Colleen’s Blog

I'm rarely lost for words, but this provocative question at last night's Enterprise Sales Forum in NYC caused me to pause for a few minutes: "What does the fact that most sellers don't call themselves "salesperson" say about our clients' perception of us, and what does this mean overall for the future of our profession?"

Are you or members of your sales team having trouble getting past gatekeepers? I've noticed a trend. In my latest workshops and training working with top sales performers, one issue that keeps coming to the surface is how to get past gatekeepers. It's an obvious struggle. If you can't get to the individual who has the power to buy and sign purchase orders and checks, it's going to be a long and tough road to making sales (and that road can very well lead to a dead-end). So, how can salespeople get past gatekeepers? There are three important points that you need to consider:

Last year, I was at an extended leadership team meeting for one of my best clients.  We introduced a quick concept to his sales managers around account management and proper account planning.

A key distinction between top sellers and top sales leaders is that top sales leaders must be excellent team players, whereas top sellers do not. Leaders must be team players. Why? Because they must believe that the whole team:

Most of my clients have a practice where they do quarterly business reviews with their best customers. This is something that I advocate as a best selling practice for key account management.

Your sales team could be too isolated! A couple of years ago, I was working with an organization and we brought their entire sales team together in one room. One of the first things we did is we asked each individual on the team to begin sharing examples, ideas, thoughts and success stories. We wanted to determine whether those success stories aligned with the goals and values that the company put forth. Something interesting happened though. We began hearing phrases like:

I've been inspired by the athletes at the recent Winter Olympic games in PyeongChang. Their grit, tenacity and their ability to perform under pressure are all takeaways for sellers.

In my line of work, I've noticed that the vast majority of sellers don't prepare for sales calls and leave opportunities on the table.

It's frustrating. When you see a sales rep struggling month after month, and missing target after target, it's enough to make any sales leader uneasy. The problem is most leaders handle poor performers the wrong way. There's a tendency to have "tough conversations" or attempt to punish them into higher performance. Some leaders even give poor performers the "cold shoulder" and allow a rep's professional performance to seep into their personal behavior towards them. These are all things that are extremely counterproductive and more often than not, contribute to more negativity and even worse performance. Luckily, there are strategies you can put into place to help improve their results. 

Most times, companies, marketing departments, executives, and even sales teams create value statements without understanding the value they can bring to the customer.