How Important is it for Your Salespeople to Practice?

When I was much younger, I was a pretty good trumpet player, playing professionally for nearly 10 years. I took weekly lessons from the age of 9, played in multiple bands and orchestras, and when I wasn’t taking lessons or performing, I practiced. And I felt I should have practiced more; a lot more. I could have been so much better...

Although baseball was my favorite, I spent most summers on the tennis courts, playing with anyone and everyone, until I entered college as the #2 on the school’s tennis team. It wasn't good enough though, and I felt like I should have practiced more; a lot more.

I was not going to be a star in music or tennis. But what if I was? Would I have been finished with all of that practicing? No way. The greatest athletes and musicians still hire the best coaches in the world and practice harder and even more frequently! I would have done the same because that’s exactly what I did when I started my sales development business 27 years ago.

By contrast, I am a terrible golfer. Why? I never practice. It’s not very different from the sales profession. Salespeople are very much like me, the golfer. The typical salesperson receives, on average, 3 days of sales training -- in their entire career. I've interviewed thousands of salespeople and most have never had a single day of professional sales training. And practice? There has not been a single client whose salespeople had been practicing the art and science of selling before I required them to begin practicing.

Why aren't salespeople getting enough professional training? In most companies, ego, fear and money are the three biggest reasons. Sales leadership, although completely lacking in the skills required, believe it’s their job to train their salespeople. Upper management is frequently afraid of change, even when it will bring about a change in results. And many companies simply won’t invest money to develop their salespeople.

Why aren't they coached the way they need to be? Although coaching is the number 1 job of sales managers today, most have never learned the proper way to coach, instead using a home grown approach and applying it on an as needed basis.

Why aren't they practicing? Believe it or not, most sales managers are afraid of upsetting the apple cart. They believe that if they required their veteran salespeople to practice they will have a rebellion on their hands.

Are your salespeople practicing each day?

Objective Management Group has assessed more than 550,000 salespeople and according to their data 74% of all salespeople are completely ineffective and many of them shouldn't even be in sales. They get by for a variety of reasons, among them:

• Low Expectations from management
• They are no worse than the other ineffective salespeople at their company
• Some are order takers and they take enough orders
• Some are major account managers and the accounts were previously established
• Some possess intangibles and have simply developed strong relationships over decades of work
• Many work for industry leading companies - lowest price, best reputation, highest quality product, lowest risk - and they don't have to sell, as much as show up and quote
• Some bounce from company to company never staying long enough to actually fail

Are your underperforming salespeople getting by? Can any of them become performers?  Contact us.

Dave Kurlan is the bestselling author of Baseline Selling, a top-rated speaker, and a sales thought leader. His blog, Understanding the Sales Force, was a Gold Medal winner for Top Sales & Marketing Blog of 2011.

Opel moet meer auto’s verkopen

“Europeanen kopen geen auto’s meer” kopte NRC enkele weken geleden in haar economie katern. Bij Opel blijft de omzet achter terwijl het bedrijf mooie en comfortabele auto’s produceert. Afgelopen zomer heb ik dat zelf mogen ervaren toen mijn auto naar de garage moest. De gehuurde Opel Insigna was een aangename ervaring.

Ik denk dat deze ontwikkelingen voor een groot gedeelte te maken heeft met een gebrek aan “sense of urgency” bij het verkoopapparaat.  In moeilijke tijden is het van belang dat verkopers extra moeite doen om de klant binnen te halen en te binden aan de dealer en het merk. Helaas gebeurt dit niet. De afgelopen maanden ben ik me aan het oriënteren op een nieuwe auto. Het gebrek aan interesse in auto showrooms is overweldigend. Men zit liever achter de computer te internetten dan je te woord te staan. Eigenlijk begrijp ik het ook wel. De klant moet naar de showroom toekomen. Dus is het “hunting” instinct niet of onvoldoende ontwikkeld. Als dat “hunting” instinct niet ontwikkeld is, kan het zijn dat de “sense of urgency” bij het afsluiten ook achterblijft. En dan hebben we het nog niet over de andere factoren die van invloed zijn op een succesvolle onderhandeling.

Autoverkopers worden al jaren suf getraind. In al die jaren is er bij de meesten weinig tot niets veranderd in hun aanpak. Het wordt eens tijd dat er eerst een diagnose wordt gesteld voordat men aan een training begint. En waarom? Het antwoord: niet iedereen is te trainen! En dan hebben we het nog niet eens gehad over de aansturing van het verkoopapparaat. Als die efficiënter zou zijn, dan kan je verwachten dat de verkopers effectiever zullen zijn!