What I’m Learning From My Work

Sales lessons are all around us.

Often, I keep a keen eye out for new experiences, for the very purpose of sharing what I learned with you!

Here are some of the thoughts I’m having right now which could benefit you:

1. I was running in the hotel gym last week and 2 of the 5 treadmills had no power. The plugs were there, but they didn’t fit the socket. Being at only 3/5 capacity to serve their guests, the gym was underpowered, and people were left waiting. Is your sales team underpowered? Do they have a full slate of resources required to do their jobs effectively or are clients and prospects constantly waiting because there is a greater workload than hours in a day?
2. Last week, we rolled out the first of a series of training sessions for a client based on a pilot I conducted for them earlier this year. Over half the participants from the pilot volunteered to be back for the rollout. Why? Because they gained so much value, they wanted more. Of course, when I asked about their results, they turned out to be the top performers on the team. Those who need the least amount of training are always the ones who want it the most.
3. Related to the last point, I discovered this month, while working with two poorly performing sales VPs that the less training a sales manager has, the less they know they need.  Ultimately this causes poor performance. It’s time for C-levels to step up and insist their leaders receive sales leadership training or coaching.
4. Training doesn’t work in isolation. The most successful projects I’ve worked on always include ongoing coaching and sustainability programs that last 4-12 months. Coaching helps to ensure new skills are applied, a behavior is changed and results are measured. Only when a manager engages with his team at this level do sales improve.
5. Always have a backup. A backup flight, a backup prospect, a backup customer, a backup opportunity. When you have a plan B, you will always achieve your goal.
6. If the bottom 10% of your customers by revenue is costing you 40% of your total sales costs, you have a resource allocation problem. Money and time should be spent on your best customers, not your lowest value customers. When was the last time you analyzed your profit per customer segment?

[bctt tweet=”These six sales lessons could contain the seed of opportunity for you! ” username=”EngageColleen”]

And, just as important, keep an eye out during your everyday activities to learn and absorb as much as you can. Often, the best sales lessons can be found right under your nose!

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