyer(s), and the buying cycle(s), and you will understand the commerce cycle – then you will be widely successful.

All sales professionals, no matter their functional area of expertise should be able to understand the strengths and weaknesses of their selling abilities in their various markets. Having a “universally functional” understanding will help you attain higher levels of sales success. Various examples of universal functionality may include: solution selling methodologies, commodity selling methodologies, high volume selling methodologies, and methodologies used when selling a service.

It’s a cluttered sales world out there, and you need to develop a model that helps you better understand the balance of selling and buying in today’s global economy. The model you develop must be rooted in an understanding of the seller’s activities and the buyer’s activities. Strive to make your model open and flexible to account for faster or slower sales cycles.

From the CEO to the front-line sales representative, the key is to develop an organizational understanding of the processes and framework of professional selling. Professional sales people are the revenue generating engines of any company. Yet few sales people are measured on standardized metrics of performance. Often, a “what works for you, won’t work for anyone else” approach is taken when it comes to training and nurturing the professional sales person.

Driving your sales means to understand “What” the sales profession is. To do that, you must continuously improve and seek the help of books, tapes, seminars, and others. Find the “what” as it pertains to you – the truth is out there.

Brian is a highly sought after world-wide speaker, author, and trainer on sales competency, sales performance, sales process, sales professionalism, sales ethics, and sales process.

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An Interesting Analogy?

admin — Sun, 13 Aug 2006 16:03:46 +0000

Pretend it is 1,000 years ago and you are brought into a cave and handed a sharp object to use as a scalpel. You are told to operate on someone laying on a table, and take out their “pain.” Of course, you have had no formal training in this–and you tell your mentor of your concern.

He doesn’t let you operate on your patient this time. You are told that you can watch him and others plenty of times, but there are “no silver bullets” to finding “the way.” After 1 week, you have watched some operations. Then your “VP of Cave Medicine” comes to you. She tells you that you must complete 1 operation a day in order to get paid, and no less than 30 operations in a month. Of course, your formal training will begin in 45 days.

You don’t start off too well. You “save” some, you “lose” some. “It’s OK,” you hear from your cave mates.

Then, the big training day arrives!

You are trained on:

How to cut someone open
How to take out their pain. It’s called an appendix, you learn!
How to ask questions to diagnose their pain
How to conduct more operations in less time
How to fill out your paperwork using graphite rocks
How to work your “cave operation funnel” so you always have an operation waiting!
Back into the fray you go!

You’re really bad at this! You approach others that have been conducting these operations for years for help. You are told great sayings like:

“Hang in there, you’ll figure it out!”
“Be patient, you’ll find your way one day!”
“The more you cut on someone, the more apt you are to figure it out!”
“Increase the amount of operations you conduct and you’ll save more lives!”
Again, you “save” some, and you “lose” some, it’s ok.

And then comes the shock:

“You are not conducting enough successful operations. You must now perform double the amount, and you’ll be more successful!” It’s all about how many operations you can line up. Don’t worry about the ones that didn’t make it. You’ll get better! at what, you wonder…
Then, you read some books. And the books tell you things like “only certain personality types will ever be successful at cave operating!” Of course, you think, it’s not everyone who can repeatedly lose someone on the operating table…

Welcome to the state of the Sales Profession today.

UPSA believes that if you are given the WHAT of the profession, you will learn how to plug in the “HOW” more effectively. Just as no doctor would ever cut on someone without truly understanding the “WHAT”, UPSA believes understanding the “WHAT” of Sales will lead to a much “safer” sales environment. Just as medicine is a serious field, Sales is a serious business.

Billions of dollars are at stake–welcome to the new paradigm, and the new beginning.

To complete the analogy, if we give you the information about the “digestive system,” “nervous system,” “cardiovascular system,” etc, you will have a framework that you can plug your knowledge into.

The UPSA Certification gauges your understanding of this framework. Just like the human body, it is universal, timeless, and able to be studied.

Companies in the US and abroad, as well as colleges and universities, are key players in creating this brand-new “education system” for Sales professionals.

—> Cops

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The UPSA Ethical Code, Code of Conduct, and Buyer’s Bill of Rights

admin — Fri, 09 Jun 2006 19:05:45 +0000

Introduction

Many salespeople do not get formal training on what is “right” vs. what is “wrong” in business. With increased pressure due to legal, governmental, and environmental regulations, salespeople must ensure they protect the rights of all key stakeholders in the sales process as well as protect themselves, their company and the buyer from harm.

The guiding premise of an ethical focus in selling is found within UPSA’s standards document titled the Professional Selling Ethics Framework.

The UPSA Ethical Code provides a guideline for the minimally acceptable code of conduct for professional selling. The Ethical Code is overseen by the UPSA Ethics Committee a volunteer group of salespeople who will arbitrate any ethics cases brought forth regarding any Certified & Registered Sales Professional. All UPSA members must comply with the UPSA Ethical Code. Any UPSA member who witnesses a violation of the code has a duty to bring that violation to the UPSA ethics committee for action. Only UPSA members and certified individuals may face repercussions from UPSA (including “blacklisting,” lifetime bans from the association, etc), but all salespeople are strongly encouraged to comply.

The Code of Conduct expresses concise statements that summarize the Ethical Code and the Professional Buyer’s Bill of Rights. The Code of Conduct should serve as a guide for salespeople during their day-to-day selling activities. While the Code of Conduct is extremely relevant, it will not provide a “black and white” answer to every situation. When in doubt, salespeople should consult the ethical code and Professional Buyer’s Bill of Rights in their entirety.

The Professional Buyer’s Bill of Rights is a statement designed to guide individual sales professionals in their relationship with buyers during the pre-contracting (sometimes called ‘pre-sales’) phases of the buyer-seller relationship. While in the pre-contracting phase, buying and selling companies are not legally bound to each other, this document facilitates a professional commitment by UPSA members during this critical time.

After the contracting phase, when the buying and selling organizations are legally bound, the UPSA Ethical Code and Code of Conduct becomes the guiding document for UPSA members.

Introducing the UPSA Ethical Code, Code of Conduct and Buyer’s Bill of Rights for Salespeople

The UPSA Ethical Code

1.7.2 Member Standards of Conduct

1. These ethical standards identify those principles that should be followed by all members of the Association as set forth in the bylaws of the Association. Accordingly for the purposes of this code and the disciplinary rules the word ‘member’ refers to students, associate members and corporate representatives, as well as members of the Association as defined in its articles of Association. A member who contravenes the code may be guilty of professional misconduct or of acting in an unprofessional manner. In that case, a complaint may be made against him under the Association’s disciplinary rules.

2. There are members of the Association engaged in different aspects of the Profession (i.e. Customer Service, Pre-Sales, Tele-Sales, Inside Sales, Outside Sales, Solution Selling, Commodity Selling, etc.). Some members are self-employed either on their own or in partnership; others are employed by corporations and partnerships. As the principal object of the Association is to serve as the professional body for those engaged in a wide-variety of professional selling disciplines.

3. Throughout these standards, masculine pronouns are intended to refer to members of either gender.

1.7.3 Fundamental Principles

The fundamental principles governing the conduct of a member of the United Professional Sales Association are:

1. Integrity, which includes:

* avoiding conflict between the member’s private self-interest and that of his/her employer or clients;
* serving his/her employer, or, where applicable, his/her professional clients, honestly and in good faith;
* acting honestly and in good faith towards all those outside his/her own organization (in addition to those mentioned above) who deal with him or her;
* fulfilling the duties of trust owed by reason of the actual appointment or appointments held by him/her; and
* upholding, in whatever way is appropriate to the Sales profession, the standards of integrity and fair dealing required for the honest conduct of business and for the effective of functioning the financial markets in which the member or his/her employer(s) play a part.

2. Independence in making professional judgment and in giving opinions and statements with the best of intentions–and with the client’s or prospects best interest at heart.

3. Quest for true understanding of the needs, goals, and problems of a client or prospect.

4. Courtesy and consideration to all with whom he has contact in his professional work.

5. Professional competence, which includes:

* compliance with the technical and professional standards expected of him not only as a member of the Association, but also by virtue of the seniority and responsibility of his position; and
* carrying out his duties with reasonable care and skill, particularly where his failure to do so could adversely affect members of the public, persons, including corporate executives, dealing with his employer or, where applicable, professional clients or prospects.

* never prescribe a solution without completing the due diligence effort to fully understand the client or prospect
* confidentiality, which includes refraining from using for his own purpose, or for some other improper purpose, information obtained in the course of his employment or in the performance of his duties, or which he knows to be of a confidential nature.

* Compliance with the codes and rules of other professional bodies to which the member belongs.

1.7.4 Relationships and Duties.

1. A member who engages in the selling function has duties derived from the fundamental principles set out in the above section, to a number of different classes of people.
The first such class is his or her own employer. The nature of the sales professional’s employment can breed conflicts of interest, especially where other parties place special trust in the integrity of the sales professional by virtue of his membership and professional standing. The member must avoid misleading those parties not only by misstatements, but also by omitting material information. Where this type of conflict of interest causes difficulty, the member should seek legal advice or request guidance from the Association.
2. Another class of people to whom a duty is owed is members of the public or others likely to read and act on documents which the member prepares for use outside his own organization. Examples are an offer document, a proposal, a disclosure letter, an e-mail or an article in a newspaper.
3. A third class is represented by Corporate Executives and other authorizing buying agents and others with whom a member deals on his employer’s behalf in the course of his duties. Here too his professional duty is to honor the trust which such outside parties may reasonably place in him or her as a member and by virtue of his appointment. Whenever this causes conflicts of interest, he or she should ensure that the outside parties understand his or her position clearly, and, if he or she thinks it appropriate to do so, seek legal advice or guidance from the Association.
4. A fourth class is his or her fellow employees, and particularly his or her junior staff (if applicable), who look to him or her as a person of professional integrity. Particular care should be emphasized with fellow employees in the Customer Service, Sales Management, Sales Support, Marketing, and/or Fulfillment or Production areas.

2. The duties described in the principles above should be complied with, so far as applicable, by members working as sales professionals who are not members, or others engaged in selling activities, support, or training. All members of the Association must comply with the principles above.

3. Members who are employed but who are not engaged in the activities covered by the above will have analogous relationships. They too must conduct themselves in those relationships in accordance with the principles and duties contained in the above paragraphs.

4. Members of UPSA must comply with:

* the rules of any other profession to which they belong; and
* the normal standards of a professional in practice, including courtesy towards competitors, care on behalf of their client’s interests, safeguarding client’s proprietary information entrusted to them, and maintaining the respect in which the public holds their profession.

* In addition, every member has a professional and collegiate relationship with his fellow members of the Association.

5. He or she must avoid any impairment of his or her integrity and independence of judgment, especially in the choice of parties to deal with on his employer’s behalf.

6. He must ensure that his employer is aware of, and has agreed to, any personal business that he may conduct with parties who also conduct or seek to conduct business with his employer, and disclose any benefits thereby received or to be received by him.
7. Members not engaged in professional selling should follow the same principles where analogous issues arise.

The Professional Buyer’s Bill of Rights

This is my pledge to you as my buyer.

You are entitled to the following rights during the pre-contract (pre-sales or pre-purchase) phase of our relationship:

1. The Right to Have Your Needs Put First.
1. I will put your professional needs as a buyer in front of my own personal needs
2. I will put the needs of your company and your company’s needs in a solution first
2. The Right to Information.
1. I will provide information about the product or service in the manner that you request
2. I will make time to work with you and demonstrate my product and services according to your schedule
3. The Right to the Facts.
1. I will provide you with the benefits and drawbacks of the solution(s) I recommend without exaggeration or withholding information
2. I will advise you on each product and/or service I sell as it relates to your organization’s business requirements, financial capabilities, and usage requirements
4. The Right to a Fair Price.
1. I will offer solutions which are within reach of your organization’s financial ability and comfort level
2. I will offer my products and services at pricing that represents what is considered fair in the marketplace
1. I will negotiate in good faith
5. The Right to Respect.
1. I will uphold my duties of buyer loyalty, obedience, confidentiality, disclosure, accounting, and due care
6. The Right to Confer
1. I will respect your right to obtain advice from others on your buying team as well as others whom you trust
2. I agree to help you through the due diligence phase of your purchase by providing requested documentation and buying support (if requested)
7. The Right to Objective Advice.
1. I will make recommendations to you based on your needs as a buyer
2. I agree to make every appropriate solution available to you that meets or exceeds your stated needs and wishes and which my organization sells.
8. The Right to Confidentiality & Disclosure.
1. I will keep information about you and your organization confidential
2. I will disclose potential conflicts of interest to all relevant parties
9. The Right to Professional Competency & Integrity.
1. I will act in accordance to the UPSA Ethical Code and Code of Conduct at all times in our buying-selling relationship
2. I will do everything I can to make the transaction go as smoothly as possible for you
10. The Right to Expedient Service.
1. I will return calls and contact requests diligently, and I will keep you informed
2. If requested, I will give you a proposal of the actual deliverables and scope of our engagement before you make an offer to purchase it
11. The Right to Comfort and Confidence.
1. It is my desire that you are comfortable and confident in my ability to serve you at all times
12. The Right to Exit.
1. Therefore, if at any time, you desire to cancel this relationship before the contracting phase, I will honor your wishes

Member Code of Conduct

1.7.1 Member Code of Conduct

As an individual engaged in the selling profession, UPSA members pledge to uphold and abide by the following:

* I will maintain high standards of integrity and professional conduct
* I will accept responsibility for my actions
* I will continually seek to enhance my professional capabilities
* I will sell with fairness and honesty
* I will encourage others in the profession to act in an ethical and professional manner

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Privacy & Terms of Service

admin — Sun, 09 Apr 2006 19:39:09 +0000

This policy is valid for one month from the time you visit our site. If our information practices change in the future, we will use only data collected from the time of the policy change forward for these new purposes, or we will contact you before we use your data for these new purposes and offer you the ability to opt out of these new uses.

For Web site visitors who make purchases or otherwise sign on to our site

When you sign on to our site or make a purchase, we collect your name, company name, contact information, profile and preference information.

When you make a purchase we also collect your credit card information, as well as information about your current purchase and we keep information on your purchase history.

This information is used by us and/or our agents: to support your interaction with our site, to deliver your purchases and to contact you again about other services and products we offer. We may also share your name and geographic address with other reputable companies who have offers we think may interest you. These marketers may in turn contact you.

Addresses and phone numbers

If you give us your postal address, we will send you periodic mailings with information on new UPSA products, services or information on upcoming UPSA events. You may also receive business mailings from other reputable companies.

If you supply us with your telephone number, you may receive telephone contact from us with information regarding orders you have placed, new products and services or information on upcoming events.

If you do not wish to receive mailings or phone calls from the UPSA in the future or if you do not wish us to provide other reputable marketers with your mailing information, please let us know by sending an e-mail to admin [at] upsa-intl.org (replace[at] with @.

E-mail addresses

We collect the e-mail addresses of those who communicate with us by e-mail. The e-mail addresses are used to contact existing or potential business customers. We will not share business e-mail addresses you give to us with other marketers.

If you do not want to receive future e-mail from The UPSA, please let us know by sending an e-mail to admin [at] upsa-intl.org (replace[at] with @.

Cookies

All visitors we place cookies on all Web site visitor hard drives to collect aggregate information on the number of visitors to our site and the number of pages viewed.

Registered visitors we place unique identifier cookies on the hard drives of those who sign on which are used to maintain the visitor “sign on” status for the duration of the visit, for one-time customizing/tailoring of your visit and for long-term storage of user preferences. We also use cookies to track the pages visited by a visitor so that we can deliver UPSA Web content based on the visitor’s profile (as provided by the visitor) and the visitor’s past activity on the UPSA Web site.

General information cookie information is used only by The UPSA and our agents and is not provided to any other organization. It is used in aggregate for traffic analysis and to provide relevant information to our visitors. It is also used for Web site and system administration, including research and development, user analysis and business decision-making.

For Web site visitors who do not make purchases or otherwise identify themselves�

If you do not sign on to our Web site, our Web server does not have access to personally identifiable information about you. It does not know your e-mail address unless you volunteer it. At the same time, much of The UPSA’s communication comes in the form of e-mail, so by not sharing your e-mail address you will have limited access to The UPSA’s newsletters and other valuable information.

Clickstream Data

We collect click-stream data and HTTP protocol elements through access logs. This information is not personally identifiable and is used for Web site and system administration including: research and development, user analysis and business decision-making.

Access

Upon your request, we will provide you with a description of the information that we maintain about you. We will accommodate all reasonable requests.

Security

We use industry-standard encryption technologies when transferring and receiving payment data. We have security measures in place in our physical facilities to protect against the loss, misuse, or alteration of information that we have collected from or about you.

Terms of Use

Welcome to your United Professional Sales Association (UPSA) Web site, upsa-intl.org (the “Site”). In consideration of your use of the Site, you agree to the United Professional Sales Association Privacy Policy and the following General Terms of Use:

1. UNITED PROFESSIONAL SALES ASSOCIATION MEMBER ACCOUNT

You will receive a password and account designation upon completing the site’s registration process. You are responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of your password, and are fully responsible for all activities that occur under your password. You agree to (a) immediately notify the United Professional Sales Association of any unauthorized use of your password or account or any other breach of security, and (b) ensure that you exit from your account at the end of each session. The United Professional Sales Association cannot and will not be liable for any loss or damage arising from your failure to comply with this provision.

You are responsible for ensuring that no unauthorized person shall have access to your password(s) or account(s). It is your sole responsibility to (1) control the dissemination and use of your passwords; (2) authorize, monitor, and control (a) access to, and (b) use of your UPSA account(s) and password(s); (3) promptly inform UPSA if you wish to deactivate a password(s). You grant UPSA and all other persons or entities involved in the operation of the UPSA Site the right to transmit, monitor, retrieve, store, and use your information in connection with the operation of UPSA Site. UPSA cannot and does not assume any responsibility or liability for any information you submit to UPSA Site, or for your or third parties’ use or misuse of information transmitted or received using the UPSA Site.

2. USE OF THE SITE

You understand that all information, including but not limited to data, text, software, music, sound, photographs, graphics, video, messages or other materials, (the “Materials”), are the sole responsibility of the person from which such Materials originated. This means that you, and not the United Professional Sales Association, are solely responsible for all Materials that you upload, post, email, transmit or otherwise make available (collectively “Upload”) via any portion of the Site. We do not control all of the Materials posted via the Site and, as such, cannot and do not guarantee the accuracy, integrity or quality of such Materials. You understand that by using the Site, you may be exposed to Materials that may be offensive or objectionable. Under no circumstances will the United Professional Sales Association be liable in any way for any Materials, including, but not limited to, for any errors or omissions in any Materials, or for any loss or damage of any kind incurred as a result of the use of any Materials Uploaded via the Site. You agree to not use the Site to: (i) Upload any Materials that are unlawful, harmful, threatening, abusive, harassing, tortious, defamatory, vulgar, obscene, libelous, invasive of another’s privacy, hateful, or racially, ethnically or otherwise objectionable; (ii) impersonate any person or entity, including, but not limited to, an United Professional Sales Association representative, or misrepresent your affiliation with a person or entity; (iii) Upload any Materials that you do not have a legal right to make available or that infringe any patent, trademark, trade secret, copyright or other proprietary rights of any party; and (iv) Upload any unsolicited or unauthorized advertising, promotional materials, “junk mail,” “spam,” “chain letters,” “pyramid schemes,” or any Material that contains software viruses or the like. You understand and agree that the United Professional Sales Association does not pre-screen Materials, but that we and our designees shall have the right in our sole discretion to refuse or remove any Materials posted to the Site.

The United Professional Sales Association and their respective agents and representatives, both individually and collectively, make no representations with respect to the contents hereof and specifically disclaim any other warranties, including but not limited to implied or express warranties of merchantability or fitness for any particular usage, application or purpose. The material provided on the United Professional Sales Association’s Site is designed for educational and entertainment purposes only.

The information on the United Professional Sales Association’s Site is provided with the understanding that the Association is not engaged in rendering medical advice or recommendation. You should not rely on any information in text files, messages, or articles on this page to replace consultations with qualified health care professionals to meet your individual medical needs. Materials copyrighted by the United Professional Sales Association are for personal use only. Permission to otherwise reprint or electronically reproduce any document in part or in its entirety is expressly prohibited, unless prior written consent is obtained from the rightful owner or the United Professional Sales Association.

The compilation of information on the United Professional Sales Association’s Site, including the design and organization is copyrighted and may not be reprinted nor electronically reproduced. Information copyrighted or owned by any individual or entity other than the United Professional Sales Association is for personal use only.

3. TERMINATION OF USE

You agree that the United Professional Sales Association, in its sole discretion, may terminate your password, account (or any part thereof) or use of the Site, and remove and discard any Materials within the Site, for any reason. The United Professional Sales Association may also in its sole discretion and at any time discontinue providing the Site, or any part thereof, with or without notice. You agree that any termination of your access to the Site under any provision hereof may be effected without prior notice, and acknowledge and agree that the United Professional Sales Association may immediately deactivate or delete your account and all related information and files in your account and/or bar any further access to such files or the Site. Further, you agree that the United Professional Sales Association shall not be liable to you or any third-party for any termination of your access to the Site.

4. USE OF UPLOADED MATERIALS

The United Professional Sales Association does not claim ownership of Materials you Upload on the Site. Should you Upload Materials via the Site (either by offering suggestions via e-mail or participating in any interactive opportunities available on this Site from time to time), such information shall be considered non-confidential and the United Professional Sales Association shall have no obligation of any kind with respect to such information, and shall be free to use any ideas, concepts, or information contained in such Materials without any obligation and, for any purpose, including but not limited to developing, manufacturing, and marketing products incorporating such information. In addition, you grant the United Professional Sales Association a world-wide, royalty free and non-exclusive license with respect to Materials to use, distribute, reproduce, modify, adapt, publicly perform and publicly display such Materials on the Site (i) to provide and promote the specific portion of the Site to which such Materials were submitted or made available, and (ii) for the purpose for which such Materials were submitted or made available. You agree to indemnify and hold the United Professional Sales Association, and its affiliates, officers, agents, partners, and employees, harmless from any claim or demand, including reasonable attorneys’ fees, made by any third party due to or arising out of Materials you Upload, your use of the Site, your connection to the Site, or your violation of any rights of another. UPSA retains the right to turn over any materials if legally requested to do so.

FORUMS AREA

Information shared in the Forum Area of this site is not reviewed by the United Professional Sales Association (UPSA). This site is provided for you to share personal experiences about selling . UPSA cannot be held liable for any recommendations made by users and visitors to our web site. If you are aware of a copyright violation, please contact webmaster@upsa-intl.org.

Protecting the privacy of the very young is especially important. For that reason, children under age 13 are prohibited from entering the UPSA Forums Area. The UPSA adheres to the 1998 Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA). (For more information visit the Federal Trade Commission’s COPPA site at http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/conline/edcams/kidzprivacy/adults.htm)

By using the Forums area, you signify your assent to site Terms of Use.

Your privacy is important to us. To better protect your privacy we provide a notice explaining our online information practices and the choices you can make about the way your information is collected and used. By agreeing to this Terms of Use, you also have signified assent to the United Professional Sales Association Privacy Policy.

If you participate in the Forums area within the UPSA Site, you cannot:

Participate if you are under the age of 13.

Advocate illegal activity or discuss illegal activities;

Post or distribute any vulgar, obscene, discourteous, unlawful, obscene, defamatory, unwelcome, threatening, harassing, abusive,

slanderous, hateful, or indecent language or images or embarrassing to any other person or entity as determined by UPSA in its sole discretion;
Advertise, sell to or solicit others;

Make any bigoted, hateful, or racially offensive statements;

Use the Forum for commercial purposes of any kind;

Post or distribute any software or other materials that contain a virus or other harmful component;

Post material or make statements that do not generally pertain to the designated topic or theme of any chat room or bulletin board;

Use a Forum for any purpose in violation of local, state, national, or international laws;

Post or distribute any material that infringes and/or violates any right of a third party or any law, including the intellectual property rights of others or the privacy or publicity rights of others;

Continue to post comments after receiving a warning;

Post chain letters or pyramid schemes;

Impersonate another person;

Harvest or otherwise collect information about others, including email addresses, without their consent;

Allow any other person or entity to use your identification;

Post the same note more than once or “spam”; or

Engage in any other conduct that restricts or inhibits any other person from using or enjoying the Forums Area of the Site, or which, in the judgment of UPSA, exposes UPSA or any of its customers or suppliers to any liability or detriment of any type.

You are solely responsible for your own communications within the Forums Area, the consequence(s) of posting these communications and your reliance on any communications found in the Forum Areas. In cases where you feel threatened or believe someone else is in danger, you should contact your local law enforcement agency immediately. If you think you may have a medical emergency, call your doctor or 911 immediately. When participating in a Forum, never assume that people are who they say they are, know what they say they know, or are affiliated with whom they say they are affiliated. Information obtained in the Forums Area may not be reliable, and it is not a good idea to make any decisions based solely or largely on information you cannot confirm. The UPSA cannot be responsible for the content or accuracy of any information, and shall not be responsible for any decisions made based on such information.

UPSA reserves the right (but is not obligated) to do any or all of the following:

Investigate an allegation that a communication(s) do(es) not conform to the terms of this section and determine in its sole discretion to remove or request the removal of the communication(s);
Remove communications that are abusive, illegal, or disruptive, or that otherwise fail to conform to these Terms of Use;
Terminate a user’s access to the Forums Area and/or the UPSA Site upon any breach of these Terms of Use; or
Monitor or disclose any communication in the Forums Area.

UPSA reserves the right to remove postings from any Forum at any time and for any reason. UPSA reserves the right to take any action it deems necessary to protect the personal safety of our guests or the public. However, UPSA assumes no liability or responsibility to users of the UPSA Site or any other person or entity for performance or nonperformance of the aforementioned activities.

5. GENERAL PRACTICES

You acknowledge that the United Professional Sales Association may establish general practices and limits concerning use of the Site, including without limitation, the maximum number of days that Uploaded Materials will be retained by the Site, the maximum disk space that will be allotted on the United Professional Sales Association’s servers on your behalf, and the maximum number of times (and the maximum duration for which) you may access the Site in a given period of time. You acknowledge that the United Professional Sales Association reserves the right to remove accounts. You further acknowledge that the United Professional Sales Association reserves the right to change these general practices and limits at any time, in its sole discretion, without notice.

6. LINKS TO OTHER SITES

The Site may provide links to other World Wide Web sites or resources. You acknowledge and agree that the United Professional Sales Association has no control over such sites and resources and is not responsible for the availability of such external sites or resources, and does not endorse and is not responsible or liable for any Materials, advertising, products, or other materials on or available from such sites or resources. You further acknowledge and agree that the United Professional Sales Association shall not be responsible or liable, directly or indirectly, for any damage or loss caused or alleged to be caused by or in connection with use of or reliance on any such Materials or goods available on or through any such site or resource.

7. UNITED PROFESSIONAL SALES ASSOCIATION’S PROPRIETARY RIGHTS

You acknowledge and agree that the Site and any necessary software used in connection with the Site (“Software”) contain proprietary and confidential information that is protected by applicable intellectual property and other laws. You further acknowledge and agree that Materials contained in sponsor advertisements or information presented to you through the Site or advertisers is protected by copyrights, trademarks, patents or other proprietary rights and laws. Except as expressly authorized by the United Professional Sales Association, you agree not to modify, rent, lease, loan, sell, distribute or create derivative works based on the Site or the Software, in whole or in part. The United Professional Sales Association grants you a personal, non-transferable and non-exclusive right and license to use the object code of its Software on a single computer; provided that you do not (and do not allow any third party to) copy, modify, create a derivative work of, reverse engineer, reverse assemble or otherwise attempt to discover any source code, sell, assign, sublicense, grant a security interest in or otherwise transfer any right in the Software. You agree not to modify the Software in any manner or form, or to use modified versions of the Software, including (without limitation) for the purpose of obtaining unauthorized access to the Site. You agree not to access the Site by any means other than through the interface that is provided by the United Professional Sales Association for use in accessing the Site.

8. DISCLAIMER OF WARRANTIES AND LIMITATION OF LIABILITIES

YOU EXPRESSLY UNDERSTAND AND AGREE THAT THIS SITE AND THE CONTENT ARE PROVIDED “AS IS”. THE UNITED PROFESSIONAL SALES ASSOCIATION, ITS AGENTS, AND ITS SUPPLIERS, TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW, DISCLAIM ALL WARRANTIES, EITHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, STATUTORY OR OTHERWISE, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, NON-INFRINGEMENT OF THIRD PARTIES’ RIGHTS, AND FITNESS FOR PARTICULAR PURPOSE. SPECIFICALLY, THE UNITED PROFESSIONAL SALES ASSOCIATION, ITS AGENTS, AND ITS SUPPLIERS MAKE NO REPRESENTATIONS OR WARRANTIES ABOUT THE ACCURACY, RELIABILITY, COMPLETENESS, CURRENTNESS, OR TIMELINESS OF THE CONTENT, SOFTWARE, TEXT, GRAPHICS, TOOLS, LINKS, OR COMMUNICATIONS PROVIDED ON OR THROUGH THE USE OF THE SITE.

IN NO EVENT SHALL UNITED PROFESSIONAL SALES ASSOCIATION, ITS AGENTS, ITS SUPPLIERS, OR ANY THIRD PARTIES MENTIONED ON THE SITE BE LIABLE FOR ANY DAMAGES (INCLUDING, WITHOUT LIMITATION, INCIDENTAL AND CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES, PERSONAL INJURY/WRONGFUL DEATH, LOST PROFITS, OR DAMAGES RESULTING FROM LOST DATA OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION) RESULTING FROM THE USE OR INABILITY TO USE THE WEBSITE OR THE CONTENT, WHETHER BASED ON WARRANTY, CONTRACT, TORT, OR ANY OTHER LEGAL THEORY, AND WHETHER OR NOT UNITED PROFESSIONAL SALES ASSOCIATION IS ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES.

9. CHOICE OF LAW AND JURISDICTION

The United Professional Sales Association is a non-profit corporation located in the United States of America. The Site is intended for the exclusive use of residents of the USA. Access to the Site may not be legal by certain persons or in certain countries outside of the USA. If you access this site from outside the United States, you do so at your own risk and are responsible for compliance with the laws of your jurisdiction. These General Terms of Use are governed by the internal substantive laws of the Commonwealth of Virginia, without resort to its conflict of laws principles. If any provision of these General Terms of Use is found to be invalid by any court having competent jurisdiction, the invalidity of such provision shall not affect the validity of the remaining provisions of these Terms and Conditions. You expressly agree that exclusive jurisdiction for any dispute with the United Professional Sales Association, or in any way relating to your use of the Site, resides in the courts of the State of Virginia.