What Causes Your Salespeople to Fail in this Economy?
What Causes Your Salespeople to Fail in this Economy?
Bob was getting anxious over what to write to a suspect that blew him off. The prospect canceled an appointment and was vague about whether or not he would reschedule. This stopped Bob in his tracks and he literally spent an entire day getting feedback on what his email should say. Not only is Bob wasting time, it is time that could be spent finding and identifying additional opportunities, moving existing opportunities along and connecting with customers or clients and collecting referrals. So what causes Bob to do this and could we have predicted this behavior?
In this scenario, Bob is emotionally involved - not with the suspect himself - in the drama of both the rejection and the upcoming response to his soon to be sent email. However, the emotional involvement is not the problem, it's merely a symptom. There are two problems:
1. The first is his lack of recovery from the rejection of the canceled appointment. Everyone gets rejected but how long it takes to recover is more important than the actual "fear" of rejection.
2. The second is Bob's Need for Approval. He is so worried about how his suspect will respond to the email, that he is putting tremendous, unnecessary effort into the actual letter. It's likely that if Bob recovered from the rejection more quickly, the need for approval may not have kicked in either.
Let's pretend that Bob didn't have this trouble recovering from rejection. Without it, he would have been in a position to deal with his suspect's cancellation on the phone, in real time, as it happened, and either rescheduled or ended this opportunity right then and there. However, even without the rejection problem, his need for approval may have prevented him from confronting the suspect for fear that his suspect would be offended and go away.
So what do we have instead? A suspect that has likely gone away anyhow, and Bob wasting an entire day on a letter that may very well be irrelevant. Sound like an unlikely scenario? Both the actual scenario and the hypothetical scenario happen every day to tens of thousands of salespeople, maybe even yours!
Can these behaviors be predicted?
Yes! The Tendency to Become Emotionally Involved, Need for Approval and Difficulty Recovering from Rejection, specifically in sales situations, are standard findings in Objective Management Group's suite of sales assessments. More important than the findings though, are your ability to manage salespeople with these issues. How you get your salespeople to navigate their day, despite weaknesses like these, defines how effective you are as a manager.
Do you know which salespeople are likely to fall victim to the myriad of possible scenarios?
Do you know how to prepare them?
Do you know how to help them use their strengths to compensate?
Do you know which role plays to engage them in so that they say, ask, and do the right things when suspects and prospects trigger the weaknesses?
Do you know how to hold them accountable to applying and executing those role plays in real sales calls?
In the current economy, you must be able to consistently succeed in that style of coaching and accountability with each of your salespeople because with the resistance they encounter each day now, those weaknesses will cause certain failure rather than sometimes interfere with success.
What Causes Your Salespeople to Fail in this Economy - To learn more about this author, visit Dave Kurlan's Website.
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Do you have a salesperson like Bob?
Bob was getting anxious over what to write to a suspect that blew him off. The prospect canceled an appointment and was vague about whether or not he would reschedule. This stopped Bob in his tracks and he literally spent an entire day getting feedback on what his email should say. Not only is Bob wasting time, it is time that could be spent finding and identifying additional opportunities, moving existing opportunities along and connecting with customers or clients and collecting referrals. So what causes Bob to do this and could we have predicted this behavior?
In this scenario, Bob is emotionally involved - not with the suspect himself - in the drama of both the rejection and the upcoming response to his soon to be sent email. However, the emotional involvement is not the problem, it's merely a symptom. There are two problems:
1. The first is his lack of recovery from the rejection of the canceled appointment. Everyone gets rejected but how long it takes to recover is more important than the actual "fear" of rejection.
2. The second is Bob's Need for Approval. He is so worried about how his suspect will respond to the email, that he is putting tremendous, unnecessary effort into the actual letter. It's likely that if Bob recovered from the rejection more quickly, the need for approval may not have kicked in either.
Let's pretend that Bob didn't have this trouble recovering from rejection. Without it, he would have been in a position to deal with his suspect's cancellation on the phone, in real time, as it happened, and either rescheduled or ended this opportunity right then and there. However, even without the rejection problem, his need for approval may have prevented him from confronting the suspect for fear that his suspect would be offended and go away.
So what do we have instead? A suspect that has likely gone away anyhow, and Bob wasting an entire day on a letter that may very well be irrelevant. Sound like an unlikely scenario? Both the actual scenario and the hypothetical scenario happen every day to tens of thousands of salespeople, maybe even yours!
Can these behaviors be predicted?
Yes! The Tendency to Become Emotionally Involved, Need for Approval and Difficulty Recovering from Rejection, specifically in sales situations, are standard findings in Objective Management Group's suite of sales assessments. More important than the findings though, are your ability to manage salespeople with these issues. How you get your salespeople to navigate their day, despite weaknesses like these, defines how effective you are as a manager.
Do you know which salespeople are likely to fall victim to the myriad of possible scenarios?
Do you know how to prepare them?
Do you know how to help them use their strengths to compensate?
Do you know which role plays to engage them in so that they say, ask, and do the right things when suspects and prospects trigger the weaknesses?
Do you know how to hold them accountable to applying and executing those role plays in real sales calls?
In the current economy, you must be able to consistently succeed in that style of coaching and accountability with each of your salespeople because with the resistance they encounter each day now, those weaknesses will cause certain failure rather than sometimes interfere with success.
What Causes Your Salespeople to Fail in this Economy - To learn more about this author, visit Dave Kurlan's Website.
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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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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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Understanding the Sales Force - Objective Management Group, Inc. is the pioneer and industry leader in sales force evaluations and sales candidate screening. Spearheaded by leading sales industry expert, Dave Kurlan, Objective Management Group, Inc. can help you measure sales effectiveness, execution and potential.
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