November 2019

How many sales calls did your team make in '19?

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Lately I’m hearing from those who hire me – CXOs and sales managers – about what they think they need in the training room for their B2B sellers.  Last week, while reviewing a proposed agenda with a client, I was asked, “Why are you spending so much time during our workshop on sales call management?  ….my team tells me they want to learn how to write emails that get responses, learn how to get buyers out of the black holes where they hide, and personally, I want them to learn to close and negotiate better.”
 
I replied, “my observations are most B2B sellers don’t know how to successfully manage a meeting with a client…. the items your team tells you they want training on are important, but they’re not a priority versus knowing how to garner maximum value from your customer interactions.”
 
She pondered my response before I added, “How do you think your team rates here?  ...on managing sales call meetings, that is?  If you tell me they manage a sales call with strong expertise, then I’ll change the agenda.” 
 
Silence. 
 
Until I hear the majority of my customers tell me their team gets enough face time with clients, and are super strong managing those meeting, I’ll keep banging the meeting management drum.  Thus, as this is the time of year when you continue crafting your 2020 strategies, I have two specific recommendations on how to think about getting more productivity from your sellers next year:  

1. Understand what the data says about your company’s sales call efficiency.  As we march towards the end of the year, you have enough data to understand rep productivity beyond traditional metrics like quota achievement and gross production.  Focus, too, on the outputs; “outputs” here is defined as the actions and behaviors that lead to the results you want (sales).  What does the data tell you about how your team handles face-to-face meetings?  What areas and skills on your team need development and training to get more yield from your interactions?
2. Get aggressive implementing and managing a sales meeting strategy.  I admit the following is just a “feeling” and I don't have empirical evidence, but it appears to me that sales managers are getting soft on pushing sellers out the door.  Just because it’s harder and harder to get facetime with a prospect doesn’t mean company leaders should capitulate to the sales team and not push them.  "It's hard getting meetings" from the mouths of sellers is not a reason for managers to give up and stop working at it.  Again, it just feels to me that sales managers have resigned themselves to the fact that their teams can be effective as email sellers.  

 
The value that comes from physical meetings with customers is undeniable and unbelievably potent.   Allow me to offer a simplified check-list of what defines a successful meeting from the viewpoint of the B2B seller:

1. Learn valuable info that you wouldn’t know without meeting.
2. Deliver valuable info that you couldn’t deliver without meeting.
   
3. Uncover personal motivations (which is very different than understanding business objectives).
4. Potentially increase relationship equity.
   
5. Get the best opportunity to influence thoughts, perceptions and decisions.

In closing, allow me to quote someone very close to me – me actually – “nothing good ever happens sitting at your desk…go meet with someone and make something happen”.   Here comes 2020....get your sales call strategy in place now!

As usual, the above is only part of the story...when you're ready to get serious and want to chat about this important topic, call me (917 207 5183) and we'll set up a time to see each other face-to-face!

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