IMGCAP(1)]
Two vultures are perched on a scraggly tree limb beneath the blazing Arizona sun. The younger vulture turns to the older vulture and speaks his mind. "Forget this waiting for something to die," says the bird. "I am hungry."
If only sales managers could trigger such motivation among their sales reps. Instead, they struggle to find ways to push their team's numbers higher.
The two best methods of increasing sales are providing qualified leads and motivating the team. Sales contests and solid lead generation bring short-term wins for any sales organization.
One universal fact among sales organizations is this: Salespeople who are motivated to sell work hard to find ways to increase their sales. It does not matter if the salesperson is the best in the company or the newest member of the team. If the agent is motivated, he or she is looking for ways to sell more.
How can the owner of an ISO or manager of a sales organization help sales reps succeed? A sales manager can help by providing great recruiting, hiring, training, directing and monitoring-and by creating the right environment to motivate a sales organization.
Recruiting and hiring good salespeople increases sales but does not provide an easy fix for every company. Some ISOs lack the capacity to add employees. It also takes time to find and train people-work that makes no direct impact on sales in the near term. A superb new rep needs time to pay off, which can take as long as three to six months from the date of hire. In the short term, what methods work for boosting sales?
Leads And Prospects
Providing leads is the best way to direct the sales organization. Leads get salespeople on the phone, out of the office (or their houses) and in front of potential buyers. Really good leads get salespeople in front of qualified, motivated buyers.
The hardest part of a salesperson's job is finding qualified buyers. Some in the payments industry make the common mistake of thinking all merchants are good prospects. Not all prospects are equally likely to buy.
Many agents are convinced they need to view every prospect as a buyer. Those salespeople overlook a simple fact. Good lead systems are not about that one deal or any single sale. The key to good lead generation is to increase the chances that the leads will help sales reps reap the highest return on the time invested.
Any lead is better than no lead, but qualified leads glitter like gold.
Sales organizations that spend time thinking about target markets and vertical-selling strategies put their best salespeople in front of their best prospects. We call that strategy "feed the eagles."
Test lead programs in small quantities with a handful of salespeople before sending the leads to all of the salespeople. Sales organizations can accomplish three objectives that way.
First, the reps can craft the message. Having spoken to a few prospects they learn their potential buying reasons and can use them to help write a "script." Reps also hear objections that may be unique to that type of lead. That test helps prepare the rest of the sales team with better responses to objections.
Second, testing helps quantify expectations for reasonable results for the lead program. It is critical to know the closing percentages and other metrics, such as how often to expect contact with decision makers. That helps distinguish between good and better salespeople and good and better lead programs.
Lastly, testing helps pace the sales organization. When a salesperson has too many leads, he or she sometimes fails to do a good job of setting priorities. In some cases the rep forgets the better leads or sets them aside to do other things. Sales managers need to help the salespeople decide which prospects appear more likely to buy. The best way to do that is to identify common characteristics of buyers. Then call those leads first.
Capturing The Competitive Spirit
In 1995, I was attending a training session on a new product with more than 100 salespeople. As with many new products, management organized a contest with prizes for making the most deals in the first 30 days after the launch.
I remember thinking, "Oh, I will never win that. There are too many other good salespeople here." Then I paused for a minute and realized that every other salesperson probably was thinking the same thing. Right then and there, I made a commitment to win the contest.
The key to any good sales contest is that it engages the sales organization. The managers and salespeople have to commit themselves to the contest. If the salespeople buy in, they will dedicate themselves to the contest, and sales will increase. Anything less than that simply adds compensation for the top performer with no additional productivity.
I prefer contests with the "bury your buddy" mentality that makes the awards available only to the top one or two performers. Those are better than team contests, where salespeople who do not contribute to the team's success still participate in the spoils.
Contests that generate competitive spirit motivate people to sell more. Any contest that engenders an emotional commitment among the participants drives the team farther than they otherwise would have gone.
Athletes strive to be the best in the Olympics not just for the sake of winning a gold medal. Instead, they seek the prestige of being the best and the sense of patriotism they get from representing their country on the international stage. The tangible award does not rival the intangible rewards.
The award does not have to cost as much as the increase in productivity it generates. If the award costs more than the increased productivity generated, the contest was a flop.
The guidelines for a well-run sales contest are simple.
First, contests should remain simple and easy for participants to understand. The more complicated the contest, the more likely it will fail to produce the desired behavior.
Clearly define the contest goals. Participants need to know exactly what the company expects. The contest should remain short. Thirty-day contests seem most beneficial.
In any case, contests should not become perpetual. The timing should seem sporadic to keep sales contests fresh. If a contest occurs monthly, salespeople may see them as nothing more than a tweak to the compensation plan. Bonuses associated with contests should come as an addition to the regular earnings.
Contests thrive on visibility. Every mention of the contest reminds the salespeople to strive to sell more. Post the contest rules in the office and talk about the competition to the sales organization. Tack up flyers with the contest results, standings and rankings as often as possible. In a monthly contest, send weekly updates to every participant.
Incidentally, I came in second in that contest back in 1995, missing the big payoff by just one deal. The real winner, however, was the company. Sales went up dramatically that month for the entire sales organization.
Matt Clyne is a senior vice president at Sage Payment Solutions. His e-mail address is mclyne@sagepayments.com
