SPI Insight: How to Get More From Your Core with High Impact Sales Coaching

SPI INSIGHT: HOW TO GET MORE FROM YOUR CORE WITH HIGH IMPACT SALES COACHING

2 © Sales Performance International, Inc

TABLE OF CONTENTS

HOW TO GET MORE FROM YOUR CORE WITH HIGH IMPACT SALES COACHING

01: COACHING TO STANDARDS OF EXCELLENCE

What To Do When Top-Performers Slide Backwards?

(Pages 3-4)

02: HOW TO AVOID SALES SLIPPAGE

Coaching Your Sales Team To Keep It Real And Finish Strong.

(Pages 5-6)

03: USING COMPETITIVE STRATEGY TO WIN SALES

How The Best Managers Collaborate & Coach For More Successful

Outcomes.

(Pages 7-8)

04: TAKING A HARD LOOK AT “MUST WIN” SALES

OPPORTUNITIES

How To Coach When You Can’t Afford To Lose.

(Page 9-10)

05: LEVERAGING ACCOUNT AND TERRITORY GROWTH

REVIEWS TO ENSURE SALES SUCCESS

Coaching Beyond The Obvious To Accelerate Revenue Production.

(Page 11-13)


COACHING TO STANDARDS OF EXCELLENCE

WHAT TO DO WHEN TOP-PERFORMERS SLIDE BACKWARDS?By Timothy Sullivan, Director, Sales Performance International

As a sales leader, you depend on your team to contribute consistently and predictably towards achievement of sales goals. But what should you do if previously top-performing sellers on the team start to slide backwards? How do you get them back on track – and keep them there?

Inworkingwithourclients,wefindthatmanyfirst-linesalesmanagersdon’treally know what to do when top performers on their team stumble. Most of them feel comfortable when coaching rookies or average performers. However, they aren’tasconfidentwhenitcomestocoachinganexperiencedsellerwithastrongrecordofsuccess,especiallywhenit’sahighperformerwhofaltered.

The reason for this is simple. Most sales managers, especially those new to the position, mistakenly believe that coaching is equivalent to providing good advice that’sbasedon theirownpastsuccessandexperience.Asa result,whenworking with someone who already has a good sales track record and considerable experience,manysalesmanagersareatalossabouthowbesttocoachaveteranperformer.

Providing useful advice is certainly a desirable outcome of coaching, but most sales managers need to rethink how they go about doing this. Effective coaching starts firstwith establishing standards of excellence and coming to anagreement with sellers about what those standards require.

Coaching sales behavior against agreed-upon standards enables managers to help each salesperson, regardless of their performance history, come to their own realization of what they can do to improve.

There are three steps to standard-based sales coaching:

1. Establish standards for customer engagement

If you don’t have agreed-upon expectations for how your salespeopleshould engage with customers and how your sales managers should engage with their salespeople, then establish those first. We help ourclients do this through the development of dynamic, buyer-aligned sales processes, as we described in chapter 7 of our recent book, The Collaborative Sale.

Standards for effective sales engagement should include:

• Ideal pipeline characteristics – how large and how dynamic should they be?

• Idealcustomerprofile–whatdoyourbestcustomerslooklike?

• The customer buying process(es) – what are their buying preferences?

• Alignedsellerprocessstepswithverifiableoutcomesateachstep

• Opportunityqualificationcriteria–whenwillyouwalkawayfromadeal?

• Cadence and criteria for sales management inspection

2. Train sales managers to assess and diagnose against your standards

With clear standards, your sales managers then have objective criteriaagainst which to assess and diagnose performance issues, regardless of anysalesperson’stenureorexperience.Byexaminingeachseller’spipeline

1


shape, managers can identify skill, time, and activity management issues. Standards enable your sales managers to proactively identify issues and prescribe corrective action before they grow into big problems.

3. Train sales managers to coach effectively against standards

Effective coaching entails observing what happened relative to a standard, knowing why it happened, and then reaching an agreement with the selleronhowtheycancomplybetterwithexpectations.Ifthemanager’sdiagnosisisbasedonobjectivecriteriaandaccurateobservations,thenahigh-performing salesperson will be more open to listening and acting.

Butgoodcoachingisbothascienceandanart.Whilecoachingtoobjectivestandards is important, there’s also a human side to coaching. It’s important tounderstand the preferred work style of each seller for the sales manager to coach them effectively. Using an assessment tool, like DISC, can help sales managers better understand their preferred style and how to best align with those in their charge.

Too many sales managers rely solely on informal, on-the-spot coaching. The best sales managers also establish a regular cadence for formal review of pipelines and opportunities, and they take the time to prepare for each coaching conversation.

We’ve provided a complimentary coaching preparation template to help your managerscoachmoreeffectively toyour standardsofexcellenceandkeepyoursalesteam’sperformanceontrack.


HOW TO AVOID SALES SLIPPAGE

COACHING YOUR SALES TEAM TO KEEP IT REAL AND FINISH STRONGBy Timothy Sullivan, Director, Sales Performance International

For nearly all of our clients, the end of every quarter is an important milestone – each with sales goals to meet. As we approach another quarter-end, ensuringthatsalesopportunitiescloseasexpectediscriticalforeverysalesleader.How do top-performing sales teams avoid delays in closing sales and minimize slippageofopportunitiesintothenextquarter?

As we documented in our recent book, The Collaborative Sale, more organizations are increasing the use of well-trained procurement professionals throughout the entire buying process. A common tactic of procurement managers is to draw negotiations out until the very end of the month, quarter, or year, because buyers know that sellers become increasingly desperate to close business as the clock ticks forward. To avoid delays at the end of the sales cycle, the sales team mustbefullyequippedtomanageaformalizednegotiation,notjustattheendofapurchase decision, but throughout the entire sales engagement with a buyer.

Avoiding closing delays starts by knowing if and when a deal is closeable, as indicatedbyfiveindicators:

1. Does the sales team have access to and are aligned with the individuals who have the power to buy? If not, the customer is more likely to use multiple rounds of negotiation with different levels within the organization, which couldextendthefinaldecisiondate.

2. Has the customer agreed to the potential payback of this particular purchase? If they have not yet acknowledged the value of what you are offering, that will almost certainly result in a delay.

3. Has the sales team and the customer received all the required approvals, notjustfrompurchasing,butalsofromlegal,technical,administrative,andany other customer groups that need to review the decision?

4. Has the customer and the sales team completed all the required steps for the customer to complete a good evaluation? A good Collaboration Plan will include all of those steps. If your team tries to close before completing theevaluationprocess,expectpush-backfromthecustomer.

5. Howlonghasthecustomerknownaboutthecost?Thefinalnegotiationmeeting is not the time to reveal prices. Customers need a reasonable amount of time to socialize and come to consensus on anticipated costs within their organization.

In addition to the preceding criteria, it helps to identify a compelling reason to act (CRTA). A CTRA is a time-bound occurrence, beyond which, if a customer fails tomakeadecisiontoact,badconsequenceswillfollow.Forexample,acustomermight be launching a new product and may need your capabilities to make the results of this event a success. If you can identify a CRTA, it can go a long way in helpingtospeedupfinalnegotiations.

Even with a clear CRTA, quantifying the cost of delay is a powerful way to emphasize the value of an immediate purchase decision. Every day that goes by is another day that the customer is not receiving that value, which increases the lost opportunity cost. Themore quantifiable the value of a solution, themore acustomer can be motivated to come to a decision.

We have found that a little planning goes a long way in making final

2


negotiationdiscussionsmuchmoreeffective.Evenjustafewminutesofplanningwill improve the likelihood of coming to a satisfactory conclusion on schedule.

WerecommendusingasimpletoolknownastheGet/Give List. It enables sellers to think sensibly about agreements that they might get from the buyer in exchangeforconcessions.Forexample,asellermayaskthecustomertoextendthe terms of business from one year to multiple years, or agree to be a referenceable casestudy.Inexchange,theycanofferequivalentvalueconcessionswhichwouldbeusefultothecustomer,andnotjustofferpricediscounts.

Nowisthetimetoreviewopportunitiesthatareexpectedtocloseattheend of this quarter:

• Isitreallyreadytoclose?Verifythefiveclosingcriteria.

• HasaCRTAbeenidentified?

• Has the cost of delay been calculated – and does the customer agree?

• Have“givesandgets”ofequivalentvaluebeendeterminedforuseinfinalnegotiations?

Withalittleextradiligenceanddiscipline,thesalesteamcanbringineveryopportunitytheyexpecttowinbytheendofthequarter.Remember:hopeisnotastrategy for success!

Make your end-of-quarter negotiations more productive by downloading a free Get/Give List planning tool.


USING COMPETITIVE STRATEGY TO WIN SALES

HOW THE BEST MANAGERS COLLABORATE & COACH FOR MORE SUCCESSFUL OUTCOMESBy Timothy Sullivan, Director, Sales Performance International

In the past, we’ve provided a tool (the Successful Sales Formula) todeterminethestrengthofaseller’spositionforanygivensalesopportunity.Thistool is a very useful way to see how well a seller is collaborating with buyers in a particular opportunity, and it provides insight about what tactics a seller needs to accomplish in order to win.

The Successful Sales Formula can help sellers to select effective tactics in pursuit of an opportunity. But oftentimes, sellers forget that their tactics should be choseninsupportofaspecificcompetitivestrategy.Withoutastrategicviewofanopportunity, sellers can lose perspective and over-invest time and resources in the wrong deals.

Choosingtoqualifyoutofasalesopportunityisoneofthemostdifficultdecisions that a seller can make, especially if they are behind on achieving their sales goaloriftheirpipelineislean.Salesleadersmusthelpsellerstoobjectivelyreviewopportunities and coach them towards the best decisions about where and how to pursue business. In addition to the Successful Sales Formula, application of another valuable tool – the Competitive Strategy Selector – can help sellers to maintain a strategic perspective on each opportunity. This perspective enables sellers to know, withcompleteconfidence,howbesttoengagetheirtimeandresources,andmoreimportantly, when they should walk away.

WHAT IS A COMPETITIVE STRATEGY?

Many people tell us that they want to “sell strategically,” but they often cannotdescribewhatthatmeans,exactly.Astrategyisaframeworkforobjectivelydetermining how to apply resources in order to achieve a desired result. In this case, optimizing the use of sales resources to pursue and win competitive opportunities.

If a seller does not have a clear competitive strategy, then they do not really know how to win. They can only guess about how much they should invest, or if it evenmakessensetopursuetheopportunityinthefirstplace.

As Keith Eades described in his book, The New Solution Selling, there are fivecompetitivestrategies:

• Preemptive–betherefirst,createalatentopportunity

• Head-to-Head – compete directly against another competitive alternative

• End Around–changethebuyer’sweighingofdecisioncriteriatoemphasizeyour unique differentiators

• Divide and Conquer – pursue a fragment of the business where you can provide a high-value solution

• Stall – encourage the buyer to delay a decision and wait for a future higher-value solution

USING COMPETITIVE STRATEGY

Inourlatestbook,TheCollaborativeSale,KeithandIexplainedhowusingapreemptivestrategytoengagewithbuyersfirstresultsinwinningbusinessoverfivetimes more often than when engaging with buyers later in their decision process. By far, the preemptive strategy is the most effective.

3


Butmostsellersarenotabletoengagefirstwitheverypotentialbuyer,andas a result, they must compete with other vendors and alternative choices (such as an in-house developed solution or choosing to remain with the status quo and do nothing at all). As a result, sellers must select from the remaining competitive strategies to determine the optimal approach and how many resources they should invest in order to win.

The Competitive Strategy Selector steps through these choices, starting with Head-to-Head – the default strategy for the majority of sellers but onlyeffective if the seller has a clear advantage – through Stall, which is the last strategy for denying a competitor a win.

The result of using the Competitive Strategy may be that no strategy can be applied successfully to a particular opportunity, and therefore, the best decision is to disengage and qualify out. That decision to walk away is the last choice, but it is also the wisest decision if there is no clear way to win or to deny a win for a competitor. To pursue a sales opportunity without a clear competitive strategy is simply a waste of time and resources.

We urge sales leaders to use the Competitive Strategy Selector whenreviewing opportunities with their sellers. It will enable sellers to make better decisions about the application of sales resources and most importantly, it will encourage them to make good decisions about using their most valuable resource – their time – on deals where they have the best chance to win.

Download the Competitive Strategy Selector and help your team make good decisions about how to engage in sales opportunities – or when to walk away.


TAKING A HARD LOOK AT “MUST WIN” SALES OPPORTUNITIES

HOW TO COACH WHEN YOU CAN’T AFFORD TO LOSEBy Timothy Sullivan, Director, Sales Performance International

Many of our clients report that their sales pipelines include a distribution ofdifferentopportunitysizes–amixofsmalltransactions,moderate-sizeddeals,and a few large strategic opportunities. In some cases, the impact of the large opportunities is extremely significant, as they oftenmakeor break achievementof sales goals. These big deals are typically “must win” opportunities and require special care and scrutiny to ensure their successful closure.

Towards the end of a year, we are often asked by our clients to help them validate their plans towin strategic opportunities.We follow a structured reviewprocess that determines the accurate status of each opportunity and identifieswhatspecificactionsmustbetakeninordertomaximizetheprobabilityofwinningthe business. After a thorough review, the odds of winning “must win” deals can be improvedsignificantly–someofourclientsreportwinratesofnearly90percentonstrategic deals, after conducting formal opportunity reviews.

This high win rate is possible for two reasons. First, an objective reviewrevealswhat specific actions and resources are required tomake it easy for thecustomer to buy. An opportunity review can uncover aspects of the buyers’evaluation and decision process that have not been adequately addressed, which puts the entire opportunity at risk. The sales team can focus on those specificactions that make the most difference and not waste time doing things peripheral to enabling the buyer to make a positive decision.

Second, an opportunity review presents a realistic picture of the likelihood ofsecuringbusinessinadefinedamountoftime. Insomecases,anopportunityreview reveals that a strategic deal is most likely unwinnable in the time remaining before the end of the planned period. This finding is often a bitter medicine toswallow, but it also means that a sales team can focus their energies on opportunities more likely to close sooner. They can also schedule the opportunity in question in a realistictimeframeandsetproperexpectationsforwhenthatbusinesscantrulybesecured. Trying to rush buyers to buy before they are ready rarely results in a good outcome, for both the buyer and the selling organization.

IT TAKES SOME COURAGE

Tooursurprise,wefindthatsomesales leadersareunwillingtoconductopportunity reviews on their “must win” deals. There is far too much wishful thinking in many sales pipelines, especially as the pressure to achieve goals increases as theendof themonth,quarter,oryearapproaches.Wesometimesfindstrategicopportunities inclients’pipelinesthatareforecastedtoclose,with littleevidencethat they will actually come to fruition in the prescribed period. In too many cases, winninga “mustwin”deal isbased largelyonhope,andnotonobjective facts. Ittakes some courage to step back and take stock of what is really happening in large opportunities, and then make rational decisions about how to bring them to a successful conclusion, for both the seller and the buyer.

How should sales leaders conduct reviews of “must win” business?

1. Start by using the Successful Sales Formula to determine the strength of a potential sale and the degree of alignment with buyers, in order to identify tactics that will move the opportunity towards a win.

4


2. Re-evaluate the available competitive strategy opportunity’s by usingthe Competitive Strategy Selector to determine if the team is using selling resources in the optimum fashion to win.

3. Evaluate the extent and rate of progress of the opportunity through the buyingprocess.Reviewingthequalityofverifiableoutcomes–observablecustomer behaviors at each stage of the buying process which indicate alignment with the seller – shows how far and how quickly a “must win” deal isprogressingtowardsadesirabledecision.We’vepreparedachecklistthathelps evaluate the progression of an opportunity, which you can download here.

As mentioned previously, we often find a lot of emotion entangledaround strategic “must win” opportunities. After all, they are nearly always critical for individual sellers and sales teams to have a good year. For this reason, we recommend using an objective facilitator to guide the sales team through theiropportunityreviewsandkeepthemfreeofsubjectiveinfluences.Thiswillproducehigher quality decisions and optimal plans of action.

It’stimetostarttakingahardlookattheopportunitiesinthesalespipelinethatwillmakethebiggestdifferenceinyourteam’ssuccess.

If you would like to learn more about our review and planning services for opportunities, pipelines, accounts, territories or channels, please contact us for a complimentary consultation.

Click here for a copy of the Opportunity Review Checklist.


LEVERAGING ACCOUNT AND TERRITORY GROWTH REVIEWS TO ENSURE SALES SUCCESS

COACHING BEYOND THE OBVIOUS TO ACCELERATE REVENUE PRODUCTIONBy Steve Smith, Vice President, Sales Performance International

Every quarter, about one-third of sales leaders fall short of their goals, according to recent industry research. If you have ever found yourself in this situation, then you know how uncomfortable your life becomes.

If you want to avoid this situation, there are several things you can do to improvethelikelihoodofattainingyoursalesobjectives.

First, look at your average sales cycle times and compare them against the opportunities in your pipeline. Identify the low-hanging fruit that you can win in the near-term and dedicate the right resources to close those opportunities. For example, ifyourtypicalsalescycle is2-3monthsforaveragesizedopportunitiesand4-6monthsormoreforlargerdeals,youcaneasilydetermineifthere’senoughin your pipeline to make up any missed production in the quarter.

Ifyourpipelineistoolight,youcanexpandyourcurrentquarterpipelineby:

• Closing opportunities slated for future quarters earlier, bringing them into the current quarter

• Findingmorerecurringorrepeatingbusinessinexistingaccountsthatcanbe closed this quarter

• Sellingnewofferingsintoexistingaccountsthisquarter

• Closing more new accounts

• A combination of the above

YOUR FIRST FOCUS

We recommend you first focus on your existing accounts. Sales cyclesin existing accounts are usually shorter, and you should havemore visibility intocustomers’needsandwhereyoucanaddvalue.Itmayalsobeeasierfromafinancial,legal, and procurement standpoint if contracts and service agreements are already in place.

For your high-potential accounts, coach your salespeople to look beyond obviouslydefinedneedsandidentifyundefinedneedswhichyoucanaddress.Thiscan be accomplished more easily through a simple exercise called white spaceanalysis.Whitespaceanalysisenablesyoutoclearlyandquicklyidentifynewhigh-value opportunities in accounts. Download our simplifiedWhite Space Analysis Worksheet to get started. This tool helps you find new sales opportunities bymapping your portfolio of solutions to a customer’s critical business issues andinitiatives, thereby making a vital connection between your solution and its potential for solving an urgent problem.

5


Simplified White Space Analysis

DEVELOPING LATENT BUSINESS

Once you’ve exhausted the identification of opportunities in existingaccounts, turn your focus to new accounts. Selling into new accounts is usually a longerandmoredifficultsale,especiallyifbuyersdon’tknowyouoryourcompanywell. Most of these opportunities will be latent in nature.

Latent opportunities are those where the buyer is either unaware of a businessneedthat theyshouldor theyareawarebutaren’tyetmotivated todoanything about it. Your salespeople will need to move these buyers from a latent state to an admitted state and motivate them to take action. This approach is very proactive,andcreatesacompetitiveadvantagebyinfluencingthebuyer’svisionofa solution to one that favors you and your capabilities.

Turning latent opportunities into active opportunities requires a segmentation strategy. A segmentation strategy can apply either at the account level in very large accounts or within a territory or portfolio of accounts. Werecommendcreatinganidealaccountprofileandthensortingaccountsintothreesimplecategories:A’s,B’s,andC’s.

• “A” Prospects have the highest potential for new business, and should receive the most personal time and attention. “A” accounts are in a transition of some sort, or are being impacted by change, enabling you to create a sense of urgency to act. These should receive the highest priority for attention. Apply the white space analysis and mapping tool on your “A” accountstoidentifyspecificopportunitiestodevelop.

• “B” Prospects are ones that do not have immediate potential for new business,butyouhavegoodexistingrelationshipsinplace.Beopportunisticwith “B” accounts by servicing recurring and repeat business as required, andleveragerelationshipstoexpandintonewbusinessunitstocreatenewopportunities, if possible. Optional: Apply the white space analysis and mapping tool on your “B” accounts.

• “C” Prospects are accounts that have potential, but awareness is low, for both the buyer and the seller. You’ll really need to use digitalmedia andmicro-marketing, as opposed to higher-touch methods, to stimulate interest.Thegoalistoeventuallyconvert“C”prospectsinto“A’s”.

QUALIFY OPPORTUNITIES RIGOROUSLY

Ifyoursalesteamisunderpressuretoachieveadifficultgoal ina limitedperiod of time, the temptation is to try to be everywhere at once and close everything. The savvy sales leader knows that the best performing sales teams


qualify buyers against their compelling reason to act, and their willingness to share their problems (“pain”) and to collaborate to find optimum solutions. The bestprospects collaborate and share their timeline andbudgetexpectations.Agoodsalesleaderisalwaysconfirmingthatbuyersarealignedwithsellersandcollaborativenextstepsareidentifiedthroughoutthebuyingprocess.

If you are behind your number, we can help you develop a plan to get you back on trackquickly.Pleasecontactusforaconfidentialdiscussion.


WHERE TO DOWNLOAD ASSETS?

01: FREE COACHING PREPARATION TEMPLATE

WithThisSimplePlanningToolYouCanBeBetterPreparedToCoach,And

Keep Your Sellers On Track.

http://global.spisales.com/standard-based-coaching

02: FREE GIVE/GET LIST PLANNING TOOL

UseThisHandyPlanningToolToIdentifyPotentialExchangesOfEqual

Value For Use In Final Negotiations.

http://global.spisales.com/avoid-delays

03: FREE COMPETITIVE STRATEGY SELECTOR

Apply The Right Level Of Resources To Every Sales Opportunity, Every

Time-OrKnowWhenToWalkAwayWithTheCompetitiveStrategy

Selector.

http://global.spisales.com/competitive-strategy

04: FREE OPPORTUNITY REVIEW CHECKLIST

ObjectivelyDetermineTheExtentAndVelocityOfSalesOpportunities

TowardsAWinWithThisOpportunityReviewChecklist.

http://global.spisales.com/EOQ-Reviews

05: FREE WHITE SPACE ANALYSIS WORKSHEET

Thistoolhelpsyoufindnewsalesopportunitiesbymappingyourportfolio

ofsolutionstoacustomer’scriticalbusinessissuesandinitiatives,thereby

making a vital connection between your solution and its potential for

solving an urgent problem.

http://global.spisales.com/account-territory-growth


ABOUT SPI

Sales Performance International (SPI) is a global sales performance improvement firm. We help the world’s leading companies drive predictable revenue andprofitabilitygrowthbyoptimizingsalesorganizationperformance.

Foundedin1988,SPIhasbeentheleaderinhelpingglobalcompaniesapplyprocessand methodologies to transition from selling products to marketing and selling high-value, customer-focused solutions.

Our extensive sales performance expertise, deep industry knowledge, globalresources, and verified results uniquely position SPI as the go-to firm fororganizations seeking to gain a competitive edge by how they sell.

SPI has assisted over 1,500,000 sales and management professionals in morethan 55 countries and 15 languages to achieve higher levels of sales effectiveness.

ABOUT THE AUTHORS

Tim Sullivan is Director of Business Development with Sales Performance International. He is co-author of The Solution Selling Fieldbook, and more recently, The Collaborative Sale: Solution Selling in a Buyer-Driven World.

Steve Smith is a vice president and sales team leader at Sales Performance International. He has served clients in the sales performance improvement industry for over 15 years, including many Fortune 500 organizations, to increase and sustain year-over-year sales productivity, revenue and earnings growth.

U N I T E D STAT ES, H Q

Co r p o ra te H e a d q u a r te rs :

6201Fa irv iewRoadSte 400

Char lotte, North Carol ina , USA28210

+17042276500

E U RO P E

Co r p o ra te V i l l a g e – F i g u e ra s B u i l d i n g

D a V i n c i l a a n 1 1

B-1930Zaventem, Belg ium

+322 2525004

U N I T E D K I N G D O M

1 s t F l o o r

3MoreLondonR ivers ide

London, SE12RE

+442032834090

G R E AT E R C H I N A

Room1707

East Century Bui ld ing, No. 345

X i a n X i a Ro a d , C h a n g N i n g D i s t r i c t ,

Shanghai 200336, China

+862132577030

CA N A DA

1200McGi l l Col lege

Bureau1100

Montrea l QuebecH3B4G7

C a n a d a

+15149040655

i n fo @ s p i s a l e s . co m

w w w . s p i s a l e s . co m

w w w . s o l u t i o n s e l l i n g b l o g . co m