Sales Meetings vs. Revenue

11/21/2009

Whoops on Friday I had every intention to sit at my desk and start calling. That was the goal. I'm a pretty good at prioritizing my time. I think about it all the time, especially late at night or very early in the morning. By 5:30 AM I'm already trying to get my day organized.

This past Friday I knew I had a networking meeting in the morning. It ended on time and I was back at the office by 10 AM. I started making a few sales calls on behalf of a client of mine as soon as I sat down. At lunch I got a quick bite to eat then I had another meeting at 1 PM. That was supposed to be a quick meeting but it didn't end until 3:30 PM.

Neither meeting on Friday dealt with revenue. Both meetings needed to occur but neither was meant to, nor did they put dollars in my pocket. Does this sound like you? Do you get caught up in non-revenue producing meetings all day, every day?

Is this you?

1. Meeting after meeting?
2. Very, very busy days?
3. Not enough time in the day?
4. Working late?
5. Getting to work earlier every month?
6. Constantly doing one-off projects?

Most businesses fall into this rut at one time or another. I know I certainly do. The only way out is to clear your calendar (JUST DO IT NOW) and block some time for sales calls, follow-up calls, and lead generation.

You have to reevaluate which functions are bringing in revenue. If your busy work is not brining in revenue then wipe it off your calendar before you go broke.

DO IT NOW... Start hitting the delete button on your calendar today. Replace those non-revenue producing tasks with the stuff that actually puts dollars in your pocket.

(Have you done it yet?  No? THEN DO IT NOW!)

To review all sales articles by David Peterson click here

The Pipeline

11/14/2009

It's 8:00 AM and you are just arriving at the office, the sales reps will not start manning the phones until 8:30 AM. Sales are down a bit, but you got that sinking feeling that the trend is not looking good. What should you do to get the group going?

Contest? Spiff? Yell? Write-up everyone under goal? Team meeting? Shake-up the group? Move desks around? Individual coaching? The possibilities really are endless.

My advice... I would start checking your rep's pipelines. It always boils down to the same item month after month. If the individual representative's pipeline is full then you know they are doing everything they can. However, if their pipelines are near empty or haphazardly being tracked then you have yourself a coaching moment.

Sales Managers are tasked with bringing in the revenue. Those pipelines are not the property of the individual representatives they are the property of the sales department. Every rep should know where every lead is at in the sales process. If they don't know, names, numbers, probability to close how are you ever going to exceed the goal?

If they are haphazardly tracking your leads or not consistently moving the lead through the sales process then there is another solution. I would let them know that it's time to let someone else have a crack at the leads they didn't want to track.

Contest, Spiffs, Meetings, ... they are all good in their own ways but for my money I would spend the day coaching everyone on their pipelines. The worst thing that could happen with this activity is that you will know if that sinking feeling is actually a trend.

To review all sales articles by David Peterson click here

Never change a compensation plan in the middle of an accounting period.

11/9/2009

This one always bothers me. In every company that I have worked in or with in the last 30 years some form of compensation plan changes were necessary. This happens because occasionally something will happen to a business that rocks the sales floor to the core.

Most comp plans changes occur at the beginning of the year. Every once in a while at the beginning of a quarter, and rarely, yet it happens, a few compensation plans are required to be changed in the middle of the quarter.

Some examples of why the comp plan needs to be changed immediately:

1. All sales representatives are greatly exceeding their budgets. Clearly you got the number wrong.
2. New product launches way to early or way to late. The sales department was either not counting on this revenue or were counting on this revenue when the original sales plan was written.
3. Marketing and Sales are not on the same page in terms of advertising dollars and or time frames. This one is really irritating since the sales representatives themselves are counting on the revenue.

Regardless of the reason if you find yourself changing a sales compensation plan in the middle of the month then my advice is to do it in a very open manner. There will be winners and losers with these comp plan changes. The more open the process the more open the losers will agree to accept the changes.

Only change the products that need to be changed. Don't try to reinvent the wheel at this moment in time. Also, keep the new plan SIMPLE. If the reps do not understand how or why they are being paid on their sales they will simply STOP selling and your month and ultimately your quarter will go down in flames.

My advice is act quickly yet wait until you can role out a simple and completely thought out plan. Once you have it thought out, written, then ready to go you should gather everyone together and role the plan to all the groups involved out as soon as possible. Don't leave that meeting until every one understands how THEY are getting paid and why the change was made.

To review all sales articles by David Peterson click here