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Why You Should be Scared When Your Salespeople are Closing Lots of Business

Guest post by: Dave Kurlan

Article Overview: Sales managers get caught up in the excitement of a closing frenzy when they should be taking a step back and asking themselves, what's wrong with this picture?

Why You Should be Scared When Your Salespeople are Closing Lots of Business

Most senior executives get excited when a lot of business starts to close all in a fairly short period of time. They think:

• Momentum
• Cash Flow
• Best Practices being executed
• Processes being followed
• Strategies being executed
• Tactics being utilized
• Salespeople becoming more effective
• Retention
• Focus on bigger opportunities now
• etc.

What they should be thinking is more along the lines of:

• uh-oh
• is the pipeline emptying?
• what's coming along behind this?
• has anyone been filling the pipeline during all this closing frenzy?
• how could I have not seen this coming?

Sales managers get caught up in the excitement of a closing frenzy when they should be taking a step back and asking themselves, what's wrong with this picture?

If you have a short sales cycle - less than 30 days - you won't feel the impact of this as much as a company with a longer sales cycle. If you have a six month sales cycle and the pipeline just emptied in a closing frenzy, it could be six months before business begins to consistently close again!

You may see a similar phenomenon when salespeople are on an appointment scheduling frenzy - nothing seems to be closing - and opportunities are not moving through the stages of the sales process.

So what is the answer? Balance. Your job is to maintain balance - hold salespeople accountable for all three requirements:

• filling the pipeline
• moving opportunities through the pipeline
• closing the closable opportunities in the pipeline
• all at the same time
• without breaks in the action
• without excuses
• without blinders on

How about at your company - is there balance?

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Article Tags: appointment, best practices, blinders, cash flow, excitement, frenzy, job, li li, momentum, period of time, phenomenon, pipeline, sales cycle, sales managers, salespeople, senior executives, short period, six months



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