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Chronicles of a Sales Leader: Tough Times Call for Solid Leadership
May 14, 2008
Downward revenue and earnings reports dominate business headlines. The "R" word echoes on the tongues of our nation's most trusted financial experts. It seems impossible to avoid a conversation about the economy with friends and coworkers. Yet despite the uncertain economy, sales leaders are likely to see no adjustment in their quota.
By Bill Golder
Throughout the years, I've felt the effects of challenging external circumstances more times than I can count. However, I have never received a voicemail or e-mail to inform me that my number would be softened to accommodate difficult times. Instead, these situations prompted more frequent forecast calls and increased pressure to drive to the number.
Whether uncertain times are specific to the region you lead, your company, your industry or a broader scenario like today, all sales leaders will need to lead their team through a difficult and challenging economic environment at some point in their careers. And when it's here, you can count on increased pressure to produce top line results. So, regardless of how things are looking for you today, here are some common pitfalls and insights that identify how to address or avoid them when facing tough economic times.
1. Don't abandon the client.
As pressure to hit your numbers increases, a tendency to push the sales cycle ahead of the client's buying cycle is a frequent mishap. Salespeople in this situation begin to focus on close dates and fail to solve what the customer is trying to fix, accomplish or avoid. This leads to clients who don't understand your value proposition because your team is not offering up a solution. Ultimately, those in this situation end up discounting to win or losing the sale.
In challenging times, it is even more important to make sure there is rigor and diligence to uncover the root of client issues, identify key buying influences and their wins, understand how the decisions will be made and how such activities will be funded. Now is the time to make sure your team is more diligent about understanding the buying process and less concerned with trying to slam dunk sales.
2. Steer clear of report mania.
During uncertain times, many sales leaders go into panic mode and become micromanagers. They tell their team they need to see more calls and more appointments, and they require reps to send in a weekly report that shows they made a million calls that week. If you are doing this to your team, stop the madness. It won't work. More is not better here.
In fact, during uncertain times you should hone in on best-fit prospects and clients and come prepared with sound strategies and valid business reasons to approach key buying influences. Good sales leaders drive activity through one key report—their sales funnel. Evaluate your funnel to ensure your team is spending time on the right prospects and clients. If you find that you have too many deals sitting in the middle of the funnel, or that the companies in your funnel do not match your value proposition, use this information to coach and set priorities for your team.
3. Avoid the superhero syndrome.
You were likely a top salesperson in a prior life and that achievement may have landed you in the position you hold today. However, your job is no longer a salesperson. Your job is to help salespeople through effective coaching and guidance on deals. You cannot close every deal for your team and if you did you will have bigger problems once you emerge from whatever battle you are trying to win. Spend time making sure your team has solid plans to pursue key opportunities and the resources they need to win. Get involved in deals where you can add value. Don't swoop in to take over like a superhero.
4. Don't fight the wrong battles.
There's nothing like a little pressure inside the walls of a company to bring out the blame game. Don't become a finger pointer. In fact, curl that index finger and bring key support functions like marketing, customer service and your peers even closer. Invite them in to the battle you are waging with your competitors instead of waging a battle with them. The best sales leaders recognize that reinforcements in a tough battle are much better than creating new battle lines.
5. Practice teambuilding, rather than killing candor.
Lastly, this is one of the hardest areas to address. As the pressure builds, it is natural to repel bad news. Creating more tension than necessary with your team and your peers has a disastrous side affect: happy talk. In good times and bad, you need candor to help make decisions on strategies and tactics. If you make it difficult for your team to share bad news with you, you will be faced with more surprises like slipped close dates on big deals, unexpected lost deals and ultimately missed forecasts. Don't kill the candor.
Bill Golder is a monthly online columnist for Sales & Marketing Management online. As EVP of sales at Miller Heiman, Golder has a reputation for taking on tough assignments and successfully turning around difficult situations. He has extensive sales and operations experience, especially in leading business-to-business sales of professional services and multi-unit operations management. Available for keynote speaking opportunities, Bill can be reached at bgolder@millerheiman.com or by telephone at 1-877-678-0397. Additional information about selling in an uncertain economy is available at www.millerheiman.com.
Sales & Marketing Management Magazine
This article is brought to you by Sales & Marketing Management, the leading authority for executives in the sales and marketing field.
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