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Salespeople and the Momentum Factor

Written by: Dave Kurlan

Article Overview: Momentum seems to be a force when it comes to sales performance. When Bob gets on a roll, new opportunities fill the pipeline, move along fairly quickly and close at the first opportunity...until the momentum changes. When Bob goes on vacation, gets distracted, becomes busy with deliverables or gets sick, it's a whole different Bob.

Salespeople and the Momentum Factor

Momentum seems to be a force when it comes to sales performance. When Bob gets on a roll, new opportunities fill the pipeline, move along fairly quickly and close at the first opportunity...until the momentum changes. When Bob goes on vacation, gets distracted, becomes busy with deliverables or gets sick, it's a whole different Bob. Suddenly the new opportunities are hard to come by, existing opportunities languish in the pipeline or worse, are removed from the pipeline.

So what can you do about the Bobs that work for you? Let's use the bases in Baseline Selling as stages of the pipeline where 1st base is a new suspect (appointment booked), 2nd base is a new prospect (need it, have compelling reasons to buy it, there are compelling reasons to buy from you and you have successfully differentiated your company from the competition), 3rd base is a completely qualified opportunity and home plate represents a closed deal. If you're tracking, among other things, the number of new suspects, new prospects and base moves, you will always see the drop-off coming. When any of those numbers are zeros for a couple of weeks, the momentum has changed and, depending on the length of your sales cycle, you are that many weeks or months from trouble. Worse, if you wait until that point in the future where the business dries up to do something about the problem, it will be a similar length of time, the length of your sales cycle, before the business begins to come in again.

Your job is to track those numbers, recognize the momentum shift before it causes a problem and manage Bob more closely. More closely than daily? Yes! Hourly if you have to. How many hitless games does it take before a major league batter is in a slump? (I couldn't find an answer so perhaps it's time to call on Jeff Angus, author of Management by Baseball, and the Management by Baseball Blog, again. The last time I asked him to weigh in he came back with some wonderful statistics and comments.) I'm going to guess that three games, the point at which a hitter would be hitless in his last twelve or so at bats, is a legitimate slump.

What does that hitter do? Extra batting practice, review videos, and more batting practice. How is this different from what salespeople, in the midst of a slump, do?

When a momentum shift impacts any of your salespeople, get that salesperson back into the action! Get Bob on the phone. Get Bob in front of customers and prospects. Force Bob's hand. Demand a list of the 20 prospects Bob would contact next and a date for completion. Listen to Bob on the phone. Go with Bob into the field. Get Bob reengaged and hold him accountable.

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Article Tags: angus, appointment, baseball, baseline, bobs, deliverables, dries, last time, length of time, major league, momentum changes, new opportunities, new prospect, pipeline, prospects, sales performance, slump, statistics, thr, zeros



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Re: What I'm reading this weekend - Nov 12, 2010 - Hi Evan, Yes, do keep posting the list, please! I socked two articles into my "read later" file... Zen Habits - Momentum, and $100 a day from info products. The "read later" file is a real time saver... the only problem being that I haven't yet read anything in it. I know: I'll read it later! Mañana! DH
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Export To start exporting or moving into new markets grants of 50% of costs up to £20,000 each. Training and Education Knowledge Transfer Partnerships, Achieving Best Practice in Your Business, Investors in People Modern Apprenticeships New Deal for various grants. Environment BOC Foundation for the Environment: 25% to 50% of Project cost, typically £20,000 to £100,000 Clean up Fund: Emission reducing equipment up to 75% of cost Community Chest Fund: Up to £25,000 for projects near active SITA sites High Impact Fund: £150,000+ for larger projects near SITA sites Assisted Areas Regional assistance grants of between 10 and 35% for capital expenditure in less favoured areas of the UK. Loans Loans are an excellent source of finance if you have suitable security to borrow against or a reliable earnings stream. This needs to be planned and presented well to obtain funds. Credit cards Provides up to 56 days free credit if you play the game! Overdraft Banks are surprisingly supportive when presented with a well thought through plan and competent management. Bank Loans Lenders tend to look for a good business plan and security. Typically the loan is approved by a centralised back office function rather than the person you meet. Terms and rates depend upon the risk. Repayments can be very flexible to meet your specific needs. Mortgages These can include flexible repayment terms to meet your business needs. This can even be incorporated into your overdraft finance so that you have one flexible account for both personal/ business mortgages and overdraft Small Firms Loan Guarantee Scheme Up to two years trading: Up to £100,000 Over two years trading: Up to £250,000 However these are difficult to obtain and are a loan of last resort. Export Guarantee Scheme This is government backed insurance against appropriate export documentation. Mezzanine This is a halfway house between loan and equity. It can be an innovative way of raising funds for the more established business. Mostly for expansion capital. Equity This is not as easy as the papers would have you know. Only 1% of business plans received by Venture Capital Funds are successful. However, a good business proposition consisting of a strong demand for the product or service, management track record and a sound financial plan will enhance the chance of success. Business Angels These are high net worth individuals who are successful businessmen looking for investment opportunities. They can provide both time expertise and money. Typical investment size is £25,000 to £250,000 but can go as high as £2m for the right opportunity. Exit within 3-5 years. Venture Capital These are investment funds seeking high rates of return. However typically investments are over a million pounds. Some funds are targeted at lower amounts depending upon the sector and region. 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Invoice discounting Invoice Discounting can be Confidential or Disclosed; it depends upon the strength of the financial information. The service is the same as Factoring, except that the sales ledger administration and the debt collection is the responsibility of the client and not the Factor. Pre payment of the approved sales invoice is still up to 95% and the factor will still have a first charge on the book debt and therefore own the debt. This service can also have credit protection cover. All sales invoices need to be for a business to business debt, and some proof of delivery is generally required. Trade Finance This is funding provided against stock purchases, signed contracts and orders whereby the funder will prepay a certain percentage of the value Pension fund It may be possible to use your pension funds for a loan back to the business What do u think about it?


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