Sales Progress Blog

These days people are more protective of their money, and instead of spending it freely, they are saving. For sales teams, it has become increasingly important to keep a hold of current clients; since, as most studies show, it costs six times more to get a prospect to buy than it does an existing customer. So, the question becomes, “How do we maintain our relationship with our client and get them to buy?”

Most customers leave because they are unhappy, and sixty-seven percent of clients leave because of a perceived feeling of indifference. Managers and supervisors need to coach their inside sales team to keep in front of their customers. Look at who you have not talked to in the past year and who you have not contacted in the past 30 days and make sure to send them an e-mail or phone call to let them know that you are still interested in them. Ask customers how the product you sold them is working out or if they need anything else. This way, you are letting your customers know that you value them.

Here are a couple more steps that you can take to improve your sales and increase your business opportunities:

Send Items of Interest. Find out information about your customers.

Read more…

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Today is an important day for most Mid-westerners because it marks the beginning of summer and the end of those cold, brutal winter months. With all the distractions of summer days, managers may begin to worry about one thing: their employee’s sustainability.

Sustainability - to keep up or keep going.

Everyone has those days, when work is the last place you want to be, and you’ve already started to think about weekend activities…but it’s only Monday. The sun is shining outside, the pools are packed and you’re stuck in an office. As a manager, how do you keep sales up and employees going during the summer months?

There are many things you can do to keep your employees motivated and train them to increase their sales sustainability :

admin Sales Management, Sales Training Add new tag, coaching, effective coaching, Employee Coaching, employee training, Enhance Performance, linkedin, management leadership training, motivation, sales, sales coaching, Sales Management, summer sales, sustainability, sustained learning, teamwork, training reinforcement

In honor of the NBA playoffs, we have decided to go with basketball themed blogs, and how could we write blogs without mentioning Kobe. Kobe is one of the greatest basketball players of all time (being a Bulls fan, I won’t say he’s as good as Jordan), but with greatness comes controversy. Over the past few years, Kobe has been great and not necessarily fair to his teammates.

During these playoffs though, there has been a change. He constantly congratulates his teammates and only has good things to say (even when a reporter asked him what he thought of Artest’s shot in a game versus the Suns). What caused this change?

Well, from a business perspective, it has to be related to the fact that teams perform better when they work together; it’s part of the definition. It takes time to change and constant positive reinforcement, and as a sales manager, you should be helping your employees along. Provide them with constant feedback and encouragement, and you’ll start to see your sales revenues rise, just like Kobe’s fan base.

Read more…

admin Sales Training coaching, effective coaching, employee training, Enhance Performance, linkedin

According to the experts the top 5 major forms of communications are:
(1) Face-to-face
(2) Telephone
(3) Texting
(4) E-mail
(5) Social media

The most EFFECTIVE forms of communication are face-to-face and telephone.  Keep this in mind when you need to speak to fellow employees especially when confronting someone. Bringing up an important issue may be more comfortable to do through email or text, but it can be totally ineffective.

Make sure you discuss important issues through face-to-face methods or at least  over the telephone if needed. In this overly connected world of social media, email, and text messaging meaning can sometimes be lost.  Written messages such as text or email leave your message open to interpretation.  People could take your message harder than you meant and become offended, or may fail to see the importance and blow it off all together. A real conversation is the only way to avoid the confusion.

Confrontation is never easy, but by facing the situation head on, you can ensure the problem will be addressed properly right away, and getting it taken care of right away means you can get back to work quicker. Using the right communication medium is the first step in developing strong communication skills.

If confronting someone face-to-face makes you nervous there are a few things you can do to put yourself at ease.  First, confront the other person when you are in a calm mood.  Attacking someone at the height of your frustration will only escalate the situation.  Second, practice what you want to say.  Having a script to go into the conversation with will help put you at ease and ensure you share everything you need to say. Third, if your really uncomfortable or the situation is a pretty big issue, ask a superior for help or even have them sit in on the conversation to help mediate.  A coaching session with your manager can help come up with the best plan of how and when to confront the issue. Being able to confront issues with strong communication skills is imperative to having a strong team, don’t let your comfort level or lack of skills create an on-going problem.

We would love to hear stories of communication gone wrong.  Share your stories or opinions below.

Shannon Gburzynski Sales Training Behavior, coaching, communication skills, employee training, Enhance Performance, sales coaching techniques, Sales Staff, socialmedia, team building, workplace training

What has the down economy taught us about training our employees? Quite frankly, A LOT!  It’s more important than ever to have effective training with a positive ROI. training reinforcement, tailored sales training, learning styles

Below are the top 5 things the down economy has taught us about training our employees.

1. We have less time to attend traditional training events, so we must look outside  the box to find effective solutions.
2. We need better performance right away, there is no time for ineffective processes, course, or programs.  We need to take another look at the types of training provided and align them with adult learning styles.  Once we get better performance, training reinforcement programs must be put in place to keep the skills sustained.
3. We have less people who need to do more, skills like time management are more important than ever.
4. We need to validate with metrics, we can no longer train our employees and hope they learned something we must have a way to measure success.
5. We need to re-assess and re-evaluate our current team.  With less people to do more work, we have to make sure the people on our team are as capable and motivated as possible.

For a look at how Sales Progress solves these issues, check out this free presentation .

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1. An inability to teach.

Being able to sell ice to an Eskimo is great, but once your in that management role those skills can render useless unless you are able to pass them on to your team.  Managers are often promoted because of their superior skill, but are rarely trained how to effectively train their staff and pass on their skills.

How can I combat this? If your company doesn’t offer training for mangers, you should take it upon yourself to find some. Read books on coaching or managing effectively, take a vacation day and attend a workshop (even if it’s at your own expense),  or take online courses over your lunch break.  Your investment will be worth it when your team excels, as this will reflect positively on you and your ability to lead and develop your team.

2. They lose touch with reality

Becoming a manager doesn’t mean your done spending time in the field.  It’s true that with management status comes more responsibilities that have less to do with everyday selling, but you can’t lose touch of your selling reality.  As a manager your biggest asset to your team is to know what’s going on in the field, on a day to day basis.

How can I combat this? Ride along with your staff as often as is possible, continue to call on customers even if it is just to check in, and spend time with your staff discussing obstacles or difficult customers and coaching reps to overcome them.

3. They want to be everyone’s friend.

We all want to be liked, it’s human nature. HOWEVER along with your increase in pay and responsibility came the expectation that you are no longer just one of the group.  It is often difficult to step into that leadership role, especially when a manager is promoted from with-in.

How can I combat this? It is still important to build rapport with your team, but relationships should shift into one of coach and team member.  Set clear expectations and roles for your team, and stick to them.  When responsibilities and roles are clearly defined there is no room for confusion; this will make portraying your role as leader easy. By sticking to these expectations,there will be no blurring the lines of your authority.

Did we miss anything?  Tell us what you think the top reasons sales managers fail are.

Shannon Gburzynski Sales Training business coaching, coaching, effective coaching, employee training, Enhance Performance, goals, management leadership training, Manager, Results, sales, Sales Coaching Methodology, Sales Manager, Sales Staff, Skills, training and development, training reinforcement

A recent survey, conducted by Robert Half technology, shined some light on the use of technology and manners in the workplace. With the emergence of new mobile technologies, smaller and smaller laptops, and other portable devices comes a decline in our everyday courtesy for others. According to their work 51% of CIO’s surveyed said that the increased availability of mobile electronic gadgets has increased “breaches in workplace etiquette.”

A whopping 22% claimed that the increase in gadgets led to a significant reduction in workforce etiquette, while 29% said it decreased somewhat.

Think back to your last meeting, did you check your email from your blackberry, maybe you texted a client or friend?  Have you ever picked up a phone call when you were in the middle of a conversation?  We have all done it, or had it done to us, and although we are aware these activities can be rude, they continue to happen.

The top 5 rudest activities identified by the survey were:

1. Multi-taskers who email or text message during company meetings. While for the most part multitasking abilities are regarded highly, don’t do it at the expense of paying full attention to what others have to say.
2. Workers who send emails instead of having conversations face to face. Try to make at least 80% of your in house communication in person or over the phone.  Talking is most instances is actually quicker than email, and leaves less room for misinterpretation, plus it helps team building.
3. Workers with big mouths, who constantly talk to loudly while on the phone.  Welcome to 2010, they have done marvels with reception and phone quality so there is no need to yell into the phone.  Still having troubles? Maybe it’s time to update your phone or carrier?
4. People with blue-tooth’s permanently attached.  Are you crazy or just really busy, sometimes it’s hard to tell.
5. And workers who tried to be polite by putting their phones on vibrate, but then neglect to shut off the buzzing while in a meeting.  If you’re expecting an important call or message leave your phone on vibrate, but in your pocket so only you know when it’s going off, otherwise turn it to silent just to be safe.

Everyone should become more aware of their manners with regards to technology.  If problems continue to get worse, it may be up to management to put rules in place, so ensure the happiness of their entire staff.  Technology helps businesses run easier, but lets make sure it doesn’t come at the expense of basic courtesy.

Shannon Gburzynski Sales Management, Sales Training Behavior, Blunders, employee training, sales effectiveness, sales skills, team building, workplace training

According to independent consultant Joe DiDonato , in his article “The Future Workforce” published in the December/ January edition of E-Learning magazine, training is leaving the classroom in favor of more interactive and successful training methods.  He looks to the emerging overload of new information and proposes the best new model for training to be

20% Classroom
30% Non- Classroom
50% Performance Support

It’s important to note that 80% is to occur outside of the classroom! Keep this in mind as you consider your new training efforts.  If the proposed program includes almost exclusively classroom training, then you should reconsider it.  Successful training now requires more than one-day workshops. Training reinforcement activities, management coaching, and real world problem solving are all now imperative to successful employee training and retention.

Research by Sales Performance International supports this shift, according to them participants of typical sales training methods forget half of what is taught within 5 weeks.  Protect your investment in your employees by choosing a program that supports retention of skills and changes in behavior.

For more information on picking a successful training program, download our free whitepaper : Four Steps to Sales Training Success.

Shannon Gburzynski Sales Management, Sales Training business coaching, coaching, effective coaching, employee training, Enhance Performance, free whitepaper, Learning, learning strategies, managment training, sales coaching, training and development, training reinforcement, training techniques, workplace training