Every week, I hear from business owners who are frustrated in the quality of the sales forecasts presented to them by their salespeople and sales managers.   In fact, the situation is getting worse and is exacerbated by the slowness of the economic recovery and the lackluster performance of mediocre salespeople.

I’m a big believer in the power of optimism and positive thinking, but there is absolutely no place for optimism when it comes to forecasting new sales.

If you are having difficulty believing in the quality (or quantity) of the sales projections you receive each month, it is likely that whoever is doing the forecasting is missing some very fundamental information.   Fortunately, there is a straightforward remedy to fixing this situation. 

For starters, a salesperson should never forecast a piece of business if he/she does not have a commitment to purchase from the Real Decision Maker (RDM) and crystal clear answers to the following questions (at a minimum):

• Does the RDM perceive a need?
• Is he/she willing to fix it?
• Do we really have a clear understanding of why the RDM must act now? (hint:  without urgency derived from personal pain, don’t hold your breath…)

• What is so great/special about us in the eyes of the RDM? (besides the fact that we think we’re the best)
• Does the RDM trust us more than our competition?
• Exactly how much money is available to spend and by when?

In addition, you will want to be sure that your salesperson has been identified to be the Most Valuable Player – a differentiated trusted advisor who truly rises above a field of smooth talkers and peddlers. 

Finally, never accept assumptions.  If any assumptions have been made, have your salesperson go back and verify them to be facts.   Checking assumptions is one of the most critical areas where real sales work resides.  If you have an existing salesperson that continues to accept stories for truths and refuses to verify that their assumptions are indeed facts, I would recommend that you find a replacement.

The steps above will go a long way to improving your forecasts.

To request a comprehensive checklist to eliminate all surprises from your sales projections, email GrowMySales@Zthree.com and write “Improve My Forecasts” in the Subject Line.

Copyright ©   Joe Zente  2010.   All Rights Reserved.

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If your salespeople are like most, they love to do things that allow them to:

• live inside their comfort zone
• feel like experts
• have fun
• feel in control
• feel smart or important
• avoid rejection

In order to accomplish this, they choose to spend their time:

• talking about your company
• talking about themselves
• giving demos
• presenting
• burning up company resources
• dropping names
• creating and offering proposals (often multiple times to the same prospect!)
• offering references

Unfortunately, these behaviors will cost you big bucks, especially when deployed prematurely. 

Premature Satisfaction will never:

• serve to build trust
• accelerate sales cycles
• create positive differentiation
• uncover the compelling reasons that a decision maker would buy
• help one discover if or when they might do business with your company 

To worsen things, most salespeople just can’t wait to begin wasting time with Satisfaction as early as possible in the sales cycle in order to “feel the love”.  If you are still wondering if members of your sales team might be satisfying prematurely, evidence will reside in the reliability and believe-ability of your monthly sales forecasts. 

To improve your effectiveness and revenues, you need to ask your salespeople to immediately:

• take a step back to breath deep – haste makes waste
• commit to being trustworthy and sincerely interested
• focus upon understanding personal reasons for buying
• commit to becoming infinitely curious
• care
• ask more questions than everyone else
• ask more insightful questions than everyone else
• ask tougher questions than everyone else
• listen actively
• be authentic
• never make assumptions
• commit to continuous improvement in all of the above
• master the psychology of cooperation versus the manipulation of traditional selling

For further help or to request a simple UnCommon Sense Sales Upgrade checklist, click here.

Copyright ©   Joe Zente  2010.   All Rights Reserved.

Bookmark the CEO Success Blog!

If your salespeople are like most, they love to do things that allow them to:

• live inside their comfort zone
• feel like experts
• have fun
• feel in control
• feel smart or important
• avoid rejection

In order to accomplish this, they choose to spend their time:

• talking about your company
• talking about themselves
• giving demos
• presenting
• burning up company resources
• dropping names
• creating and offering proposals (often multiple times to the same prospect!)
• offering references

Unfortunately, these behaviors will cost you big bucks, especially when deployed prematurely. 

Premature Satisfaction will never:

• serve to build trust
• accelerate sales cycles
• create positive differentiation
• uncover the compelling reasons that a decision maker would buy
• help one discover if or when they might do business with your company. 

To worsen things, most salespeople just can’t wait to begin wasting time with Satisfaction as early as possible in the sales cycle in order to “feel the love”.  If you are still wondering if members of your sales team might be satisfying prematurely, evidence will reside in the reliability and believe-ability of your monthly sales forecasts. 

To improve your effectiveness and revenues, you need to ask your salespeople to immediately:

• take a step back to breath deep – haste makes waste
• commit to being trustworthy and sincerely interested
• focus upon understanding personal reasons for buying
• commit to becoming infinitely curious
• care
• ask more questions than everyone else
• ask more insightful questions than everyone else
• ask tougher questions than everyone else
• listen actively
• be authentic
• never make assumptions
• commit to continuous improvement in all of the above
• master the psychology of cooperation versus the manipulation of traditional selling

For further help or to request a simple UnCommon Sense Sales Upgrade checklist, click here.

Copyright ©   Joe Zente  2010.   All Rights Reserved.

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I have been receiving an increasing volume of requests to provide greater insight into The Psychology of Buyers, so this is the first in a series of articles intended to provide improved understanding.

If you are going to help your prospects and clients succeed, you will need to gather lots of information from them. To obtain that information, you will need to ask questions.  The intent of your questioning will determine your effectiveness.  Despite a contrarian view from many of our egos, The Psychology of Buyers tells us that the majority of prospects do not trust salespeople, so prospective clients are continuously making decisions about what questions may be safe to answer.  So ask yourself honestly-is the intent of your questions to facilitate mutual discovery in a way that feels good for your prospect, or to help you feel good or get what you want via manipulation or cleverness?  Whose agenda are you really on?

The Biology of TRUST – Why Leading Questions Don’t Work

When a question is asked of a buyer, the question makes its first stop at the brain stem, to a tiny place on the stem called the amygdala.  The amygdala, or Old Brain, is the GateKeeper of Trust.  It determines flight, fright, and survival.  So when the question is asked, our Old Brain determines the trustworthy-ness of the questions and whether it’s safe or unsafe to proceed.  If, and only if, the amygdala determines safety will the question get routed to the New Brain, or neocortex.  The neocortex is the rational portion of the brain where we think, analyze and make determinations of whether or not something may be true.  So if clients don’t sense that your question is truly in their best interest, the “trust alarm” will be triggered, preventing you from facilitating mutually beneficial discovery and having "adult conversations”.  You will never get to second base.

Don’t Act Trustworthy, BE Trustworthy

The Old Brain operates primarily on pattern recognition.  Since most people have been programmed through past experiences to mistrust salespeople, this GateKeeper has become extremely savvy.  If you behave like a salesperson by asking “leading questions” or trying to cleverly “create value”, then the amygdala will determine that you are not trustworthy.  You will be guilty without a trial.  Asking for trust or acting interested will not get it done.  You must actually BE trustworthy.  Aside from the fact that faking intent is shallow and unethical, it is also quite transparent.

Detach Yourself from Outcomes

Here’s the deal.  The harder you try to “sell” someone, the less likely it is going to happen, and the more likely it is that the Old Brain will shut you out.  If the GateKeeper shuts you out, information flow is stymied, and your likelihood to arrive at a solution perceived to be valuable diminishes greatly. If you are sincerely interested and honestly want to help people succeed, they will be more likely to share their beliefs about what success looks like for them.  Your ability to find the right solution and win their trust increases.  Believe it or not, it is in your own most selfish interest to focus on the interest of the prospect before focusing upon your own.

Goals and expectations are important, but selling success relies on a discipline to remain detached from our goals and external pressures (like the prodding of your sales manager) before you engage with prospects and clients.  Check your ego at the door and actively listen to your clients with sincere interest and infinite, childlike curiosity.   The great results will speak for themselves…

Copyright ©   Joe Zente  2010.   All Rights Reserved.

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Just about every day, I meet business owners, leaders and managers who refuse to accept mediocrity in their Operations, Product Quality, Distribution or Customer Service.  Interestingly, those same leaders ARE willing and consistently accept mediocrity in their Sales Force, resulting in millions of dollars of lost revenue and profit.  Sound familiar?  While this assertion may seem incredible, it is unfortunately the rule and not the exception.  The good news is that this phenomenon can be reversed.    

If you would like to eliminate under-achievement from your Sales Force and transform it from Good to Great, all it takes is a DECISION and a COMMITMENT.  The rest is formulaic.

So what is it about some salespeople, teams and companies that cause them to win while others fizzle?  Here are the ten biggest differences between Sales Winners (over achievers) and Sales Losers (under achievers). 

1.  Choice - Over achievers consistently choose to do the things they don’t like to do.  Weak players postpone or avoid them entirely.

2.  Strategy - Winners develop specific strategies for both long-term and near-term success and for the accounts they seek to obtain or grow.  Weaker salespeople spend little or no time strategizing.  A solid strategy is required for effective execution.  In the absence of a strategy, execution is a hope, not a reality.

3.  UnConditional Commitment - Over achieving salespeople use Selling Time to Sell.  Period.  They have a Success Recipe and let nothing stand in the way of executing the required activities necessary to succeed.  A winner who commits to making 25 calls in a given day will make them and not allow distractions and excuses like “I had to do more research”, “my computer locked up”, “my boss needed that report” or “the dog ate my homework” to prevent them from executing their committed activities.  

4.  Mental Toughness - When over-achievers lose a battle or experience a curve ball during a sales interview or cycle, they simply get back on their horse and strategize as to how their next call will achieve the desired result.  When under-achievers lose a battle they often retreat, sulk, complain, give up, call someone who will be more accepting or kind, surf the internet, play solitaire or do nothing.

5.  Expectations - Over achievers expect to win.  Under achievers expect to just play.  Expectations are even more important than goals.  While goals provide long-term motivation, expectations set the bar for each and every interaction and meeting, as well as for the behaviors we might expect from ourselves, associates, prospects and Customers.

6.  Reaction to Adversity – Adversity exists and no one is exempted.  The only difference is in the reaction.  Winners always see a challenge or opportunity where weak players see obstacles.  Over achievers embrace challenges and even get excited about them. Under achievers become overwhelmed with challenges.  They attempt to avoid obstacles, including “tough” conversations.  

7.  Emotional Control -  When winners fail to get the desired result, they will not self-pity, lose control, find a comfort zone or become upset.  They will simply stay in the moment and make their next move.  When weaker players fail to get desired results they panic, become emotionally involved, become defensive and lose their objectivity.

8.  Process - Over achievers “own” a process that they know is effective that keeps them effective, focused and efficient.  They know how to maintain control of all selling interviews.  They will execute it independent of the size or scope of the opportunity.  Under achievers typically allow prospects to control the conversations and process and their results show it.

9.  Self-Improvement – Winners consistently over achieve because they are relentless in their pursuit of improvement and refining their skills via reading, webinars, training, coaching and practice.  Under achievers don’t necessarily see value in improving or practicing.  Winners don’t just accumulate knowledge, they put it into action.  Many weak players think they are “good enough”.  Winners create a recurrent Development Plan and commit to continuous improvement.

10.  Passion - Over achievers are passionate about their job and profession.  They love what they do.  Under achievers typically can’t wait to finish their day and go home.

If you would like to rate your Salespeople, be objective and use the following ratings.

1 -  Poor  
2 -  Needs Significant Improvement   
3 -  Room for Improvement   
4 -  Needs Some Fine Tuning  
5 -  Congratulations, No Need for Improvement

It would be a good idea to ask each of your people to rate themselves as well, so you can compare results and develop a plan accordingly.

Compare your results according to this scale:

A Players:                   40-50
B Players:                   30-39
C Players:                   20-29
Emergency:                Under 20                

Any surprises?

Any lessons learned?

Now that you know what you have, will you be making any changes?

Please share what you’ve learned

Continued Success! 

Z3 Performance Development, Inc.

Austin, Texas  78750

www.zthree.com