Steve Riley,
Founder, Better Beer

Why do I like it so much?  I like it because it means you don’t always have to be the smartest or the most skilled to win.  As Woody Allen once said – “80 % of success is just showing-up.”

I ran a webinar on leadership the other day – 40 people registered – only 30 showed up. Some people think that’s quite good – it’s normal for half not to show – so be happy Tim!

As a part of the Markham Board of Trade I’m part of a committee set up to welcome new members. Typically 20 to 30% of the people who said they would come, who joined to network, who register – then fail to turn-up!!

I love competing against these kinds of people.

Being present means you have to continue to be present – sometimes that’s tough when you have to get up at 5 in the morning to beat the traffic and the 6 inches of snow.

How about this statistic?

50 % of prospects make buying decisions after a year and 8 “touches.”

Only 4 % of sales people are in race after the year – the others have given-up!  The tortoise in this super fast world – beats the hare hands down.

I like this quote – I just heard it from Paul Azinger – successful US Ryder Cup captain, cancer survivor and PGA champion.  It seems to fit well with the theme of “being present to win.” Paul was being interviewed by David Feharty when he said;

“Confidence is an earned commodity.”

He was of course talking about continuing to grind away to find your confidence which tends to fluctuate from time to time in golf as in life.

6. Many people hoped that the internet and email would fix their “sales problem” – it didn’t!

7. Then along came social media and they hoped this too would fix their “sales problem” – it didn’t!

The internet and social media are hugely important for lead generation.  Writing blogs, having a website and a LinkedIn profile – are essential tools – they “get you into the game” but they can’t help you close the deal.

8. Marketing frequently  has no idea how to help sales people be more effective

• When I did my MBA eons ago – I remember asking the dean of the faculty – if the four year part-time program had a sales and marketing component. His somewhat dismissive response was that if I wanted that I should go and look at Dale Carnegie! Point being smart people often don’t “get marketing” or the critical function that sales plays as part of the marketing mix.

• Too often I see an inconsistency between the messaging on a company’s website and their marketing collateral and the messaging given to sales people.

• Marketing and sales are too often poorly integrated and aligned leading to sub-optimization for both the company and the sales people.

9. Only 1% of the people I see in sales training,  planned to be in sales – the other 99%  got there by default

• This unfortunately speaks to the poor perception that many people unfortunately and often unfairly have of sales people.  Very few people therefore start out in life planning to get into sales.

• It’s critical therefore that sales people know how to build trust as they start with a big disadvantage in any new relationship in being somewhat or significantly mistrusted by new prospects.

10. Behaviour drives attitude and not the other way round

• Waiting to get your attitude right means procrastinating forever.

As the Nike ads say “Just do it!”

11. “You cannot fail at prospecting unless you fail to prospect”

• This is a build on item 10 and is perhaps my favourite sales mantra.

• Most sales people looking for new customers suffer an enormous amount of rejection which is painful. This is especially true if you are not thick skinned and are considered to be empathetic.

• This rejection means most sales people tend to not spend enough time prospecting.

• The most powerful antidote to rejection – which is real -  is to remind yourself – anytime you prospect you are winning-  because they are only four outcomes you can have  and they are all good:

* A “Yes” – that’s obvious!

* A “No” – move on & find someone else to sell!

* A Clear “Next Step” agreed to between you and the prospect you

Are in the process of qualifying.

* “A lesson-learned” – you may have “screwed-up” – but you perhaps won’t do it again the next time.

12. On-Going incremental improvement is by far the best way to build a strong sales team and a true sales culture

• There are many moving parts to success in a complex sale and it takes time, and regular, constant incremental improvement to build a sustainable sales culture.

• One and two day sales boot camps can be useful – to get things rolling, but they typically on have short term results unless there is continuous reinforcement.

1. We all sell but …!

Its clichéd to say “We all sell ” – that having been said – most people are absolutely uncomfortable in their “selling role”.

2. Head Trash

Selling technique[s] & processes are critical for success in sales but often they are a waste of time.

You first need to “get your mind right” and rid yourself of the “head trash” that “selling is a dirty word”.  Sales people need to see themselves not as inferior or superior to their prospects.  They need to strive to have “Equal Business Stature” or as I like to say – “Have stance not arrogance“.

3. Poor sales are most often not a lack of sales ability so much as lack of differentiation

This is one the most challenging problems in today’s highly competitive markets.  In most cases, it’s virtually impossible to have a truly unique point of differentiation. That s why I like the two “differentiators” offered by these two companies – Avis and SAS.  Avis ‘s long time slogan “We maybe # 2 – but we try harder” is brilliant in its simplicity.  In the case of Scandinavian Airlines, when SAS was at the height of its success – it’s former CEO Jan Carlson, was asked – what differentiates SAS ? …& he said; “We don’t aim to be 1000% better at any one thing – but 1% better at a1000 little things“.

Research shows that customers want the following things from a service provider:

- Ease of doing business
- Expertise
- Speed &
- Intimacy

Most companies have at least one these four requirements – few can say they deliver on all four.

4. You’re never too old or too young for success in sales

• When I was running a start up building products company,  the best sales person, by a long way and consistently over a five year period was in his late 50′s when I hired him.

• Your success in acquiring new skills is more dependent on having a little intellectual humility and being open to change.

• We also need to recognize we all have “blind spots” and sometimes despite lots of experience “we don’t know what we don’t know“.

5. Poor management and leadership are often the biggest problem for poor sales – not the sales people

Symptomatic of failings in this area include the following:

• Poor hiring practices, a failure to build a sales culture, a lack of investment in both time and money developing their sales people and no systematic and fair way to hold their sales people accountable.

• If your basic business model is flawed – don’t blame the sales people.  Warren Buffett said – if he had to choose between a weak CEO and a great company – rather than the other way around – he would pick the weak CEO.

Stay Tuned for Part Two Next Week!

Selling is one of the hardest professions out there and the life of a salesman is full of disappointments.

90 % rejection is probably the norm when looking to close new business.

Studies show that the pain of rejection when looking at the brain is equal in intensity to physical pain.

So the question you may want to ask yourself is – should you welcome adversity and are the lessons to be learned from adversity?

Welcoming adversity?  that sounds like a stretch doesn’t it!?

Try telling that to the parents of the 20 children in shooting massacre in Sandy Hook, Newtown.

In the middle of this tragedy – I was so impressed with the one father – I think his name was Harold, who speaking shortly after the tragedy was able to avoid anger and bitterness and was able to focus instead and on what the short life of his daughter Emily had meant and to find strength in that and at the same time advocate love and healing.

So I thought about that question of adversity looking back over some of my worst moments in my life and wondered if the benefits outweighed the pain?

My conclusion, not surprisingly, was that while adversity was never pleasant to live through you definitely gained from it.

Everyone has their own adversity story to tell. Here are a sample of my some of my  “worst moments”. Let’s look for the positive lessons to be learned.

Adversity # 1

As the CEO I was fired “unfairly” after having done a decent job over nearly 5 years building a high growth company in a highly competitive market.

Adversity # 2

In my first event as the new sales and marketing manager for a global music company, I determined that we were going to have a massive launch party for media and distributors to re-launch the flagging career of Cat Stevens and his latest album Buddha and the Chocolate Box.

The event bombed badly!

Adversity # 3

“After failing all your senior school exams – your French teacher opinions to your Mum that – “your son won’t even make it as a butcher!”

So Here are My 8 Lessons Learned

Adversity and especially repeated adversity leads to stress and we all know too much stress is hardly to be recommended! That having been said – let’s take a closer look at the positive side of adversity.

Lesson # 1

“You can’t fully appreciate the sweet without tasting the sour.”

Yes this is clichéd – but it’s so true and bad times, just like the good don’t last forever.

Lesson # 2

With experience you learn acceptance of the things you can’t change and greater appreciation for what you do have.

Some things you accept are never going to be the same again and that’s okay.

There are still many things to be grateful for – in fact you very often have a greater appreciation for the many things you took for granted.

Lesson # 3

You become a bit more humble and have a better appreciation that what happens to you is sometimes beyond your control and that how you respond is the ultimate benchmark of success.

The Cat Stevens story was a good example.

This event was supposed to be “the launch party of the year” for the elite media and top retailers. Everything went wrong from the sound system not working to our belly dancer not showing-up!

As humiliating as this was – it really did not matter and if anything the people present felt sorry for me and they still had a great time!

We took our launch party to two other cities where our planning was first rate and everything ran smoothly.

Sadly the sales of the Cat Stevens album remained on a downward cliff despite our efforts!

Lesson # 4

2nd chances

You appreciate too, that some of your success was because others were accepting of you and gave you a 2^nd chance.

Lesson # 5

Motivation

Sometimes adversity can be very motivational. Failing my exams really badly as a 16 year old and being written-off by my French teacher as someone “who wouldn’t even make it as a butcher” and having my “friends” laugh at me instead of with me – caused some serious pain and a strong desire to prove them all wrong!

Lesson # 6

Sometimes we‘re part of the problem.

In the case of my “unfair” firing – with time I was able to see more clearly that I was part of the problem, as is normally the case where there are relationship issues.

Lesson # 7

There is no growth without pain and disappointment.

If you take risks and face potential adversity – you are guaranteed of one thing – the possibility of failure.

Instant success for something worthwhile is rarely achieved without failure and the disappointment that goes with it.

Lesson # 8

Perspective and inspiration.

While our own adversity is unpleasant for us, when we look at what others have endured we get a better perspective and sometimes inspiration as well.

My good friend Allan from my university days was the best man at our wedding.  Allan had everything “going for him” when after his graduation he was paralyzed in a diving accident that lost him the use of his legs.

My friend adjusted remarkably well to his accident. He has always had a great sense of humour, held down a great job and is happily married.

Shortly after he married, he was at a wedding reception when someone trying to help him go down some stairs lost his balance and in the subsequent fall he broke his collar bone and was admitted to hospital where he got meningitis and nearly died.

Thankfully he survived and today has less mobility than before – but despite this, his sunny disposition and positive attitude remain the same.

Knowing I was writing this blog, I spoke to him recently and asked him about the positive side of adversity.

He was unequivocal in his response. He said – it had humbled him and made him a better person.

I admire him for that and draw inspiration at the same time.

Some additional words of wisdom from De Seuss

I had never read Dr Seuss before and the first time I heard his work was at my daughter Emma’s recent wedding ceremony, when she had two of her friends read this excerpt.

I thought how brilliantly he had captured the ups and downs of life.

Here’s the reading;

Oh The Places You’ll Go – by Dr Seuss

Out there things can happen
and frequently do
to people as brainy
and footsy as you.

And when things start to happen,
don’t worry. Don’t stew.
Just go right along.
You’ll start happening too.

OH!
THE PLACES YOU’LL GO!

You’ll be on your way up!
You’ll be seeing great sights!
You’ll join the high fliers
who soar to high heights.

…

Except when you don’t
Because, sometimes, you won’t.

I’m sorry to say so
but, sadly, it’s true
and Hang-ups
can happen to you.

…

NO!
That’s not for you!

…

You’ll get mixed up, of course,
as you already know.
You’ll get mixed up
with many strange birds as you go.
So be sure when you step.
Step with care and great tact
and remember that Life’s
a Great Balancing Act.
Just never forget to be dexterous and deft.
And never mix up your right foot with your left.

And will you succeed?
Yes! You will, indeed!
(98 and 3 / 4 percent guaranteed.)

KID, YOU’LL MOVE MOUNTAINS!

So…
be your name Buxbaum or Bixby or Bray
or Mordecai Ali Van Allen O’Shea,
you’re off to Great Places!
Today is your day!
Your mountain is waiting.
So…get on your way!

4 lessons that golf can teach us about selling

If you don’t like or play golf and have no interest in selling this blog maybe of no interest.

I have a passion for golf and have watched my handicap drop by 100 % over the last 10 years – despite getting older and losing flexibility.

Yes, I’m still not a great golfer – but that’s not the point – I’m playing to have fun and be the best I can.

Having a love of golf and being someone who helps individuals and organization sell better, I’m always fascinated by the game and what it can teach us about life and selling specifically.

1. “Golf is not a game of perfect” – Bob Rotella and The Melt Down at Medina.

Golf guru, coach and author wrote a popular self-help golf book with this title.

Anyone who has played golf knows that over 18 holes – you are going to have some less than perfect shots. You may in fact, even if you are very good, have some perfectly awful shots.

A recent memorable example would be this year’s US Open champion, Web Simpson with that infamous shank at Ryder Cup 2 weeks ago. Professionals of that calibre are not supposed to have shanks – ever!

Speaking of bad attitude and the 2012 Ryder Cup, I felt the US captain, Davis Love, showed little graciousness in defeat after the “Melt down at Medina”. His team looked like they were at a funeral at the award ceremony and I can only assume his team must have been playing under the Vince Lombardi mantra – “Winning isn’t everything, it’s the only thing.”

Returning to Rotella, he says there are 2 ways to react to when things like a particularly bad shot occurs.

Let’s suppose you have just driven your drive into the bush.

One way to react would be to smash your club into the ground and curse. Lots of amateurs, with only their ego or pride at stake, react in this way – the rest of the round sometimes ruined.

Rotella suggests a better response would be:

“How interesting – that ball I just hit in the bush is going to require some real creativity to get it out – this could be fun!”

The message

Keep your eye on the end game, don’t take yourself so seriously and don’t get frustrated by short term set-backs.

In selling you are going to have some awful days selling where nothing goes right. You may not be performing at your best but that’s okay, sometimes you just need to be a little better than the guy or gal you’re selling against and it’s why selling is sometimes referred to a “game of inches” just as in golf.

2. “If you don’t bring your game with you, you won’t find it here” – David Sandler.

David Sandler tells the story of pitching-up at a golf club before a tournament with his shag bag full of practice balls. He’s out there on the practice range whacking away furiously when he notices the pro pitch up to hit only a few balls before being ready to t-off.

Sandler looked at the pro quizzically and asked – “what gives here, how come you haven’t warmed-up?”

The pro’s response was “Sandler – if you didn’t bring your game with you, you won’t find it here?”

The message? -  Frantic last minute preparation won’t do you any good if you haven’t put in the hard practice days before.

Boxing icon Muhammad Ali may not have played golf, but he spoke of the importance of preparation when asked for his success formula he said;

“First I run on the road before I dance in the ring.”

The message

As in golf – success in sales & negotiation are just as dependent on preparation well before the “big day “arrives. In fact, there is a saying that “90 % of success in negotiation is dependent on preparation.”

“Debriefing” yourself immediately after a round of golf or a sales call is just as important, to gauge what you did right and where you need to improve.

3. “90 % of success in golf is dependent on having a positive mental attitude and the other 10 % is having a positive mental attitude!”

This tongue in cheek message talks to the critical importance of keeping cool under pressure if you want to play golf competitively.

Tiger Woods has been working on his swing for the last 18 months and keeps telling us “it’s a process and it’s going to take time to groove my new swing”. True Tiger – but you’re probably working on the wrong problem. Bottom-line, you’re still one of the world’s best golfers technically. Your problem is more than likely to be a function of what’s going on between your ears and not your technical prowess.

All 120 of the very top players on the PGA tour have amazing golfing skills in the technical department. The winners win because they have exceptional attitude & belief in themselves.

For those of us who are simply “weekend hackers” – playing for a beer or 50c a hole – we too can sometimes put too much pressure on ourselves and fail to enjoy the journey as you walk around the course, where the objective should be to have fun and to enjoy a  good walk and not worry about your score.

The only person who really cares about that is you!

The Message

Selling skills are important but attitude will always trump skills.

4. Practice makes perfect and the importance of commitment to goals.

Dr Gary McPherson, a professor of music education at the University of Illinois, asked 157 children picking-up an instrument for the first time a simple question: “How long do you think you’ll play your instrument?”  He then tracked their performance over several years.

McPherson discovered that progress in learning the instrument wasn’t dependent on aptitude, but by the goal set by the child. With the same amount of practice, the kids who voiced a long-term commitment out-performed those who intended to play only through the school year by 400%!

Although the benefits of goal-setting haven’t been extensively studied in golf, the McPherson data and research with other motor skills suggest that they’ll translate very well to what you do with a club in your hands.

For many amateur golfers – practice means going to the driving range repeatedly smashing 100’s of balls with their driver and having no noticeable improvement in their game. It’s more of a macho thing – how far can you hit the ball – don’t worry if it’s not straight!!  How about the short game that accounts for at least half your score – oh that gets about only 5% of my time! Daah!

Sam Snead’s warm-up: His wife was once asked how he warmed-up for a big tournament and she replied:

“He always bangs his balls against the living room wall”!

The Message

So Sam Snead’s warm-up routine might not be for all of us! That being said, many sales people are like macho men smashing 100’s of balls on the driving range with their driver before a game. These are like the people who will tell you they’ve been through the sales training there is from the entire great sales guru’s out there – Tom Hopkins, Zig Ziegler, Brian Tracy, Xerox PSS, Spin Selling – you name it – they’ve done it!

Some might be very good – but most have had no noticeable lasting improvement in their sales beyond the level they were at before.

Why is that? Probably because they know the material but they don’t own it. True success in sales skills comes from slow incremental improvement over time – one day sales training boot camps or books typically don’t change much.

True success in sales, as in golf, comes from a comprehensive, on-going, incremental improvement program. This involves just as much time focused on attitude as technique & this leads to sustainable long- lasting behavioural change.

The owner of this business had asked me to be forthright in telling him if I thought he was a part of some of the company’s problems. I believed that as a leader – despite running a reasonably successful business – he was the reason why the company despite success, could not achieve their full potential. Stuck at $10 million sales when $20 million was well within their scope.

When I shared this fact with him – perhaps a little too forcefully – it was not well received!

His response was – he wasn’t interested in knowing what his weaknesses were as part of a SWOT analysis that we had started working on. He said to me he had built the company and that he “owned the chandeliers”. “Owning the chandeliers “- I suppose could translate as meaning   – the company – which he had started more than 30 years ago was “built on his back” and he could run the company the way he wanted to.

This same type of mentality  “I own the chandeliers” caught my attention in a letter a successful business owner recently sent his employees.

Here’s the section of the letter he wrote to his employees that caught my eye:

This is the business owners – “The Back Story”

“This back story is often neglected and overshadowed by what you see and hear. Sure, you see me park my Mercedes outside. You saw my big home at last year’s Christmas party. I’m sure all these flashy icons of luxury conjure up some idealized thoughts about my life. However, what you don’t see is the back story.

I started this company 12 years ago. At that time, I lived in a 300 square foot studio apartment for 3 years. My entire living space was converted into an office so I could put forth 100% effort into building a company, which by the way, would eventually employ you.

My diet consisted of Ramen Pride noodles because every dollar I spent went back into this company. I drove a rusty Toyota Corolla with a defective transmission. I didn’t have time to date. Often times, I stayed home on weekends, while my friends went out drinking and partying. In fact, I was married to my business — hard work, discipline, and sacrifice.

Meanwhile, my friends got jobs. They worked 40 hours a week and made a modest $50K a year and spent every dime they earned. They drove flashy cars and lived in expensive homes and wore fancy designer clothes. Instead of hitting Nordstroms for the latest hot fashion item, I was trolling through the Goodwill store extracting any clothing item that didn’t look like it was birthed in the 70′s.

My friends refinanced their mortgages and lived a life of luxury. I, however, did not. I put my time, my money, and my life into a business — with a vision that eventually, some day, I too, will be able to afford these luxuries my friends supposedly had.

Tell the rest of the story

I don’t have a problem with this gentleman’s message so far – that we should not forget the sacrifices that any successful person has made by hard work, discipline and delayed gratification.

So far so good – but this is where I start to have a problem with this guy’s letter when he says further on in his “open letter”…

“So, while you physically arrive at the office at 9 am, mentally check in at about noon, and then leave at 5 pm, I don’t. There is no “off” button for me. When you leave the office, you are done and you have a weekend all to yourself. I unfortunately do not have the freedom. I eat, ****, and breathe this company every minute of the day. There is no rest. There is no weekend. There is no happy hour. Every day this business is attached to me like a 1 day old baby.

What’s the problem with this and “I own the chandeliers mentality”?

First of all I find his tone paternalistic, patronizing and yes even insulting.

He has 14 employees – if they only “mentally check-in by noon” – who has the problem?

Maybe he does – this implies his employees lack motivation – perhaps he should ask the question why his employees are like that. Maybe it’s a lot to do with his self-centered management style and values.

I played golf yesterday with a lovely man who had loyally worked for the company for 40 years in quite a senior position. He took one day off work in 40 years and when the chips were down and the company heading for bankruptcy he was given a weeks notice.

Conclusion – tell the rest of the story!

Unless you are a sole practitioner – the success any of us has achieved has been due to hard work and sacrifice and maybe a little luck – but we could never have done whatever we have achieved – without the support of those who gave us the breaks and the team who also worked hard with us!

Background to the Event

The event was a fund-raiser for our not for profit organization called CSAN – short for the Canadian Southern African Network.

We have 3 pillars that underpin our Mission:

• To Connect people – those with Southern African roots and our Canadian friends
• To Have Fun and perhaps most importantly …
• To Give Back.

The event itself was called  A Southern African Celebration held on June 21, 2012 [summer solstice] for just over 300 people at the Evergreen Brickworks.

Our evening overall was a success, based on the positive feedback we received and the fact that we raised a little over $30,000 for 2 charities – Zim Art and Mariposa in the Schools

With the wisdom of 20/20 hindsight here are some of lessons learned along the way – that may be useful to you if you are planning an event working with volunteers.

7 Lessons Learned

1. Getting true commitment and “buy-in”

It’s essential to make sure you get “buy-in” and a true commitment from all the team members who are going to be involved in the event.  As a team – we agreed to move forward with our event in about September 2011

When the rubber hit the road in April, 2012,  when the planning had been done and it was now time to start selling tickets – it became clear that some members of the team had not fully  “bought-into” the event

This resulted in sluggish ticket sales  and a great deal of stress,  as some members had to pick-up the slack,  to make sure we had the numbers to cover costs,  let alone make money for the 2 charities to whom we had committed

2. Remember – “The devil is in the details”

Here are number of things that caught us by surprise:

• The contract with Evergreen Brickworks where we held the event was very clear in respect to the big picture costs we were paying for. So once I knew the primary cost of the rental of the space – I chose to ignore the details.

• Had the contract been explained to me or had I thought to have questioned more rigorously some of the clauses open to interpretation in the beginning, we maybe could have avoided some of the unpleasantness between ourselves and  Brickworks whose inflexible, almost bureaucratic approach on their part,  put a lot of negative energy in the final week of the event.

• Live and silent auctions can be a real “bear”. You need to think through every little detail and have a group of volunteers who know exactly what you want them to do. As an example – we were not absolutely clear when the silent auction was “officially closed”  and no more bids would be accepted .This resulted in people still bidding after the cut-off time had been announced. This caused considerable aggravation and disappointment for some who would have bid again or thought that theirs was the last bid. Our system to accept payment was also under-manned and a little disorganized causing long delays for people picking-up what they had “bought” on a day when we had record high temperatures.

3. Don’t under-estimate the job to “sell” tickets

It’s not a surprising fact – but some people on your fund raising team may be very uncomfortable in their “selling role”.

The following will help minimize the problem:

• Start by asking each person involved to make a list of potential guests.
• Get commitments for the number of tickets to be sold by each person on the team.
• Set a group “target” number – you need this for cost planning of course.
• Track that number of tickets sold  and circulate the results on a weekly basis
• Ask those selling to be the first to buy their own tickets.
• Help the doubters get comfortable and “believe-in” what the event entails – the charities you are supporting and most importantly the reasonableness of your ticket price[ in our case $175 per person].
• Role-play “the pitch” – either by phone or face to face.
• Share success stories and best practices as you begin selling.
• Selling tickets for a fund raiser is a transactional sale with a very short sell cycle. Aim for a one call or maximum 2 call close, by getting the prospects Visa card immediately you have agreement to come to the event.
• Encourage those coming to make up a party or at least give you the names of others you can call.
• Don’t be shy to reach-out to all those who provide you with services – your insurance agent, financial planner etc

4. You can’t start the planning process too early

You should have most of your details such as – theme, messaging,  venue, price per ticket, budgets [including the money you are hoping to raise for your charity] food, entertainment, target donors for the auction plus any “sponsorships” – determined 6  months prior to the event, so that all the effort in the final 6 months can be focused on execution and selling.

5. Apply Murphy’s Law

Try and anticipate everything that can go wrong and what you would do if that happened.

We were at a venue that had a roof and no air conditioning and was otherwise exposed to the elements on sides. We had not planned for the hottest day of the year on record or massive rain storm! This meant most people arrived late creating unforeseen complications in respect to when we could start things, not to mention scrambling to move the decorated tables out of the rain.

We managed to adapt – but again it was very nerve racking, some of which we may have avoided had we had done a little more “what if “scenario planning.

6. Let them know you love them – even before you run the event

We all know what an amazing job Barak Obama did in raising millions of dollars for his first election campaign.

Even as smart as he is – he is being criticized today for not having “shown the love” to donors after the election – making it harder to go back to the well again this time.

Recognize your donors and supporters every step of the way to help build momentum.

Equally important – after its all over – thank them again for supporting the event  and sharing with them the money raised that they were a part of.

7. Conduct a post-mortem after the event

While the event is still fresh in everyone’s mind conduct a post-mortem to determine

• What worked well and
• What could have been done better?

1. Do you have the right people worth investing in? Do they have what it takes to be successful in in the first place? As my dad used to say – “You can’t put in – what God left out!”
2. Do the people to be trained – have “intellectual humility” – meaning they accept that they often “don’t know what they don’t know”.
3. Are they open to change & do they have a natural sense of curiosity about people and things
4. Do the people to be trained have the right attitude about training itself – a belief-in continuous self-improvement & not looking for “quick fixes”
5. Do you have any “hostages” – who “know it all” and who could be disruptive in any training you might be doing. They should be disqualified or dealt with before any training begins as they pollute the environment for those who do want to learn.
6. If you or your sales people are “comfortable” where you/or they are and lack the necessary motivation to do the “new” behaviour that training implies – this again should be a disqualification

So taking care of steps 1 to 6 will ensure you have the right people in training to begin with and enhance your chances that you will see a decent ROI.

6 Ways to get maximum ROI from your actual sales training program itself?

1. Play for the long run
• You are trying to change behaviour and learn new skills – that takes time and means that the training needs to be on-going and continuous. Ask any professional golfer
• Don’t look for “quick fixes” – like only “hooking” your training onto the annual sales conference. It will have a short term “feel good” impact and no lasting benefit.

2. Don’t over-emphasize product knowledge
• Make sure you don’t spend too much time on product training [ as important as it is] at the expense of your actual selling skills & strategies.

3. Measurement
• Don’t measure results purely by looking at sales in $ terms alone. While sales in $’s is the ultimate measurement – it’s just as important to measure the behaviours that get you there – such as appointments made and referrals obtained.

4. Role Plays
• If you’re teaching new skills – make sure that you “test” the new skills in a safe classroom environment. If you can’t do mock sales calls in a “safe” environment – you won’t be able to perform under pressure in a real world situation.

5. New Hires
• Make sure new hires get support from the very best & not some tired sales hack who will possibly pollute the “newbie”

6. Team Selling
• Joint sales calls are a powerful way to get better results and are also a great way to see how someone handles themselves in a real live situation – providing the ideal coaching opportunity after the call.

7. Your sales training program should mean that your sales people never have to wing-it or guess what their next move should be
• One of the truly most rewarding benefits of having a comprehensive selling system as part of an effective sales training program, is that the sales person should never be in a situation in which you don’t know what your next “move” should be.

8. No Manipulation or high-pressure tactics – just the truth as quickly as possible
• An effective selling system – as part of your sales training should provide you with the most efficient process to qualify prospects as quickly as possible without having to resort to manipulative or old fashioned “closing techniques”

]]> http://www.rooneyearl.com/blog/news/investing-in-sales-training-series-2-when-not-to-invest-in-sales-training/feed 0 http://www.rooneyearl.com/testimonials/brent-milburn-president-managing-director-at-lyreco http://www.rooneyearl.com/testimonials/brent-milburn-president-managing-director-at-lyreco#comments Thu, 28 Jun 2012 20:14:47 +0000 Tim http://www.rooneyearl.com/?p=331 Continue reading →]]> After meeting Tim Rooney at a social event, I made a mental note to keep in touch as I knew he would be able to help our organization at some point in time.  After a few meetings giving Tim the opportunity to understand our business better, we began to discuss the topic of “Crucial Conversations” and the importance they play in everyday business.  Soon after, Tim took our Senior Management Team through a Crucial Conversations module that received nothing but positive feedback.  Tim’s humble and personal approach allowed him to generate a great deal of dialogue within the group while demonstrating that he was a subject matter expert.  The content of the training was applicable and straight forward enough that stories of its immediate implementation soon followed.  I would highly recommend Tim to any organization that’s focused on the endless pursuit of improving communication!

Brent Milburn
President & Managing Director
Lyreco