SAVE | EMAIL | PRINT | MOST POPULAR |  RSS | | REPRINT
|
A Study of Sales & Sales Management Professionals That Will Surprise You…Maybe
July 14, 2009
By Russ Riendeau, Ph.D.
Standing against the wall in my office, in plain sight is a vintage, red, Flexible Flyer sled. It’s the rare, two-seater version. Sweet ride. Not for sale. Nicely lacquered wood panels and rails on a red metal chassis hold a faded, yet still readable, Flexible Flyer logo. The foot pegs, pull rope, and steering handle are in working order, just waiting for a hill and snow.
And you know what hurts? Only three out of 10 sales and management professionals who visit my office ever ask me about my cool sled. It hurts. I want to tell the story, share the thrills of the hills; oh, the near-death experiences I could tell you; the time I hit 75mph on the hill behind my house, sailing 60 feet in the air over two cars and a barbeque grill—you get the picture, don't you? You can see where I’m going here. I want you to show curiosity about my cool sled and engage in a discovery conversation. Isn't that what selling is all about?
This sled has been in my office for more than 12 years and it's become my best prop and measurement tool for predicting sales performance and income potential, believe it or not. Remember I said three of 10 asked me about the sled? Well, it turns out those 30 percent that do ask about the sled earn more income than the other 70 percent. And those same 30 percent stay in jobs longer than the average sales and management person does.
Why is this, you ask? A few simple and telling reasons. One, these 30 percent sales superstars show more curiosity and have the foresight to ask questions to engage and show interest in the other person. Second, they are faster at observing the situation, taking in more visual clues to size up the other person's personality, and establishing mutual interests. Third, asking about the sled gives the salesperson time to relax, look, listen, and then establish a more engaging dialog, now having a sample of the storyteller's rhythm, vocabulary, and energy.
My primitive and scientifically scrutinized "Red Sled Experiment" appears to be consistent with empirical research around sales professionals as it relates to education, training, and continuing education as these elements relate to yearly earnings job tenure.
Since 1985, I've conducted more than 78,000 interviews with business professionals throughout the U.S. and Canada. Sales, management, marketing directors, CEOs, general managers, controllers, plant managers, engineers, and so on. Over these 24 years of interviewing professionals and working with thousands of big and small companies, I've continued to research and study the data you'd expect to find with so many daily samples.
Consider these findings on men, ages 29 to 55 employed in sales and sales management careers:
•Two of 10 have not read a bestselling book on business in the last two years.
•Fewer than three of 10 subscribe to any sales training publications or online learning forum on a regular basis.
•"Relationship selling style" was the default response more than 65 percent of the time when 100 sales professionals over age 40 were asked to define their approach or philosophy to their sales process. Other responses/definitions included: consultative, value-added, feature/benefit, price-competitive approaches.
•Two of 10 men age 45 surveyed say they have do not have an interest in joining social network sites.
•A review of more than 400 resumes of sales and sales management professionals showed less than 30 percent have a clearly stated objective for a desired position.
•A 2008 survey of more than 1,000 sales and management professionals in industrial, healthcare, consumer products, and IT industries in America revealed the average job tenure is 2.7 years. (Study in 1988 was 3.1, 1999 2.8, 2005 rounded numbers.)
Facts on companies and hiring managers:
•Seventy-five percent of hiring managers have not attended an effective interview training program in the last three years.
•Less than 30 percent of companies (Fortune 500 companies and midsized companies) do not have a current job profile and a prepared list of measureable expectations of the person for the first year when beginning a search.
•In companies of $10 million to $75 million in revenue, 80 percent do not have a formalized (written or online tutorial) sales training program. And in these same companies if there is an actual job description, more than 70 percent of the time "prior professional sales training" is not stated as a requirement for employment.
--Data compiled 2008-‘09 by Russ Riendeau, Ph.D., East Wing Group, Inc.
Notice the common percentage of 25 to 30 percent of successful individuals or companies doing something better, i.e., training, studying, measuring, tracking. These percentages are consistent with other averages of successful people and organizations in other industries, educational settings/rankings, success in athletics—25 to 30 percent of individuals or organizations are doing something that the others are unable or unwilling to do to become more successful. Think of it as a club of winners—the top 25 percent club. If you're a business professional, the top 25 percent club is a pretty good club to be part of.
Profits hide sins. This economic downturn has flushed out bad habits, and ineffective sales and management professionals, and uncovered leaky hiring and interviewing practices. Leaders are under the microscope to hire top talent and reduce turnover and excessive costs. And the sales and management professionals in search of new jobs now are being interrogated in job interviews to account for their successful outcomes and provide documentation to prove it. No proof; no job offer.
How can you as a hiring manager benefit from the data you've just read? Easy—start doing what the 25 to 30 percent club is doing:
•Invest in creating/updating systems and templates, and find space to fit these elements into your daily business model.
•Analyze your energy and time management to free up places to incorporate training/study/review time for you and your team.
•When hiring, specify that applicants document they have prior professional training in areas you currently are not providing.
•Delegate tasks to your staff to design/adapt and install certain tools into your company's daily routine to gain better data and get people onboard with your new measuring and learning agenda.
•Get out of your own way. Review where you own personal stumbling blocks are interfering with changing your habits for the better.
•What are your sacred cows that should be sent to live on another farm?
•What products, processes, services, opinions, traditions, business practices are you currently engaged in that have lost their effectiveness?
•Are you using technology to enhance your business model or is it a burden? If it's a burden, you may not be using it correctly or you're not willing to spend the time to learn the application.
•Find ways to incent and hold yourself and others accountable for the changes that need to occur. Rarely will people change habits unless a compelling reason or event occurs. Threats will not last. Intrinsic and extrinsic motivation blended together will be most effective for the long run.
•Take action now. State the four to five key things you believe will make a difference—right now and six months from now that cause you stress or loss of revenue today.
So hop on your own red sled and fly down your own hill to create better systems and hiring practices to attract stronger talent and grow sales with an efficient process.
Dr. Russell Riendeau is senior partner of East Wing Group, Inc., a search firm in Barrington, IL. He has interviewed more than 78,000 business professionals and works with companies to build revenue streams and best practices in hiring/retaining top talent in the new world at work. Dr. Riendeau is a behavioral scientist by education, author of five books on talent management, and a speaker on human capital. For more information visit www.eastwingsearchgroup.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.
|
|
SAVE | EMAIL | PRINT | MOST POPULAR | RSS |
|
|
| Back to Marketing Index |
|
|
