How To Build A TurboCharged Sales Force
How To Build A TurboCharged Sales Force
consistently achieves or exceeds its objectives for sales, margin, product mix,
customer service, win back, and any other established sales related metric.
Building a turbo-charged sales force is a job for the CEO or COO. If it is not
undertaken at the top, it just won't happen. A CEO or COO starts building a
turbo-charged sales force by understanding and embracing the business
philosophy of George Steinbrenner, the owner of the New York Yankees. It goes
like this: "I'm obsessed with winning, with discipline, with achieving." And what
goes along with this obsession with winning is the commitment to expend the
time and money to put together a sales force head and shoulders above that of
any competitor. Steinbrenner is a model in this area also. His New York Yankees
have the highest payroll in baseball. Steinbrenner equates having great players
with winning and winning with filling his stadium every day, which gives him an
optimum return on investment.
That is it! The basic philosophical foundation for building a turbo-charged sales
team then consists of an obsession with winning, a commitment to expend the
time and money to secure and train the most effective sales professionals
available, and taking the time to interact with and motivate them to the highest
level of performance. All the rest deals with technical matters of recruitment,
assessment, and transfer of knowledge and proven sales techniques from sales
management to senior sales reps, senior sales reps to middle experienced sales
reps, and middle experienced sales reps to beginner sales reps and trainees.
The starting point in the technical aspect of building a turbo-charged sales force
then is assessment. The use of a test instrument like the Caliper Sales Aptitude
Test will get that done. Very likely the results of such a test will be eye opening
and explain why the 80/20 rule consistently explains sales force performance at
the typical company.
At one of my clients in the building products industry, the assessment of the
sales force indicated, as usually is the case, that there was a very close
correlation between sales performance and sales aptitude. In that firm, two of the
"bottom" performing sales reps showed no sign of having any sales aptitude at
all. Their ego drive, or desire to persuade and close, was low; their empathy, or
ability to connect with prospects and customers, was low; and their ego strength,
ability to bounce back after rejection, was low. I asked the Sales Manager why he
hired them and kept them, in light of their lack of sales aptitude and poor sales
performance. His response: The father of one of these sales reps was one of the
company's bigger distributors, and he wanted to get his son into sales. What the
Sales Manager was saying was that he was concerned that he might lose this
distributor's business if he let this distributor's son go. In the case of the other
poor performing sales rep, the Sales Manager said that he really liked the guy
and that he worked 60 or 70 hours a week. I reminded the Sales Manager that
this rep really wasn't selling much. He agreed and eventually let this sales rep go.
However, he kept the other non-performing sales rep because of his fear of
losing his father's business. Needless to say, this company never built a turbo-
charged sales force. It did satisfactorily in its industry, but never became a
leader.
After sales aptitude assessment, the next step is sales training for the sales reps
who show strong sales aptitude but perhaps do not have a sufficient grasp of the
sales techniques and discipline required to excel. The sales training step
provides the opportunity to increase the sales force's selling skills and announce
a "two or three strikes and your out" policy, that is, missing sales quotas for two
or three quarters in a row will result in employment termination.
While all this is going on, a continuing recruitment program is put into motion
which is aimed at doing two things: bringing high level sales performers into the
sales team from competitors and near competitors and bringing in young, green
talent and trainees with high potential into the "beginner" level of the sales team.
Now, how this is done is critical to getting the right people! The use of an outside
recruiter in this effort is all important. The first thing to do because it is more cost
effective is contract with an hourly fee recruiter, as opposed to an employment
agency or executive search firm, to work with your Sales Manager or Human
Resources Manager to conduct this continuing sales rep recruiting program.
Where do you find one of these hourly fee recruiters? Look in the Executive
Search Research Directory published by Kenneth Cole. Once you contract with
an hourly fee recruiter—and make sure you get a six month or one year
replacement guarantee—the first thing to tell him/her to do is keep an eye out for
a sales champion. Granted, these super sales manger/performers become
available rarely. However, keeping a line out for them is always strategically
important. Next, have this recruiter get with your Sales Manager and senior sales
reps to identify the top sales reps at competitors and near competitors. These
sales professionals sell against these individuals every day and know who they
are. Then, have your hourly fee recruiter contact these targets to learn if they
have an interest in talking about opportunities at your firm. Of course, the hourly
fee recruiter does not identify your firm and maintains strict confidentiality in all
aspects of the recruiting contact. Now, you probably are wondering why a top
sales rep at a competitor or near competitor would leave an established job and join
your firm. Well, the answers are money, benefits, options and perks,
opportunity to work with more high powered sales professionals at a more
prestigious firm, chance to sell a better product with better customer service and
sales support, and an avenue to get away from an unacceptable boss. Top sales
professionals at competitors can be recruited. I have seen this done regularly
over the years.
Next, have your hourly fee recruiter conduct research on the availability of top
sales professionals. Have him/her screen the Internet employment sites and
contact the top sales reps at firms with leading sales forces that are downsizing.
State WARN reports provide information on firms downsizing and going out of
business. These reports provide contact persons, addresses, and phone
numbers. Often these downsizing firms are very interesting in seeing that their
top performers find attractive new positions.
Next, have your Sales Manager and/or hourly fee recruiter contact local business
school marketing professors to identify and refer their top students interested in
getting into sales. These academics know who the winners are in their classes.
Contact these students and pass them through your sales trainee evaluation
process. Establishing relationships with these professors is not difficult. make
your company available to them for tours; set up internships for their top
students; and offer them the opportunity to use your firm for research and special
studies.
One of the most over looked locations of individuals who have the potential to
become top performing sales reps are non-sales departments in house. The
Caliper sales aptitude assessment organization has found that 20% of the
population in general have superior sales aptitude than 50% of the individuals
who are working as sales reps. That means that in any given company there are
likely to be a number of employees in non-sales jobs who have the ability to
become high performance sales reps. How do you find out who these employees
are? Use the performance appraisal process. Just ask managers which
employees they think have strong, but unidentified sales aptitude and then ask
these employees if they would like to apply for a sales rep job and enter the sales
rep assessment process.
These efforts should provide a steady flow of very high quality sales rep
applicants and begin the process of building a turbo-charged sales force.
The next order of business in building a turbo-charged sales force is setting up a
program whereby the CEO or COO interacts with and motivates all sales reps in
the company on a regular basis. The top company executive who shoulders this
responsibility should be prepared to spend an increasing amount of time on sales
and sales related matters. He/she should block out time each month to interact with
members of the sales force to build pride in employment and esprit'd corps
among them. At these meetings, which might be breakfasts, lunches, or dinners,
he/she along with the Sales Manager should pass on sales "tricks of the trade,"
new effective selling approaches, information on industry and competitor
peculiarities, company culture, and product or service features, benefits, and
unique characteristics, and any other information that would be helpful to the
sales team. These meetings can build a personal relationship between the top
executive and his/her sales team that results in the sales force going above and
beyond the call of duty to "make the numbers." At these meetings, the top
company executive and the Sales Manager should elicit from the sales team
intelligence on what is going on in the market, what competitors are up to, and
who the top sales reps at competitors and near competitors are. Also, they
should identify the high potential sales reps and flag them for development and
promotion. During the glory days of GE in the 1990's, Jack Welsh, GE's CEO,
spent 60% of his time interacting with his people. Also, Joe Gibbs, the SuperBowl
winning coach of the Washington Redskins and CEO of the NASCAR team that
captured the Winston Cup in 2000 and 2002, uses and recommends this people
focused management philosophy. He says "I tell any company that I talk to, make
sure you spend the most time and money picking employees...and trying to build
the best team." This approach does work.
Also, the top company executive in charge of the turbo-charged sales force effort
should make it a point to showcase sales reps in company advertising, have
sales reps become active in company affairs and community relations activities,
and insure that the sales department budget is sufficient to attract, train, and
motivate the high quality and high potential sales reps that will take the company
to a leadership position.
In building a turbo-charged sales force, the sales rep assessment process should
include multiple interviews, extensive reference and background checks, sales
aptitude testing, intelligence testing, and role plays. The objective of this process
is to build a sales team that has better sales aptitude and sales track record,
higher intelligence, better appearance, higher energy, more notable personal
interests, and greater initiative and ingenuity than the sales team at any
competitor.
Another trick of building a turbo-charged sales force involves counter-cyclical
hiring. When are the best sales professionals more likely to be available? The
answer: in the down phase of a business or industry cycle when everyone else is
letting go sales professionals of all achievement levels. Selective hiring during
down times can result in securing sales professionals with exceptional track
records and ability. Also, this is the time to cast a net for a sales champion. One
of these extremely rare individuals sometimes become available when his/her
industry hits a period of serious readjustment. I saw this happen a few years ago
when the software industry retrenched drastically.
An effective approach to hiring outstanding low and mid-level experienced sales
reps in the building of a turbo-charged sales force is the use of direct response
employment ads. These are ads which are placed on Internet job sites and in the
Sunday newspapers employment section with a standout heading, potential
yearly compensation figures, details of the job content, and a phone number to
call on Sunday evening or Monday morning to get further details and apply for
the position. The contract recruiter or Human Resources Director should take the
responses, screen the applicants, and establish a slate for further evaluation later
in the week. These ads allow for the creation of a slate of applicants quickly,
draw out good prospects who are action oriented and who would otherwise not
respond to regular recruitment advertising, and are highly cost effective. They
interest low and mid-level experienced sales reps who are trolling employment
ads to see what is happening in the sales rep labor market and which firms are
offering superior compensation packages. The opportunity to respond to these
ads immediately, get details on the job and a feel for the company, and set up a
quick interview appeals to sales reps with strong cold calling skills who are
highly self-assured, action oriented, and close focused.
A word about compensation is in order at this point. In sales as in baseball, you
get what you pay for. A company that wishes to build a turbo-charged sales
team must be prepared to pay its sales reps more that its competitors. That is
the only way over the long run that high performance sales reps can be drawn
into a turbo-charged sales force and motivated to keep up the extraordinary level
of sales output needed to win consistently in the marketplace.
Once the turbo-charged sales force begins to take shape, it is important to start a
mentoring program within it. Experienced sales reps should mentor the mid-
level experienced sales reps, and they should mentor the beginner sales reps
and trainees. This is a great way to shorten the learning curves of the sales reps
and help out those who fall into temporary sales slumps. At one of my clients in
the metal fastener business which successfully built a turbo-charged sales force,
the Executive Vice President, a remarkable sales champion, supplemented the
mentoring program with a monthly "pearls of wisdom" communication from him to
all sales personnel. These "pearls of wisdom" covered all elements of the sales
cycle, buyer psychology subjects, self-motivation tips, fresh sales presentation
humor, new closes, personal development suggestions, and a whole raft of other
valuable sales related information. These monthly communications became
eagerly awaited and the subject of discussions among the sales reps and
between them and their managers. Their educational and motivational impact
was significant. Also, regular, formal sales training sessions should be a part of
maintaining and improving sales rep skills. The sales reps in every turbo-charged
sales force that I have helped to build had an excellent relationship with employees
who designed, built, and delivered theproduct or service that these sales reps sold.
These sales reps regularly interacted with these employees at their work stations,
occasionally got their hands dirty helping them do something, and often took them
out for a meal to show their gratitude for the support they gave to sales.
Finally, building a turbo-charged sales force is not a one time project. It requires
constant recruiting and culling. It is a continuing effort.
Over the years, I have seen only a few companies undertake the task of building
a turbo-charged sales force, for it involves a great deal of effort, money, focus,
risk, and sticktoitiveness. But those firms which tried and succeeded became
highly profitable companies where employees, managers, and executives,
although working intensely hard, truly enjoyed their work. The winning attitude of
everyone in these firms spread into their marketplace and from there to their
communities. They became well known and well respected. The original source
of this winning attitude was their turbo-charged sales force where winning was
what it was all about.
* * * * *
How To Build A TurboCharged Sales Force - To learn more about this author, visit Leonard Scott's Website.
Like this article? Share it with your friends
A turbo-charged sales force—just what is that? Well, it is a sales force which
consistently achieves or exceeds its objectives for sales, margin, product mix,
customer service, win back, and any other established sales related metric.
Building a turbo-charged sales force is a job for the CEO or COO. If it is not
undertaken at the top, it just won't happen. A CEO or COO starts building a
turbo-charged sales force by understanding and embracing the business
philosophy of George Steinbrenner, the owner of the New York Yankees. It goes
like this: "I'm obsessed with winning, with discipline, with achieving." And what
goes along with this obsession with winning is the commitment to expend the
time and money to put together a sales force head and shoulders above that of
any competitor. Steinbrenner is a model in this area also. His New York Yankees
have the highest payroll in baseball. Steinbrenner equates having great players
with winning and winning with filling his stadium every day, which gives him an
optimum return on investment.
That is it! The basic philosophical foundation for building a turbo-charged sales
team then consists of an obsession with winning, a commitment to expend the
time and money to secure and train the most effective sales professionals
available, and taking the time to interact with and motivate them to the highest
level of performance. All the rest deals with technical matters of recruitment,
assessment, and transfer of knowledge and proven sales techniques from sales
management to senior sales reps, senior sales reps to middle experienced sales
reps, and middle experienced sales reps to beginner sales reps and trainees.
The starting point in the technical aspect of building a turbo-charged sales force
then is assessment. The use of a test instrument like the Caliper Sales Aptitude
Test will get that done. Very likely the results of such a test will be eye opening
and explain why the 80/20 rule consistently explains sales force performance at
the typical company.
At one of my clients in the building products industry, the assessment of the
sales force indicated, as usually is the case, that there was a very close
correlation between sales performance and sales aptitude. In that firm, two of the
"bottom" performing sales reps showed no sign of having any sales aptitude at
all. Their ego drive, or desire to persuade and close, was low; their empathy, or
ability to connect with prospects and customers, was low; and their ego strength,
ability to bounce back after rejection, was low. I asked the Sales Manager why he
hired them and kept them, in light of their lack of sales aptitude and poor sales
performance. His response: The father of one of these sales reps was one of the
company's bigger distributors, and he wanted to get his son into sales. What the
Sales Manager was saying was that he was concerned that he might lose this
distributor's business if he let this distributor's son go. In the case of the other
poor performing sales rep, the Sales Manager said that he really liked the guy
and that he worked 60 or 70 hours a week. I reminded the Sales Manager that
this rep really wasn't selling much. He agreed and eventually let this sales rep go.
However, he kept the other non-performing sales rep because of his fear of
losing his father's business. Needless to say, this company never built a turbo-
charged sales force. It did satisfactorily in its industry, but never became a
leader.
After sales aptitude assessment, the next step is sales training for the sales reps
who show strong sales aptitude but perhaps do not have a sufficient grasp of the
sales techniques and discipline required to excel. The sales training step
provides the opportunity to increase the sales force's selling skills and announce
a "two or three strikes and your out" policy, that is, missing sales quotas for two
or three quarters in a row will result in employment termination.
While all this is going on, a continuing recruitment program is put into motion
which is aimed at doing two things: bringing high level sales performers into the
sales team from competitors and near competitors and bringing in young, green
talent and trainees with high potential into the "beginner" level of the sales team.
Now, how this is done is critical to getting the right people! The use of an outside
recruiter in this effort is all important. The first thing to do because it is more cost
effective is contract with an hourly fee recruiter, as opposed to an employment
agency or executive search firm, to work with your Sales Manager or Human
Resources Manager to conduct this continuing sales rep recruiting program.
Where do you find one of these hourly fee recruiters? Look in the Executive
Search Research Directory published by Kenneth Cole. Once you contract with
an hourly fee recruiter—and make sure you get a six month or one year
replacement guarantee—the first thing to tell him/her to do is keep an eye out for
a sales champion. Granted, these super sales manger/performers become
available rarely. However, keeping a line out for them is always strategically
important. Next, have this recruiter get with your Sales Manager and senior sales
reps to identify the top sales reps at competitors and near competitors. These
sales professionals sell against these individuals every day and know who they
are. Then, have your hourly fee recruiter contact these targets to learn if they
have an interest in talking about opportunities at your firm. Of course, the hourly
fee recruiter does not identify your firm and maintains strict confidentiality in all
aspects of the recruiting contact. Now, you probably are wondering why a top
sales rep at a competitor or near competitor would leave an established job and join
your firm. Well, the answers are money, benefits, options and perks,
opportunity to work with more high powered sales professionals at a more
prestigious firm, chance to sell a better product with better customer service and
sales support, and an avenue to get away from an unacceptable boss. Top sales
professionals at competitors can be recruited. I have seen this done regularly
over the years.
Next, have your hourly fee recruiter conduct research on the availability of top
sales professionals. Have him/her screen the Internet employment sites and
contact the top sales reps at firms with leading sales forces that are downsizing.
State WARN reports provide information on firms downsizing and going out of
business. These reports provide contact persons, addresses, and phone
numbers. Often these downsizing firms are very interesting in seeing that their
top performers find attractive new positions.
Next, have your Sales Manager and/or hourly fee recruiter contact local business
school marketing professors to identify and refer their top students interested in
getting into sales. These academics know who the winners are in their classes.
Contact these students and pass them through your sales trainee evaluation
process. Establishing relationships with these professors is not difficult. make
your company available to them for tours; set up internships for their top
students; and offer them the opportunity to use your firm for research and special
studies.
One of the most over looked locations of individuals who have the potential to
become top performing sales reps are non-sales departments in house. The
Caliper sales aptitude assessment organization has found that 20% of the
population in general have superior sales aptitude than 50% of the individuals
who are working as sales reps. That means that in any given company there are
likely to be a number of employees in non-sales jobs who have the ability to
become high performance sales reps. How do you find out who these employees
are? Use the performance appraisal process. Just ask managers which
employees they think have strong, but unidentified sales aptitude and then ask
these employees if they would like to apply for a sales rep job and enter the sales
rep assessment process.
These efforts should provide a steady flow of very high quality sales rep
applicants and begin the process of building a turbo-charged sales force.
The next order of business in building a turbo-charged sales force is setting up a
program whereby the CEO or COO interacts with and motivates all sales reps in
the company on a regular basis. The top company executive who shoulders this
responsibility should be prepared to spend an increasing amount of time on sales
and sales related matters. He/she should block out time each month to interact with
members of the sales force to build pride in employment and esprit'd corps
among them. At these meetings, which might be breakfasts, lunches, or dinners,
he/she along with the Sales Manager should pass on sales "tricks of the trade,"
new effective selling approaches, information on industry and competitor
peculiarities, company culture, and product or service features, benefits, and
unique characteristics, and any other information that would be helpful to the
sales team. These meetings can build a personal relationship between the top
executive and his/her sales team that results in the sales force going above and
beyond the call of duty to "make the numbers." At these meetings, the top
company executive and the Sales Manager should elicit from the sales team
intelligence on what is going on in the market, what competitors are up to, and
who the top sales reps at competitors and near competitors are. Also, they
should identify the high potential sales reps and flag them for development and
promotion. During the glory days of GE in the 1990's, Jack Welsh, GE's CEO,
spent 60% of his time interacting with his people. Also, Joe Gibbs, the SuperBowl
winning coach of the Washington Redskins and CEO of the NASCAR team that
captured the Winston Cup in 2000 and 2002, uses and recommends this people
focused management philosophy. He says "I tell any company that I talk to, make
sure you spend the most time and money picking employees...and trying to build
the best team." This approach does work.
Also, the top company executive in charge of the turbo-charged sales force effort
should make it a point to showcase sales reps in company advertising, have
sales reps become active in company affairs and community relations activities,
and insure that the sales department budget is sufficient to attract, train, and
motivate the high quality and high potential sales reps that will take the company
to a leadership position.
In building a turbo-charged sales force, the sales rep assessment process should
include multiple interviews, extensive reference and background checks, sales
aptitude testing, intelligence testing, and role plays. The objective of this process
is to build a sales team that has better sales aptitude and sales track record,
higher intelligence, better appearance, higher energy, more notable personal
interests, and greater initiative and ingenuity than the sales team at any
competitor.
Another trick of building a turbo-charged sales force involves counter-cyclical
hiring. When are the best sales professionals more likely to be available? The
answer: in the down phase of a business or industry cycle when everyone else is
letting go sales professionals of all achievement levels. Selective hiring during
down times can result in securing sales professionals with exceptional track
records and ability. Also, this is the time to cast a net for a sales champion. One
of these extremely rare individuals sometimes become available when his/her
industry hits a period of serious readjustment. I saw this happen a few years ago
when the software industry retrenched drastically.
An effective approach to hiring outstanding low and mid-level experienced sales
reps in the building of a turbo-charged sales force is the use of direct response
employment ads. These are ads which are placed on Internet job sites and in the
Sunday newspapers employment section with a standout heading, potential
yearly compensation figures, details of the job content, and a phone number to
call on Sunday evening or Monday morning to get further details and apply for
the position. The contract recruiter or Human Resources Director should take the
responses, screen the applicants, and establish a slate for further evaluation later
in the week. These ads allow for the creation of a slate of applicants quickly,
draw out good prospects who are action oriented and who would otherwise not
respond to regular recruitment advertising, and are highly cost effective. They
interest low and mid-level experienced sales reps who are trolling employment
ads to see what is happening in the sales rep labor market and which firms are
offering superior compensation packages. The opportunity to respond to these
ads immediately, get details on the job and a feel for the company, and set up a
quick interview appeals to sales reps with strong cold calling skills who are
highly self-assured, action oriented, and close focused.
A word about compensation is in order at this point. In sales as in baseball, you
get what you pay for. A company that wishes to build a turbo-charged sales
team must be prepared to pay its sales reps more that its competitors. That is
the only way over the long run that high performance sales reps can be drawn
into a turbo-charged sales force and motivated to keep up the extraordinary level
of sales output needed to win consistently in the marketplace.
Once the turbo-charged sales force begins to take shape, it is important to start a
mentoring program within it. Experienced sales reps should mentor the mid-
level experienced sales reps, and they should mentor the beginner sales reps
and trainees. This is a great way to shorten the learning curves of the sales reps
and help out those who fall into temporary sales slumps. At one of my clients in
the metal fastener business which successfully built a turbo-charged sales force,
the Executive Vice President, a remarkable sales champion, supplemented the
mentoring program with a monthly "pearls of wisdom" communication from him to
all sales personnel. These "pearls of wisdom" covered all elements of the sales
cycle, buyer psychology subjects, self-motivation tips, fresh sales presentation
humor, new closes, personal development suggestions, and a whole raft of other
valuable sales related information. These monthly communications became
eagerly awaited and the subject of discussions among the sales reps and
between them and their managers. Their educational and motivational impact
was significant. Also, regular, formal sales training sessions should be a part of
maintaining and improving sales rep skills. The sales reps in every turbo-charged
sales force that I have helped to build had an excellent relationship with employees
who designed, built, and delivered theproduct or service that these sales reps sold.
These sales reps regularly interacted with these employees at their work stations,
occasionally got their hands dirty helping them do something, and often took them
out for a meal to show their gratitude for the support they gave to sales.
Finally, building a turbo-charged sales force is not a one time project. It requires
constant recruiting and culling. It is a continuing effort.
Over the years, I have seen only a few companies undertake the task of building
a turbo-charged sales force, for it involves a great deal of effort, money, focus,
risk, and sticktoitiveness. But those firms which tried and succeeded became
highly profitable companies where employees, managers, and executives,
although working intensely hard, truly enjoyed their work. The winning attitude of
everyone in these firms spread into their marketplace and from there to their
communities. They became well known and well respected. The original source
of this winning attitude was their turbo-charged sales force where winning was
what it was all about.
* * * * *
How To Build A TurboCharged Sales Force - To learn more about this author, visit Leonard Scott's Website.
Like this article? Share it with your friends
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Dave KurlanDave Kurlan is the founder and CEO of Objective Management Group, Inc., the industry leader in sales assessments and sales force evaluations, and the CEO of David Kurlan & Associates, Inc., a consulting firm specializing in sales force development. Dave has been a top rated speaker at Inc. Magazine's Conference on Growing the Company, the Sales & Marketing Management Conference and the Gazelles Sales & Marketing Summit. He has been featured on radio and TV, including World Business Review with General Norman Schwarzkopf, in Inc. Magazine, Selling Power Magazine, Sales & Marketing Management Magazine and Incentive Magazine. He is the author of Mindless Selling and Baseline Selling – How to Become a Sales Superstar by Using What You Already Know about the Game of Baseball. He created and wrote STAR, a proprietary recruiting process for hiring great salespeople, and he writes Understanding the Sales Force, a popular business Blog and is a contributing author to The Death of 20th Century Selling and 101 Great Ways to Improve Your Life, Volume 2. - Visit Dave Kurlan's Website |
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Leanne Hoagland-SmithAre your sales where you want them to be? Will you be one of the few who achieves sales or business success or one of the many who have failed to change? Are you tired of being told you are like everyone else? Then you may find my first book on sales of interest. Be the Red Jacket in the Sea of Gray Suits, The Keys to Unlocking Sales available at Amazon or at http://www.processspecialist.com/red-jacket.htm. This book is a reflection of my no-nonsense approach to improving sales to overall business results. If you are truly committed to making sustainable changes, then I can help you secure a positive return on your investment because I focus on executable solutions not telling you the problems you already know you have. From training to corporate (group) coaching to executive one on one coaching, my approach is to assess, create awareness, build a goal driven action plan and then execute. The bottom line question is "Not do you or your employees know it, but do you or they want to do it?" Please call for a free strategy session at 219.759.5601. - Visit Leanne Hoagland-Smith's Website |
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George LudwigGeorge Ludwig is a recognized authority on sales strategy and peak performance psychology. An international speaker, trainer, and corporate consultant, he helps clients like Johnson & Johnson, Abbott Laboratories, Northwestern Mutual, CIGNA, and numerous others improve sales force effectiveness and performance. Though it's George's strategies and processes that help corporations increase productivity and performance, it's his tremendous energy and dynamism that spark the transformation. Again and again, clients remark on his amazing ability to unleash human capacity and inspire men and women to break out of their comfort zones. The result is a whole new type of salesperson. His customized presentations teach achievers to make stunning advances in their lives. From helping salespeople realize cherished dreams to helping corporations exponentially accelerate revenue streams, George Ludwig leaves audiences and individuals empowered, emboldened, and clamoring for more. George is the best-selling author of Power Selling: Seven Strategies for Cracking the Sales Code and Wise Moves: 60 Quick Tips to Improve Your Position in Life & Business. - Visit George Ludwig's Website |
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David AchesonDavid Acheson is the founder of DCJA Consultancy. DCJA Consultancy is a management consultancy business specialising in B2B sales consultancy. They offer bespoke and packaged sales consultancy including Sales Optimisation Review, Interim Sales Management, Sales & Marketing Review, 1:1 Sales & Management Staff Analysis, Management Training, Solution Sales Training, Creation of New Pay Plan, KPI's, run Customer Feedback Campaigns, assist with Recruitment, Coaching, Appraisals and set up Strategic Marketing Campaigns. David spent his early career in accountancy and then moved into sales in 1982, working in Office Equipment, IT, Advertising, Training, Outsourcing and Consultancy. He has held many Senior Positions in SMBs and Global Organisations including Head of Sales Operations & Head of Business Development. His knowledge, skills and great experience of the Sales Industry has led to David making keynote speeches and running educational sessions to key businesses through organisations including The Chamber of Commerce and Business Link. - Visit David Acheson's Website |
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I've created this section on my site to share some of the incredible tools that I've used to build my business. I hope you too can benefit from them and look forward to hearing your feedback on the reviews! - Visit Evan Carmichael's Website |
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Linda RichardsonLinda Richardson is the Founder and Executive Chairwoman of Richardson, a global sales training and performance improvement company. As a recognized leader in the industry, she has won the coveted Stevie Award for Lifetime Achievement in Sales Excellence and she was identified by Training Industry, Inc. as one of the “Top 20 Most Influential Training Professionals.” Ms. Richardson is credited with the movement to Consultative Selling and is the author of ten books on selling and sales management, including Sales Coaching — Making the Great Leap from Sales Manager to Sales Coach, and Stop Telling, Start Selling. She teaches sales and management at the Wharton Graduate School of the University of Pennsylvania and the Wharton Executive Development Center. Linda is a frequent speaker at industry and client conferences, has been published extensively in industry and training journals, and has been featured in numerous publications, including The Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Nation’s Business, Selling Power, Success, and The Conference Board Magazine. Learn more about Richardson's sales training and performance improvement solutions at http://www.richardson.com web - Visit Linda Richardson's Website |
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John BrennanJohn Brennan Ed.D. Dr. Brennan is President of Interpersonal Development, LLC, a training and development firm. Interpersonal Development has provided sales training and coaching to more than 3,000 sales reps from over 100 companies. A native of Australia, Dr. Brennan received his doctorate from the University of Rochester. His dissertation researched the effectiveness of Behavioral Modeling Technology in training people in interpersonal skills. While he has spent most of his career designing or delivering training, he was also a Vice-President of Sales of a training and development franchise with operations in 25 markets. Dr. Brennan has designed and delivered sales training in North America, Asia, Europe, Australia and the Middle East. He has been a guest speaker at numerous national and regional professional conferences. When Microsoft wanted Best Practices articles on sales for their web site, they called Dr. Brennan. The results are at http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/FX011387391033.aspx His firm’s clients have included Volvo, The Prudential, Merrill Lynch, Eastman Kodak, Gannett, Equifax Europe, the Economist Group and countless small businesses. - Visit John Brennan's Website |
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Dianne CramptonDianne Crampton is an executive leadership coach, team consultant, author and president of TIGERS Success Series, Inc. Dianne has been helping CEO's and Executives connect their employees to their core values and goals for over 20 years using the trademarked TIGERS team culture process, which stands for trust, interdependence, genuineness, empathy, risk and success. To download a free white paper on behaviors that build strong teams and behaviors that will predictably tear them down go here. - Visit Dianne Crampton's Website |
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