Many companies and individuals take stock of their accomplishments in the final quarter of the year and set goals for the coming year. There may be no exercise more critical for sales professionals than to celebrate annual victories, set future goals and measure progression.
Such reflection may have more impact on an individual's or organization's success than any other act of management. Occasionally, motorists will drive past signs that read: "If you lived here, you would be home now." Every time I drive by such a sign I think about individuals who have settled for something less than their potential, such as a consumer that settled on an adequate home close to work instead of a wonderful home far away from it.
For true sales professionals settling for less than their best does not measure the manifest of their efforts. Rather it is what the sales agents strive for that counts.
Those who strive for more by setting goals and measuring their progression often have a steady calm about their current position. For them any setback becomes a bump on the way to a greater goal. For the complacent it may seems more catastrophic when they encounter adversity. Many times it is in catastrophe that the complacent are spurred to set higher goals and begin their progression toward achievement.
Agents that choose to broaden their perspectives and set new priorities each year are moving toward greater success. Adopting new strategies or programs are strategic steps that can help spur achievement. The question then becomes which opportunities to chase.
CHECKING MILESTONES
It is only with a well-thought-out vision of the future that these questions are answered. The vision is a clear picture of what the outcome is that a sales professional is striving to achieve. It is a picture of a time and place in the future of what the organization or individuals in the organization will be accomplishing.
Sales agents may choose to measure their future success in different ways, such as by defining the amounts they will earn or the number of deals they will sell.
It is important to write goals and expectations on a vision document, which can be something as simple as a list of expectations of where the organization will be at a time and place in the future.
A good milestone to set as a measuring point for a vision document is five years in the future. The vision document is different than a business plan because it may contain things that are not completely related to the business. If a company's goal is to have low turnover among sales personnel, the company must document what it is striving to achieve and how it will reach the goal in the vision document. This is not typically something a company would record in a business plan.
A business plan contains tactical measurements, and a vision document answers the question of what a company wants to have achieved at a given point in the future.
A vision document may contain measurements of the number of hours it takes for the deployment of a terminal or the accuracy of a residual report. For example, a vision document may state, "This organization will deploy 80% of all new terminals in six hours or less" or "This organization will produce all residual reports with 12 hours of the close of the residual month and will be 100% accurate on all fee categories."
The vision document is a culmination of measurable achievements that add color to the destination desired. The strategy for how to achieve future goals is based on the vision document.
Once a company completes the vision document and determines the strategy, tactics are easier to employ.
Several ISOs have served as good examples of these concepts. I have worked with several of these ISOs, but I hesitate to mention them by name without their permission. I admire companies that set a clear strategy and then refined their tactics to serve the strategy.
While I fundamentally disagree with the free-terminal tactic, it has succeeded in growing market share for ISOs that use it. The companies that have been most successful with free-terminal programs used a clear strategy in marketing messages, promotions and agent-compensation plans. Their tactics completely support the strategy.
When you speak to the employees in these companies or to the salespeople who sell for them, there is a consistent message about the purpose and goal of the free-terminal program. The management of these ISOs has done a good job of delivering a consistent message even though the majority of their sales channels, such as independent sales agents who are not locked into exclusive sales agreements with one ISO, is not directly controlled by the ISO.
Another well-known ISO, processor Heartland Payment Systems Inc., has set a strategy to dominate the restaurant industry. The ISO chose to use simple, low-cost pricing and focus trained sales people on engaging restaurant owners. The products the ISO chose to promote focused specifically on simplifying different business aspects for the restaurant. The compensation tactics then flowed from this strategy. The result was a well-trained, dedicated sales organization that was loyal to the ISO and had great success specifically in the food and beverage industry.
A VISION STRATEGY
When considering adapting a new technology or sales approach, an individual agent or ISO should consider these questions: How will engaging this vendor or product serve the company's long-term strategy? If the company adopts this program and has success, how will this change or serve the company's future vision of itself? The powerful companies build systems that serve their tactics.
My favorite companies are built around powerful systems that can produce well-trained salespeople or well-qualified sales opportunities. Our industry is filled with these types of companies.
Having a system that can recruit, hire, train, direct and monitor a salesperson is a powerful tool. However, this will not build lasting value unless it is combined with a company that has a vision of where it is headed and a strategy for how it will get there.
Companies that have the clearest vision of where they are headed stand the greatest chance of achieving their goals. Visionary leaders have the ability to set the vision and can communicate it to the team in an effective way. They trust their team to drive the organization to the outcomes desired. These are my favorite leaders. Fortunately, there is an abundant supply of them in the payments industry.
The definition of excellence is not achieving perfection, which is a standard too difficult to achieve. Rather, excellence is working to do one's best with every opportunity. In this way striving for excellence is a better goal than striving for perfection. Companies and sales professionals that set goals for where they want to be five years from now are the least likely to end up settling for less than they are capable of accomplishing.
Matt Clyne is a sales consultant who can be reached at clyne.matt@gmail.com.
