A Sales Compass – A Blog by B2B Sales Connections

Many sales managers often ask themselves what they should do with their non producing sales respresentatives.  Is it time to sever the employer – employee relationship and let them go?

To answer that question you first need to ask yourself if the non performing sales rep knows what needs to be done to be successful.  Does he really know how many calls it takes to make quota?  If not, have him download our Goal Setting and Action Planning Tool from the B2B Sales Connections Free Download Centre.

If the answer is yes, they know what to do, then the second question you need to ask is if they know how.  If they don’t know the proper way to make a sales call, show them.  That’s your job as sales manager!

However, if they do know how to sell, and you know that because you have witnessed their skills first hand, then ask yourself one last question.  Do they want to?  Simply put, are they willing to do what it takes to be a successful sales person at your company?  If you get to this last question and the answer is no, there is not much more you can do.

(more…)

I was recently asked by task.fm to answer a question received by one of their website visitors.  The question was:  Can eliminating sales quotas increase profits?  It’s an excellent question, so I thought I would share my answer here.

Can eliminating sales quotas increase profits? 

Absolutely not!   It simply won’t work in a performance based career.  In fact, eliminating quotas would have the exact opposite effect on profits, in much the same way that guaranteeing a sales person a job for life without asking them to produce any sales would be.      (more…)

Successful sales managers understand they will be more successful when they work through and with other people, namely their sales team. They are confident with their personal selling abilities, but they also know that they will be more successful if they teach their team to sell and make them feel good about themselves while doing so. 

In order to do this, as the sales manager, you need to check your ego at the door. You have to put your own need for recognition aside, and spend your efforts building up you team instead. (more…)

Whether you are dealing with customers or managing a sales team, if you keep saying yes to exceptions, they will become expectations.

Aim Higher!

Susan A. Enns, B2B Sales Coach from B2B Sales Connections

www.linkedin.com/in/susanenns, www.facebook.com/B2BSalesConnections, or www.twitter.com/SusanEnns

When it comes to sales contests, it is important to communicate a sales representative’s progress towards winning. The more excitement you can generate, the better. In fact, many managers believe that the communication about the contest is more important than the prize itself. (more…)

Have you ever been in an internal meeting and asked “why do we do that?”, only to receive the response “because we have always done it that way”?  Have you ever heard a prospect say the same thing in response to one of your fact find questions?  In my opinion, this is a very dangerous response.  More importantly, it often presents a great opportunity for improvement and could result in an excellent sales opportunity.  Here’s is a story to illustrate why:  (more…)

Most would say that the best test of a sales manager’s abilities is what happens if he or she is no longer there. In other words, if you were to leave the organization tomorrow, could your sales team carry on and still produce at the sales level they are now?

To help you answer that question, think back to your first day at work after your last vacation. Did you return to the office to find that everything came to a grinding halt while were away, or did they barely miss you while you were gone? I am asking about the last time you took a real vacation; one where you set your auto-reply email, changed your voice mail message and left the Blackberry at the office. (more…)

In sales, rejection is just something your sales team deals with every day.  Even your top performers hear “no” many more times than they hear “yes”.  When they let it get them down, it shows to everyone they meet, including their customers and their colleagues.  As such, as a sales manager, you must do everything you can to help them stay in a positive frame of mind. 

Sometimes it the simplest of things we do as managers that can put a negative spin on things in a sales rep’s mind.  For example, many sales managers always ask the question “How did it go?” after a sales call.  Unless they signed the contract, most sales representatives will give you a negative answer like “I screwed up part of the presentation”, “I didn’t get the sale” or “not as well as I hoped it would.” (more…)

I know it seems a little early to talk about the summer months, but as a sales manager you have to look that far ahead.  Business can really slow down in the summer, and if your sales team does not have enough prospects in their funnel today, it can be a very difficult to make your sales goals once July and August rolls around.   

A great way for your team to generate many new prospects in a very short period of time is a blitz day.  A blitz day is essentially when everyone on the sales team sets aside time to prospect all at the same time, either on the telephone or face to face prospecting.  (more…)

A direct sales position is quite a different role than that of a sales manager.  As such, it requires a different skill set to be successful.  I think this is one of the biggest reasons why so many sales people fail when they are promoted to management.

Earlier in my career, I was a top producing sales rep who was promoted into management.  I was one of the few who made this transition successfully, eventually developing into a top producing sales manager as well.  Looking back, I think there were four basic reasons why I was able to make this move, where so many others have not. (more…)