Welcome to Day 6 of our X-Factor: 10 Days of Epic Sales Knowledge! This will be a week filled with insightful, actionable wisdom from some of the biggest names in Sales. Today’s article comes to us from Jill Konrath.
If you’re in sales, you know who Jill Konrath is. An icon in the sales profession, she’s made a huge impact in how salespeople make how they sell more important than what they sell. A four-time bestselling author and one of the highest-rated keynote speakers, Jill has a unique perspective on how salespeople can intentionally improve. Today she shares a tactic that helped shape her career, and one that she’s used to help shape the careers of thousands of other salespeople. If you’re a salesperson, you’ll want to implement this tactic today. If you’re leading a team of salespeople, this is a tactic that will help your entire team. Jill starts what will be an epic week of sales knowledge with something very few salespeople do…but when they do, they win more often.
Jill’s ideas and insights are ubiquitous in multiple forums online and you’ll definitely want to follow her. Here’s how you do that:
Website: www.jillkonrath.com
LinkedIn: /in/jillkonrath
Twitter:@jillkonrath
One Haunting Sales Statistic Every Sales Leader Should Know
I’ll never forget the first time I heard the statistic. I was at the Xerox Training Center, participating in a Management Development workshop for high performing sellers with leadership potenti,al.
I was stunned when the instructor said, “Only one in seven salespeople self-assess after a sales meeting.”
“How could that be?” I instantly thought. To me, it was a standard operating procedure. I assumed everyone did it. All the time.
Then, the instructor added, “…. and, those who do are the top performers.”
Bingo! It made total sense to me. After all, how could you get any better if you didn’t analyze your own performance on a regular basis.
Yet over 85% of sellers didn’t do it. Maybe they didn’t know how to. Maybe they didn’t want to be at fault. Maybe they didn’t even know why it made a difference.
But it did. It mattered tremendously.
If a person didn’t self-assess they’d be stuck in mediocrity, and blissfully unaware that top performers were doing anything differently from them. Or they’d get progressively discouraged, questioning if they were cut out for sales and ultimately quitting, leaving me with an open territory to fill.
Hearing this statistic was THE defining moment in my management career. I realized that I’d never be successful unless I could teach my salespeople how to think about their actions and strategies in a way that enabled them to continuously improve. I also realized that I could create an upward spiral for my whole team if everyone’s self- assessment capacity got better.
It was a tremendous coaching challenge, but one I relished. I spent hours traveling with my sales team, going to meetings with them, and listening in as they made calls. Over time, I realized that questions were my best tool. They provoked curiosity and implied that there were alternative ways to do things. (I’ve listed some helpful ones below). The ensuing discussions led to lots of impromptu role-plays where sellers could test out new ways of doing things. It was all an experiment in getting better.
It was amazing how many salespeople blamed others for their lack of success. The prospect was stupid; they just didn’t “get it.” The product was too highly priced; it lacked specific capabilities.
That’s why I loved exploring my salespeople’s challenges (aka issues, obstacles, objections, delays, and losses) the most. My goal was to help each person get to the root cause of their particular selling problem.
For example, it was a great learning opportunity if a prospect were to ask about price early on in the meeting—and upon learning it quickly reply, “We don’t have any money in the budget.” “Mmmm.” I’d say to my salesperson, “Based on my experience, something you said elicited that response. What were you talking about just before your prospect brought up the budget issue?” Then we’d backtrack, review their actions, brainstorm different approaches, and do quick mock meetings to see if they could possibly lead to better responses.
It got salespeople thinking. Exploring. Testing. Assuming personal responsibility for their success. As sales leaders, this is our most important job; helping our sales reps to get better. By showing them how to self-assess on a regular basis their sales results will spiral upward. They’ll outperform even their own expectations and certainly ours.
While that “1 in 7” statistic has haunted me my entire career, I am eternally grateful I learned it early on. It is a difference maker!
SELF-ASSESSMENT QUESTIONS: Crucial for getting sellers thinking after a phone call or a sales meeting.
Overall
Good Stuff
Challenges
To get the maximum impact, use these questions frequently. Make them a regular part of your management process.
P.S. I don’t know the source of the statistic, nor if it was Xerox-specific. While it would be nice to know, it didn’t affect its impact on me.
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If you want to find out more about changing behavior in your sales teams with Xvoyant Coaching Technology,
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You can get caught up with past day’s articles by clicking on their titles below:
Day 1: Millennials In Sales: What You Need To Know For 2018
Day 2: Annoying Persistence vs. Professional Persistence
Day 3: The Most Important Attribute in Coaching Top Performing Salespeople
Day 4: Tansformation in the Digital Era
Day 5: Designing a Social Sales Blueprint for Sales Leadership in 2018
Day 7: Hiring Kick Ass Salespeople
Day 7 Bonus: It is Time for More Women in Sales
Day 8: The Five Keys to Great Sales Coaching
Day 8 Bonus: 5 Lessons A 2-Year Old Can Teach You About Sales Coaching
Day 9: Why Impact Eats Value for Breakfast
Day 9 Bonus: Top 3 Coaching Mistakes Made by Good Sales Managers