If  your sales are off and they are not where they need to be, who would you expect would be the best resource for this issue?  Correct, your local sales strategist.  What I have observed is that the sales strategist is often called in last, not first.  A curious phenomenon.  What is happening?

• You bring in your marketing expert to rework your logo and website…

Did your sales go up?

• You bring in your branding expert to reposition your brand and your story…

Did your sales go up?

• You bring in your social media “expert” to engage your business on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and the like…

Did your sales go up?

• You hire a business coach to focus on your management and leadership strategies…

Did your sales go up?

• You brought in a sales trainer for an afternoon to refocus your sales team…

Did your sales go up?

What were your answers to these questions.  If the answers were “I am not sure”, that is a “no”.  If you did not answer “yes” to whatever question(s) applied to your approach, it is time to do the smart thing and call in the sales expert–a  sales strategy and employment development professional.

These are tough times for businesses.  Customers are not really looking to spend money, the decision making process is slow, the selling cycle is longer, finding and connecting with prospects is harder, and positioning the value of your business is difficult.

Growing your sales requires the support and experience of a professional who understands what you and your business and your team are going through.  Reach out to a trusted selling professional — I look forward to your call. (586.201.9057)

Dave Cooke is CEO of Strategic Resource Group, llc an organization specializing in helping businesses increase their revenues through effective sales strategies, growth initiatives and employee development programs. His contributions and insights can be found on his blog posts, SalesCooke and Sustainable Revenues.  He has also developed a new program for sustainable revenues in a down economy, known as SuRF.  To download this case study go to: SurfWhitePaper.com.

More from The Sales Cooke

• Economic Trends and Behaviors in Sales
• Nine Examples of Sales Excellence
• Take Your Pitch Out for a Test Drive

The Sales Cooke Recommends

• Rules of Sales: Rule #2 (Chris Conrey)
• Rules of Sales: Rules 4 & 5 (Chris Conrey)
• Rules of Sales: Rule 6 (Chris Conrey)

While getting caught up on my reading, I came across a great article in Inc. magazine, “On the Road with a Supersalesman.” This is an excellent article.  It provides real world examples of the behaviors I respect, promote, and educate people to emulate. This article focuses on several sales with “Grizz” Deal.  There are great insights in this story.  I encourage you take the time to read it.

For those looking for the highlights, here are the pointers I embrace and endorse:

1. Create an image of differentiation–your attire can send a message.
2. Skip the agenda and get your customer talking–when they are relaxed and comfortable you can get them engaged with you.
3. Do not be a hurry to talk about your company–you will get your chance when time is right and you have something to connect it to.
4. Get the price discussion out of the way early–though you are not giving them a quote, price is an important issue.  Have that budgetary discussion early.
5. Know your weak points and talk about them — rather than hoping to avoid talking about your weaknesses, bring them up first and address them.
6. The focus of every meeting is the customer – your agenda is their interests, needs, and actions.  Pay attention to how they are responding to the conversation and keep them engaged.
7. Your passion for your product is contagious — your commitment and passion for what you have to offer as a solution and as value is obvious to your customers.  It is what draws them in.
8. Provide opportunities for them to discover their motivations for your product. To understand this, you need to read the article.  There is a particular sales call where “Grizz” tests out several areas of potential interest until he touches on a winner.  Brilliant.
9. Be informed. This does not mean you need to do all sorts of crazy research on your customer–this helps. You need to be educated about the news, the trends, the world issues, etc.  Your intellectual versatility enables you to converse on any timely subject.  Read more newspapers and magazines daily.
10. Be confident — If you don’t believe, neither will they.  Besides your passion for your product, let them see your confidence in you and your belief in what you are sharing with them.

There are so many great tips in this article.  I wouldn’t simply trust my endorsement, I encourage you to dive in and study it for yourself.  Have a great week!!

Dave Cooke is CEO of Strategic Resource Group, llc an organization specializing in helping businesses increase their revenues through effective growth initiatives and employee development programs. His contributions and insights can be found on his blog posts,  SalesCooke and Sustainable Revenues.

More from The Sales Cooke

• Take Your Pitch Out for a Test Drive
• The “Solution” is a Matter of Perspective
• Everyone is Looking for a “Deal”

The Sales Cooke Recommends

• Everyone is a Salesman (Chris Conrey)
• Selling in a “Down Economy” (Chris Conrey)
• How to Fix a Problem (Chris Conrey)

Have you been looking closely enough at your business? ~ Dan Heath and Chip Heath, Fast Company

Interesting article in Fast Company (May, 2010) about video and development and how businesses could utilize this medium to call attention to behaviors, habits, and conversations to improve performance.   In football, coaches have the opportunity to spend a week watching game film in preparation for a single 60-minute game.  Businesses run plays everyday all day.  What videos do they utilize to prepare for in their arena?

This article brings out a unique concept, using videotaped events as an educational tool.  When people have the opportunity to witness the impact of less desired behaviors in a meeting, on a customer call, or during an educational event, the potential to interrupt or change future actions has been demonstrated to be significant.  Additionally, capturing and referring to actual examples, provides tangible references that are not subject to interpretation or review as to what happened.  People’s memories have selective application, videotapes never lie.

Next time you engage in an employee development program, I highly encourage the addition of a video observer.  The lessons applied to the living examples will have a more meaningful and lasting result.

Dave Cooke has recently launched his program the Sustainable Revenue Formula™ (SuRF), which provides businesses a comprehensive formula for effective and sustainable revenue growth.  To learn more and obtain your complimentary copy of , “SuRFing the Wave: Navigating the Rough Waters with Innovation and Growth“, please contact me: dave@salescooke.com.

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• You Don’t Know What You Don’t Know!
• Have You Made the Shift?
• What Type of Manager Are You?

The Sales Cooke Recommends

• You are NOT Your Customer (Chris Conrey)
• What Are You Doing? (Chris Conrey)
• Being You (Chris Conrey)

Last year I released my first book, Cooked Up Sales.  I didn’t go through too much fanfare in releasing it, as it was simply a book I wrote.  Yes, it was a book focused on my passion around effective relationship building, solution oriented selling behaviors. Whether it sold a lot of copies was not the yardstick I was measuring the success of the book by.   I simply knew it was a very concise informative book.  And, I was pleased with the feedback I received from those who read it.

Here it is one year later and I am wondering out loud:

Why are there so many sales professionals who simply do not understand what relationship building behaviors really are?

Why are there so many small business owners and sales professionals attending the ridiculously over-saturated networking and sales pitch events?

People simply do not really, truly understand the skills and processes associated with effective relationship development.

CookedUp Sales is not just another book. It is the answer.

For those who are:

• Still struggling to build the relationships they need to grow their business
• Still trying to figure out how to communicate value and create interest
• Still not making the connections that provide the referrals and the value they need to improve revenues

STOP! attending the same old pitch events and classes and actually spend some quality time learning how relationship building and development is done.

Cooked Up Sales is not just another book, it is the answer for you to build relationships, communicate value, and start improving your sales results.  Purchase this book now and I will give you a free 30-minute phone consult to specifically focus on your sales challenges.  Order this book today and quit wasting your time and your money on programs that are not teaching you anything new.

Order both books, Cooked Up Sales and Your Daily Sales Guide, I will give you two (2) 30-minute phone consultations.

Cooked-Up Sales ($22.50):

Both Books ($32.50):

More from The Sales Cooke

• Selling Fundamentals — The Relationship
• Successful Selling is Not in Your Head
• Your Value is Really Their Story

The Sales Cooke Recommends

• Everyone is a Salesman (Chris Conrey)
• Goals (Chris Conrey)
• Your Memory is a Tool (Chris Conrey)

“I don’t understand why my manager doesn’t do something about the salespeople who don’t give a crap and why I don’t get a raise for carrying this team?“  ~ A real conversation from this past week

Sales compensation can be a tricky issue.  Depending upon the selling cycle, the selling process, the product, margins, sell price, etc.,  there are many ways to compensate salespeople.  The bottom line is that your compensation program must:

• Reward the behaviors that you expect of your growth team.  (This was discussed in detail in Part 1)

• Be financially advantageous for both parties.  (This was discussed in detail in Part 2)

• Be balanced toward who is taking on the most risk. It is this issue of risk that often creates friction and frustration between the professional and the firm.

If the firm is taking on a high amount of risk by paying a large base salary and a commission, there is little room for rewarding anything other than exceptional results.  Even then, the cost of getting to those results makes the variable compensation piece a low component of the overall income.

By contrast, a fully-commissioned growth professional is taking on all of the risk.  The firm essentially compensates this professional only when they deliver the desired results.  Hence, the reward structure for this is all variable and is significantly more rewarding to the growth professional for their assumption of the risk.

It is my belief that unless the selling cycle is exceptionally long (9-18 months) most compensation programs can tilt risk more toward their growth professionals.  Many businesses today provide too much fixed compensation to their teams and expect them to hustle for a smaller variable component.  If your business desires a growth oriented professional, find those who will take on more risk, educate them, nurture them, and turn them loose.  Make them too fat and too comfortable and they will move slowly.  It is your choice.

• Provide the education, development, resource and management support necessary to facilitate growth. (This will be discussed in detail in Part 4)

Dave Cooke has recently launched his program the Sustainable Revenue Formula™ (SuRF), which provides businesses a comprehensive formula for effective and sustainable revenue growth.  If you are interested in obtaining a copy of the white paper, “Revolutionizing the Future for Today’s Business”, please contact me: dave@salescooke.com.

More from The Sales Cooke

• How Comp Plans Impact Revenue Growth (Part 2)
• How Comp Plans Impact Revenue Growth (Part 1)
• How Comp Plans Impact Revenue Growth (Part 5)

The Sales Cooke Recommends

• Letter to the CEO, Part #3 (Tyler Hurst)
• Rules of Sales: Rule #3 (Chris Conrey)
• The Most Interesting Man in the World (Chris Conrey)

“I don’t understand why my manager doesn’t do something about the salespeople who don’t give a crap and still keep collecting a salary and I don’t get a raise for carrying this team?“  ~ A real conversation from this past week

Incentives and compensation is a tricky issue.  Depending upon the revenue growth cycle, the process, the product, margins, sell price, etc.,  there are many ways to compensate your salespeople (growth professionals).  The bottom line is that a compensation program must:

• Reward the behaviors that you expect of your growth team.  Businesses often get lost here.  The ultimate measure of desirable behaviors is increased growth.  However, if the only reward measure is based solely on increasing revenues, then you will have a bunch of salespeople acting like transactional closers.  This may not be the most desirable selling attribute in a business that promotes relationship based, solutions oriented growth behaviors.

In most industries, part of the business development process involves building a long-term and growing relationship with the customer.  Hence, rewarding account retention and expansion can be an applicable compensation component.  In this scenario, devising an incentive for both customer growth and retention reduces the likelihood of  transactional behaviors and increases the potential for relationship oriented growth behaviors.

Know what you want of your growth team.  In today’s economy, businesses need to get away from the mixed messages of  demanding “sell and close now” results while reminding them to “build and nurture relationships.”  These behaviors can be mutually exclusive to the untrained professional.  Your compensation program and the subsequent development and education component requires a structured program that actively rewards all the desired behaviors expected of the growth team for engaging customers and prospects.

• Be financially advantageous for both parties. (This will be discussed in detail in Part 2)
• Be balanced toward who is taking on the most risk. (This will be discussed in detail in Part 3)
• Provide the education, development, resource and management support necessary to facilitate growth. (This will be discussed in detail in Part 4)

Dave Cooke has recently launched his program the Sustainable Revenue Formula™ (SuRF), which provides businesses a comprehensive formula for effective and sustainable revenue growth.  If you are interested in obtaining a copy of the white paper, “Revolutionizing the Future for Today’s Business”, please contact me: dave@salescooke.com.

More from The Sales Cooke

• How Comp Plans Impact Revenue Growth (Part 3)
• How Comp Plans Impact Revenue Growth (Part 2)
• How Comp Plans Impact Revenue Growth (Part 5)

The Sales Cooke Recommends

• Rules of Sales: Rule #2 (Chris Conrey)
• Rules of Sales: Rule #1 (Chris Conrey)
• Selling in a “Down Economy” (Chris Conrey)