In my business, I have interacted with sales people and those who manage sales people for many years. For those that read this blog regularly, you’ll know that my main expertise is in prospecting to the B2B world, management of the sales funnel from building it to managing relationships.
When it comes to prospecting, the most common complaint I hear from management is the issue of sustainability, i.e. their frustration that prospecting seems to come to a dead halt once they’ve entrusted it to the sales team to maintain.
Some of the most common comments I hear from those that manage sales people are, “I don’t want to be a baby sitter”, or “I shouldn’t have to micro manage my sales team”.
There are actions within a sales organization that will predictably be sustained by sales people. They are either;
a) Actions that offer quick reward but don’t require substantial effort, or
b) Actions that left un-done become immediately obvious.
Easily self sustained actions that generate reward for little effort include things like opening one’s email each day; the hope being that a message bearing good news awaits. Another might be returning a potential client’s phone call again, the anticipation of possible good news.
It doesn’t take a massive amount of discipline or motivation to engage in these actions because they are self-propelled by favorable effort/reward expectation. The effort required in exchange for the result expected is perceived to be little.
Now, what about actions left un-done that become immediately obvious?
Month end sales reports? How about the sales person who doesn’t respond to a direct email from their manager, or being the only one to show up at a company function dressed inappropriately? Again, self sustained because these actions – or lack of action – are in the first circle of the manager’s radar screen and become immediately noticed by management and “managed”.
There are, and always will be, actions or activities required by sales people that are essential to success. That being said, there are and always will be many actions that cannot reasonably be expected to sustain themselves.
Continuity around prospecting discipline is right at the top.
Managers that complain about or constantly try and discover a “magic potion” that will ensure self-sustained prospecting by their sales team are misguided. It doesn’t exist.
Managers that believe the solution is to let people “sink or swim” and measure the persons performance on final numbers are not only failing to capitalize on potential results, but are coming to the party too late. Once a sales person has failed to produce by the end of a month, quarter, or year- end, that whole period has been lost to inefficient production. It is un-recoverable.
Personally, I have witnessed so much time and energy squandered by various sales managers trying to solve this Rubik Cube. Were they to have just taken responsibility to oversee a thorough and disciplined prospecting regimen in the first place, they would be light years ahead in their productivity by the time the productivity is measured.
With the exception of few, most sales people need and respond to oversight and expectations that are based on tangible actions by management.
The key to better prospecting lies with management and managers. Lack of prospecting is rarely the sales persons fault.
If through closer supervision, structure and oversight around prospecting best practices are maintained, results will follow.
Managers that choose to “leave it to the adults” will always achieve less than those who take responsibility for this important part of what should be in a sales manager’s job description.