Incentives… and Other Impediments to Sales Success
Incentives… and Other Impediments to Sales Success
The challenge for organisations is to provide sales people with ‘behavioural budgets’ and not just $ sales budgets. This raises a question in two parts: what are the company’s and the customers’ behavioural needs of your sales people?
Most organisations do not set standards of behaviour for their sales people, and job descriptions do nothing to address this issue. And organisations do not discuss with customers what kind of sales behaviour they need to achieve mutual progress. Occasional focus groups will not throw sufficient light on this matter.
Asking sales people to compete for goods and services that customers know they want is not high-level sales behaviour. High-level sales behaviour – beyond
competing successfully for what is ‘wanted’ - is helping customers to see key problems and opportunities they know little about, and then leading them to buy and implement the best possible solutions.
Obviously, everyone seems to know about this challenge, after all it is featured as a goal on most vision statements. Regrettably, while it might be ‘known’ it is not being put into practice. The reason for this is that management short-circuits the motivation and training issues with weak offerings like ‘incentives’. But incentives is only one of the many success substitutes used in business; here are some others:
• A change of title. Apparently, if a sales person is called a BDM or a CRM, this improves their behaviour and performance. The opposite happens: the title suggests improvement but if the service remains the same the disappointment for customers will be greater than ever! I asked a customer of a financial services company what he thought of the company’s BDM’S, and he said ‘Oh, you mean the brochure delivering managers?’
• Product knowledge training. Customers are only interested in their own products, not ours, and so their question is ‘How can your product help my product to succeed?’ Most sales people are not provided with this special knowledge.
• Sales aids created by marketing or the ad agency. These are usually materials that focus on products, which send negative signals to customers. Consultation tools are critical to sales people and in my experience agencies have little or no experience in this area.
• Annual sales training course. Most sales training is predicated on learning tedious, hackneyed ‘techniques’. The usual course involves drivel like ‘How to handle objections’, whereas the great need of sales people is ‘How to defend beliefs’. Naturally then, the sales people who are forced to handle the most objections are those with the least beliefs.
• A sales conference. This kind of event often becomes a pig-out with no residual value; it costs a fortune and is the equivalent of visiting a gym once each year.
Such is the lot of sales people, and it has been this way for years. I have yet to see seminars advertising ‘positive thinking for doctors’, or ‘goal setting for engineers’; only sales people have to tolerate this endless diet of nonsense. Doctors, engineers, architects and other professionals are driven by a continuous obligation to offer valuable knowledge to those they serve.
To ensure sales people operate as professionals, organisations need to address these issues:
• Ensure that your ‘service promise’ to the market at large is consistently updated, so that what your sales force sells is a distinctive, valuable and highly attractive offering
• Consistently sell the team on the needs of the business and on the needs of the customers (not just the wants), and these needs should be compatible and complimentary to the needs of the sales team
• Set high level behavioural standards, and offer ‘dietary’ training and professional consultation tools to enable the team to practise the standards set
• Measure the effectiveness of sales people by their behaviour, as well as by their results, through organised customer feedback
• Management must set an example of professional behaviour, inside and outside the company
Incentives might make people ‘go’ but they do not make people grow. Only high quality motivation, knowledge, strategies and tools can achieve that goal. Finally, sales people must grow professionally at a greater rate than their budgets; otherwise service, profits and the sales team are at serious risk.
Incentives and Other Impediments to Sales Success - To learn more about this author, visit John Lees's Website.
Like this article? Share it with your friends
The greatest incentive for sales people should be their salaries, not commissions and other rewards. Salaries are paid to sales people for the consistent achievement of company and customer objectives. The only company objective most sales people know of is ‘budget’, and they know little or nothing about true customer objectives. Additionally, the majority of sales people achieve sales budgets only ‘now and then’, and therefore their incentive earnings are low or non-existent. I should point out that I am not against incentives. As a former sales and marketing director for a large multi-national, I used commissions and incentives to invite sales people to think and operate at rarefied levels. However, my priority was to ensure that our sales team knew how to behave in a professional and effective manner.
The challenge for organisations is to provide sales people with ‘behavioural budgets’ and not just $ sales budgets. This raises a question in two parts: what are the company’s and the customers’ behavioural needs of your sales people?
Most organisations do not set standards of behaviour for their sales people, and job descriptions do nothing to address this issue. And organisations do not discuss with customers what kind of sales behaviour they need to achieve mutual progress. Occasional focus groups will not throw sufficient light on this matter.
Asking sales people to compete for goods and services that customers know they want is not high-level sales behaviour. High-level sales behaviour – beyond
competing successfully for what is ‘wanted’ - is helping customers to see key problems and opportunities they know little about, and then leading them to buy and implement the best possible solutions.
Obviously, everyone seems to know about this challenge, after all it is featured as a goal on most vision statements. Regrettably, while it might be ‘known’ it is not being put into practice. The reason for this is that management short-circuits the motivation and training issues with weak offerings like ‘incentives’. But incentives is only one of the many success substitutes used in business; here are some others:
• A change of title. Apparently, if a sales person is called a BDM or a CRM, this improves their behaviour and performance. The opposite happens: the title suggests improvement but if the service remains the same the disappointment for customers will be greater than ever! I asked a customer of a financial services company what he thought of the company’s BDM’S, and he said ‘Oh, you mean the brochure delivering managers?’
• Product knowledge training. Customers are only interested in their own products, not ours, and so their question is ‘How can your product help my product to succeed?’ Most sales people are not provided with this special knowledge.
• Sales aids created by marketing or the ad agency. These are usually materials that focus on products, which send negative signals to customers. Consultation tools are critical to sales people and in my experience agencies have little or no experience in this area.
• Annual sales training course. Most sales training is predicated on learning tedious, hackneyed ‘techniques’. The usual course involves drivel like ‘How to handle objections’, whereas the great need of sales people is ‘How to defend beliefs’. Naturally then, the sales people who are forced to handle the most objections are those with the least beliefs.
• A sales conference. This kind of event often becomes a pig-out with no residual value; it costs a fortune and is the equivalent of visiting a gym once each year.
Such is the lot of sales people, and it has been this way for years. I have yet to see seminars advertising ‘positive thinking for doctors’, or ‘goal setting for engineers’; only sales people have to tolerate this endless diet of nonsense. Doctors, engineers, architects and other professionals are driven by a continuous obligation to offer valuable knowledge to those they serve.
To ensure sales people operate as professionals, organisations need to address these issues:
• Ensure that your ‘service promise’ to the market at large is consistently updated, so that what your sales force sells is a distinctive, valuable and highly attractive offering
• Consistently sell the team on the needs of the business and on the needs of the customers (not just the wants), and these needs should be compatible and complimentary to the needs of the sales team
• Set high level behavioural standards, and offer ‘dietary’ training and professional consultation tools to enable the team to practise the standards set
• Measure the effectiveness of sales people by their behaviour, as well as by their results, through organised customer feedback
• Management must set an example of professional behaviour, inside and outside the company
Incentives might make people ‘go’ but they do not make people grow. Only high quality motivation, knowledge, strategies and tools can achieve that goal. Finally, sales people must grow professionally at a greater rate than their budgets; otherwise service, profits and the sales team are at serious risk.
Incentives and Other Impediments to Sales Success - To learn more about this author, visit John Lees's Website.
Like this article? Share it with your friends
 | |
 |
No article feedback found. |
| |
Leave Your Feedback |
 | |
| |||
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 |
|||
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 |
|||
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 |
|||
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 |
|||
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 |
|||
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 |
|||
Dianne CramptonDianne Crampton is an executive leadership coach, team culture 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. Dianne's contribution to the 2010 Pfeiffer Consulting Journal (an imprint of John Wiley and Sons Publishers) entitled TIGERS Hearted Teams is available in November 2009. Her new book TIGERS Among Us: 5 Winning Business Team Cultures And Why, Three Creeks Publishing will release in March 2010. To receive publishing discounts, subscribe to the free TigerTracks Newsletter here. - Visit Dianne Crampton's Website |
|||
Anne BarrAnne Barr has over 26 years experience in sales and marketing, six years as a franchisee. She has assisted over 367 business owners and purchasers to achieve their goals in career change, transition and exit strategy. She holds the designation of Certified Franchise Executive from the International Franchise Association, Certified Business Intermediary from the International Business Brokers Association and Board Certified Broker from the Texas Association of Business Brokers. Anne is active in professional organizations, networking groups and volunteers for non-profit entities. As owner/operator of four successful businesses, Anne has proven people skills and enjoys helping clients find the right "fit" in business ownership. Visit www.FranchiseOpportunitySpecialist.com for more information about me and my company. - Visit Anne Barr's Website |
|||
|
To learn more about the Evan Elite Author Program please contact us. | |||
 | |
|  |
Subscribe to John's articles
 | |
|
|  |
 | |
|
| |
 | ||
 |
||
|
||
 |
||
|
| ||
 |
| Have you written articles that would be of value to entrepreneurs? Become an expert on our site by publishing them! Expose yourself to a wide audience, drive more traffic to your website and get more sales! Click Here for details. |
|
|
 |
| Modeling the Masters: Learn the true secrets behind Walt Disney's business success factors & grow your company! Video produced by Phanta Media |
|
|
 |
"Learn straight from Evan how you can Make a Full Time Income (And More) from a Website"
Click Here To Learn More |
|
|
|
|
Get advice & tips from famous business owners, new articles by entrepreneur experts, my latest website updates, & special sneak peaks at what's to come!
|
|
 |
 Referral Strategies How To Work Why MLMs Fail Federal and State Laws 10 Areas of Differentiation |
|
 | ||
 |
Fortune Hunters
CBC Entrepreneur TV | |
 |
Top 50 SEO Posts - 2007
Top SEO Posts of the Year | |
| ||
 | ||||
| ||||
|
| ||||
| ||||
|
|
|
|
|
||||||||||||
|
Email us your ideas on how to make our website more valuable! Thank you Sharon from Toronto Salsa Lessons / Classes for your suggestions to make the newsletter look like the website and profile younger entrepreneurs like Jennifer Lopez and Sean Combs!
|
|
|
| ||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||
|
|
||||||||||||