The Neuron Nexus

Sharing ideas about Sales Effectiveness | Training | Sales Transformation | & More!

Thoughts on the Language of Sales

I know why it happened… so much of the old sales training and motivational speaking literature is centered around:

  • Having a "winning" mindset
  • Setting goals and "crushing" them
  • Being the best you can be (focus on you and your achievement, not the customer)
  • Being able to "sell ice to an Eskimo"
  • The secrets of instant rapport
  • Winning friends and influencing people
  • What the top echelon of sales pros do and how you can do it, too, even if you're not like them

So, it was only natural that the language of sales grew up mirroring the language of sports or our military - two other great American institutions - whose leaders understood how to mold people into using specific patterns of behavior that got results. So, I believe this resulted in some similar language usage and concepts:

  • "Outflanking" the competition (or destroying them)
  • "Guerilla sales" and marketing tactics
  • Making great "pitches"
  • Assuming the sale or 101 ways to close the sale
  • "Overcoming" objections
  • Never take "no" for an answer
  • Ask for the sale at least 5 times
  • Keep going until you "win" the sale!
  • Winner never quit and quitters never win

By the way - I'm not suggesting that every one of those axioms is washed up - but I do believe that most foster an adversarial mindset. And some of the same literature is the stuff that convinced me to sleep less, because I'd gain an extra month of productivity a year. Yeah, what a load of… well, unhealthy advice… that turned out to be. (See: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/tony-schwartz/sleep_b_832353.html)

However, some good things did come out of those days:

  • Goal setting (strategic planning) and writing down your goals with a time frame
  • "Planning your work and working your plan" (execution) to reach your goals
  • Using affirmations (stated in the positive - not what you want to avoid - and spoken as if they’ve already occurred) and visualization of success
  • Fostering a positive mindset
  • An understanding that you have a far better chance of being successful by mimicking successful people

Without doing an entire timeline or historical perspective of sales and selling in America, there was a phase after transactional selling that morphed into relationship selling and eventually, consultative selling. Some materials from those times include:

  • The Psychology of Selling from Brian Tracy – the beginning of focus on how people make buying decisions and how to influence them
  • Stop Telling and Start Selling from Linda Richardson – a much more consultative focus
  • The outgrowth of Learning International, Inc. from Xerox Learning Systems and the proliferation of the Professional Selling Skills course, on which so many other courses were based
  • Consultative Selling from Mack Hanan - with a focus on providing real business solutions, saving money, achieving goals, adding other bottom-line value and delivering ROI and financial relevance
  • SPIN Selling and Major Account Sales from Neil Rackham of Huthwaite - combining both skills and strategy to add real value
  • Conceptual Selling and Strategic Selling from Miller Heiman - another more rounded approach to overall sales success, not just sales rep skills and navigating sales meetings
  • The SalesAbility course from Porter Henry, Inc., which to my knowledge, may have been the first sales training course to incorporate a deep buyer perspective, specifically teaching both processes and aligning the sales process to the buying process.

Today, the more advanced concepts that I favor continue in the consultative vein, and speak about partnering or "enterprise selling," with a focus on adding real value and solving or avoiding vexing business issues.

So, what language do I recommend today? I'm not sure I have a "preferred" lexicon as much as I know what I don't like, but here are some ideas:

  • Set the Stage, Determine Expectations, Understand Roles, and Define Processes (may happen throughout)
  • Diagnose Situations, Determine Desired Outcomes, and Determine Concerns or Things to Avoid
  • Propose, Prescribe, or Recommend Solution Options to Support Outcomes and Avoid Concerns
  • Address Concerns about Recommendations, Resolve Issues, Discuss Alternatives
  • Determine Next Steps (might be a sale/purchase, might just be next steps toward a sale/purchase)
  • Check out my post on sales relevance for some additional thoughts on this topic: http://bit.ly/SalesPersonRURelevant

What about you? What sales language resonates with you today? Are you in the "win win win!" camp, with no apology? Have you switched to a full partnership approach? Or is your business a mix of transactional, consultative and partnership selling, based on the type of client and what you offer each other? Feel free to weigh in and share your thoughts - I look forward to hearing your differing perspectives.

Just a few resources on the changing approach and lexicon for professional selling…

Be safe out there, and happy selling!

Mike
________________________

Mike Kunkle

Contact me:
mike_kunkle at mindspring dot-com
214.494.9950 Google Voice

Connect with me:
http://www.linkedin.com/in/mikekunkle
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For Real Performance Improvement, Put Sales Managers First


Pretty Challenging Stuff
There's a lot of hubbub about the CEB's research which led to "The Challenger Sale" book about the newly-identified behaviors of leading, educating and challenging clients, to add more value and win more sales.

I actually started lauding the research through social media before the book was launched, and respect the research, the CEB, their Sales Executive Council, their findings, the book, and all my friends who have jumped on the bandwagon at various stages.

Under the Microscope
It's great detective and sales analytics work. And in general it's interesting, fun and practical to do frontline sales research. On my smaller scale, I love doing it and my Performance Lever work is founded on research, diagnostics, analytics, alignment and execution (yea, a veritable cauldron of business buzzwords).

For me, however, while critical, this is about one-third of the picture, or maybe even less.

Not All It's Cracked Up To Be
To explain, I'll reference another book I've been reading, "Cracking the Sales Management Code" by Jason Jordan and Michelle Vazzana. The six-page foreword by Neil Rackham is alone worth five times more than the price of the book, and the authors' content is equally impressive and valuable.

Sales Management Should Be Executed
Among many pearls, which perhaps I will later do a book review to share, one of the best is their focus on execution through sales management, which is critical, and the best advice I've seen in print in years. Change leadership experts are well aware that real change is best driven by the frontline supervisor of the employees who are required to make the most significant changes. In most sales organizations where I've worked or consulted, however, this seems to be understood in theory and conversation, but not well executed. And, in my Performance Lever work, it is a foundational tenet for fostering radical sales performance improvement. So, it was encouraging to see such alignment between my experiences and Cracking the Sales Management Code.

Hocus Pocus Focus
Here's where I believe the focus should be.

  • Yes, determine the success factors or performance levers for frontline sales.
  • And yes, you will likely see some elements of The Challenger in your top folks. It may or may not be completely replicable among other "mere mortals," but some of it will be teachable and transferrable.

In the Name of Love…
Stop! 
Armed with that knowledge, please don't train anyone yet.

The Saga Continues
Next, determine how exactly a sales manager could use whatever reporting, CRM, SFA, analytic tools and results to diagnose how well as rep is firing on each of those performance levers. Some of this work is detective work as well, and metrics are simply a starting point, to know where to dig deeper. In many cases, after studying results, a sales manager will need to have an engaged discussion with the rep, perhaps talk to customers, and even better, ride along with the rep and see him/her in action.

Success = (B-A) + A
Once you have a bead on the current behaviors (A) versus the desired behaviors (B), you have a gap to close. Now, you need the leadership, facilitation, and coaching skills to lead those discussions (notice I didn’t say "tell them rep what to do") and develop action plans to close the gap between A and B.

Is That Light at the End of the Tunnel a Train?
So, looking at all of that, before training a single frontline sales rep, you must:

  • Train sales managers on the performance levers/success factors and sales behaviors that you want them to teach, reinforce, transfer, coach and develop in their reps.
  • Train sales managers how to diagnose sales rep behaviors related to those levers, based on available analytics, discussions and observation.
  • Train sales managers how to lead and facilitate effective coaching discussions, as well as how to create effective action plans with proper incentives (reward, recognition, personal motivation).
  • Train and create systems to help sales managers follow-up on those plans, hold reps accountable, and continue the training/analysis/coaching/planning/executing cycle, until results are achieved (or a performance management/corrective action plan is required).


And THEN it's time to train sales reps.

Put the Ice in First, Then Pour
Now, from a practical perspective, it's not like some of the training for managers and employees can't overlap somewhat, but managers must be started first, or the training for the reps will largely be wasted, or adopted at a far lower percentage than will generally drive real performance improvement.

I'm sure I'm leaving enough gaps in my thinking here to foster some debate, but this is all I have time to say today. Hopefully the key points make sense, and where not, I'm sure I'll hear about it. ;-)

As always, praise, feedback, or disagreements may be posted here or sent to me privately at mike_kunkle at mindspring dot com, at your discretion.

Be safe out there, and happy selling! (And managing.)

Mike
___________________________
Mike Kunkle

Contact me:
mike_kunkle at mindspring dot-com
214.494.9950 Google Voice

Connect with me:
http://www.linkedin.com/in/mikekunkle
https://twitter.com/#!/mike_kunkle

As a Sales Person, Are You Relevant?

I've been seeing a lot of discussions and blog posts about this topic lately, relative to B2B sales. So, at the prompting of a new connection, I decided to explore sales relevancy and offer my own perspective.

SALES RELEVANCE
According to Dictionary.com (http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/relevant), "relevant" is an adjective meaning "bearing upon or connected with the matter in hand; pertinent." Synonyms include applicable, germane, apposite, appropriate, suitable, and fitting.

Okay, so, what does that mean for you in sales?

Well, first, it means no, you're not relevant. And secondly, it means yes, you are relevant.

Confused? If so, this post is for you. Because your relevance is situational, and depends on a variety of factors. Let's explore...

VIEWPOINTS
There are several ways to approach this. As with 360-degree or multi-rater assessments, you can approach it from multiple angles.

  • What do you think?
  • What does your customer think?
  • What does your sales manager think?
  • What do others at your company think?

All of these have a place and an impact, but we'll just analyze two here:

  • What you think
  • What your customer thinks

Your viewpoint is critical, because if you don't feel relevant, it will be hard to convey relevance and pass those feelings to your prospects and customers, with integrity.

More importantly, however, even if you feel you're relevant, if your customer doesn't, what you believe (or your manager or others) no longer matters. It's oddly symbiotic, though. You must believe your relevance to have the best chance of your customer recognizing it. But if you alone recognize your relevance, you're still irrelevant.

So, how do you get a customer to think that you and your products are relevant?

To start, stop trying to prove it or "get them" to think it, and go in with an intense curiosity to diagnose and determine if you can be authentically relevant and add value. 

Here’s the key… If you can find a way to eliminate vexing problems, minimize current challenges, avoid future ones, improve something that's important to them, or accomplish a critical business goal - all at a cost that is perceived to be less than the benefits gained - you achieve relevance, from the customer's perspective. And the faster you can determine whether you have relevance, the better it is for you, your company, your prospect, and their company.

PRODUCTS & SERVICES
Let's continue with a quick discussion of products and services. Other than having influence with your Product Management team, based on market/customer needs and feedback, product development and management is outside the scope of the frontline sales role. You sell what you have.

So for the purpose of this discussion, I believe we must take product design out of the picture, assuming the products and/or services that a sales person can offer are relevant to their target market, or at least under certain circumstances and conditions which create a need.

Sidebar Note: If your product and services aren't relevant to the market, and your company is not responding appropriately to market feedback or yours, it's time to jump ship.

With the above foundation laid, the focus transfers to the mindset, approach (process) and skills of the sales person.

MINDSET
Mindset already plays an important, recognized, and foundational role in sales success. In this case, I'm referring specifically to your thoughts about yourself, your prospects and customers, and even though we exempted it above to a great degree (assuming market relevance), your products and services.

Yourself
Your view of yourself (from your self-worth to your perspective on the value you offer your customers and your knowledge and skills) is a critical foundation. Of course, an over-inflated view of yourself is as detrimental as low self-esteem or poor perception, so be cautious of either extreme. 

While we could debate specifics all day, at a minimum, you must believe that from a business perspective, you can offer value to your clients through your knowledge, skills, behavior and integrity. Without this, you'll have a great deal of difficulty acting authentically, transparently, and confidently, and providing real value - meaning, you will have difficulty conveying relevance.  Your prospect may see relevance around you or despite you, but the hope of that that's certainly not going to fuel your sales success long-term.

Prospects / Customers
It's also important that you value, respect and empathize with your customers and their challenges, obstacles, goals, and plans.

Are you other-focused, rather than selfish, and more concerned with “being interested” than “being interesting? These topics aren’t always discussed this way in sales circles or sales training, but it shifts your perspective and value quickly.

Have you ever not respected someone, and then tried to serve them transparently and authentically or build a trust-based relationship? It's pretty difficult to act with integrity that way. And often, your true feelings will come through in some way. If your focus is on selling something rather than serving your client, won’t that change your behaviors toward your customers? The way you think and feel about specific customers, or your customer base in general, also makes a difference.

Ask yourself... What habits have you formed? Do you whine and complain about your customers and their issues and quirks? Or do you hold them up, with high regard for their good traits, respect what they are trying to accomplish, and value the diversity of your differences? Even the way you speak about your customers when they're not around, creates a foundation on which you'll build your business - or not. Choose carefully, because it can impact your relevance and success.

Products / Services
For this discussion of mindset about products and services, let's separate the general perception of relevance of your products and services in the marketplace from your personal perception. Because even if most reasonable people agree that your products and services meet a need and are relevant, if you don't agree, you will struggle to convey relevance. So, even if the market deems your products and services relevant, you must too. (If you can't, again, this is a sign to move on.)

To greatly increase your relevance, especially with the products and services you offer, understand first what makes you relevant to your best customers. What situations did they face? What problems did they experience? What goals did they have? What were they desperately trying to avoid?

When you understand what MAKES you relevant, from THEIR perspective... you can prospect other companies and buyers who are in those same situations, face the same problems, want to avoid the same thing, and who have the same goals.

PROCESS
There is a lot of talk today about sales process. To me, this is just a replicable set of tasks, steps and stages you move through with a customer, while interacting with them to determine if your products and services add value and are relevant for them.

There are debates and opinions everywhere these days about the folly of approaching sales process from the sales person's or selling company's perspective, versus the client-focused perspective of matching your sales process to the customer's buying process.

The real world is rarely so black and white. I think having (generally) replicable processes and definable stages make sense. I advocate what I call "organized fluidity." Structure and process help most people perform better (and often, serve customers better), so having a sense of organization and being able to define and replicate steps and stages are important.  At the same time, I do also believe that you lose relevance quickly if you can't adapt to whatever your customer's buying processes and preferences may be, and work within them, to prove your relevance and add value.

Don't build a cage with your sales process, then, but rather build the skills necessary to determine where you and the customer are in the process at any given time and to respond accordingly. Internally, it’s helpful to have the infrastructure to record this, report it, and track it, but that’s on your side and is generally a lag indicator of what’s happening, not a force for developing the relevance necessary to keep things moving forward.

SKILLS
So much has been written on the need for:

  • Strong diagnostic and questioning skills
  • Business acumen
  • Logic and reasoning
  • Interpersonal communication skills
  • Emotional intelligence
  • Relationship and trust building skills...

... and most importantly, the ability to forge solutions that solve problems, avoid problems or accomplish goals - but these are truly the skills that are often required for business and sales success.

But for me, in terms of relevance, nothing is more critical than understanding the business needs and the personal needs and motivators of decision-makers, and finding solutions that accommodate both. An approach that is authentic, exploratory, and involves partnering to build solutions may not always be possible, but it certainly is ideal. Because in the end, your competitor may be relevant, too… or their products and services may be. So working to find the best win-win solution and being personally relevant by doing so openly, with trust, integrity and transparency, can provide the exact edge you need ion today’s difficult business climate to win deals.

LITMUS TEST
So, ask yourself, do you:

  • Believe in yourself, your company and your products and services (given the right set of conditions, where they can make a difference)?
  • Support and thoughtfully consider your customers and their viewpoints and situations, with empathy?
  • Make a difference yourself through curiosity, authenticity, transparency, integrity and client focus?
  • Focus where it matters? And where you can be relevant and make a difference? (Why waste time if you can’t?)
  • Do what homework and research you can, to determine in advance how you might be relevant - even if you still need to verify or expand that opportunity through discovery?
  • Modify your approach, within reason, to fit the customer’s buying process, rather than force fit them into yours?
  • Shift the focus from trying to sell something, to trying to serve others, and sell something as a result?
  • Worry less about being interesting, and focus more on being interested?
  • Through the above, find a way to help your customers eliminate vexing problems, minimize current challenges or avoid future ones, improve something that's important, or accomplish a critical goal - all at a cost that is perceived to be less than the benefits gained from their perspective?

If so, or when so, the answer to the original question in this post is “Yes.” As a sales person… you are relevant!

Thanks for Reading!

As always, praise, feedback, or disagreements may be posted here or sent to me privately at mike_kunkle at mindspring dot com, at your discretion. 

Be safe out there, and happy selling!

Mike
___________________________

Mike Kunkle

Contact me:
mike_kunkle at mindspring dot-com
214.494.9950 Google Voice

Connect with me:
http://www.linkedin.com/in/mikekunkle
https://twitter.com/#!/mike_kunkle

Avoid Groundhog Day Syndrome When Selling B2C

B2C sales reps, especially those with potential for client development, here are two questions and a few thoughts for you. B2B reps, this isn't tailored for you, but I believe many of you will find much of this relevant.

QUESTIONS

  1. Are you building a portfolio of satisfied, loyal, long-term clients who will fuel your business in years to come, because you provide true value to them and nurture those relationships over time?
  2. Or are you making a series of transactional sales, based on price and product presentations, to clients who will eventually defect from your portfolio due to: A) their dissatisfaction, B) your inattention to them, or C) whenever a lower price comes along? 

Stop. Go back and re-read those questions. Do some soul-searching and introspection, and answer truthfully (to yourself - I'm not asking you to answer here, or to me - you're the one that matters).

Don't fool yourself on this one, because the answer to this question:

  1. May determine your likelihood and level of long-term success. 
  2. Will determine how hard you have to work and how long you have to work that hard.

It's Deja Vu, All Over Again

There are those who say you can't be successful selling transactionally. I wish that were true, but it's not. Sadly, sales people in every industry prove this every day. Even in my current  relationship-driven industry, if reps can self-generate or buy enough leads every year, they can still achieve a modest amount of success, making one-time sales, doing the same thing, year after year, without developing their clients further. Not ideal, or at least not in my opinion, but it's possible.

Have you ever heard the expression, "Some people have 15 years of experience; others have 1 year of experience, repeated 15 times"?  Selling transactionally, instead of client-centered, value-selling, is like that. It’s like the movie Groundhog Day (the same day, repeated over and over). Worse, it never gets any easier.  (It's also less fun without Bill Murray and Andie McDowell, and doesn't have a romantic, happy Hollywood ending. ;-)

To escape from Groundhog Day Syndrome, you need to move away from transactional, product- and price-based selling methods, in general.

(Sidebar: I know it probably seems odd to see me write this now, but you won't find me saying you should NEVER sell transactionally. Your sales process should morph to match your client's buying process, and frankly, there are some economic buyers who are solely driven by price and nothing else. I will caution you, however... don't use that fact as an excuse against learning and changing... there are fewer of those buyers than you may think.)

Goodbye, Punxsutawney Phil

So, what’s the better long-term approach? Here are some things to think about...

Client-centered:

  • This is a shift of focus from you to your clients. What is important to them? What's their perspective? What are their goals, hopes, needs, wants, fears and concerns? Help enough other people get what they want, and you get what you want. 

Discovery-enabled:

  • To learn those things (goals, hopes, needs, wants, fears and concerns), you must ask questions and listen. (Thus, the term "discovery.") That means you can't be asking mostly closed questions where they can provide a brief factual answer or say yes or no. It involves using open questions to make them talk and share their perspective... and then using closed questions to clarify and confirm what they said (and what they're hoping to accomplish). It's certainly not simply asking a lot of leading questions, designed to "make them realize" they have a need for what you want to sell.

Needs-based:

  • Your understanding of their needs should include understanding "what is" today - their current situation and circumstances, and why they want to make a change. It should also include understanding "what should be" - what they hope to improve or accomplish, why they want to accomplish that, and what they want to avoid. As mentioned in "client-centered" above, it's about discovering their goals, hopes, needs, wants, fears and concerns.  
  • Consider this perspective: When YOU see a need that one of your products can fill, that's a POTENTIAL NEED. When, through discovery, questioning, listening and confirming, you can get YOUR CLIENT to say it, it becomes a REAL NEED or confirmed need. This is client-centered, discovery-enabled, and needs-based. 

Solution-oriented:

  • This is about selecting the right products to meet your clients' needs. It's the building and customization of a solution from your vast product toolkit to accomplish what they want... what is best for them. This may or may not be what you want to sell. It's not about you; it's about them. Client-centered and solution-oriented. 

Value-focused:

  • Value trumps price almost every time. This doesn't mean price isn't important at all... people have budgets and they are a reality. But the best solution to meet their needs and protect your clients (and often, their family) isn't always the cheapest solution. To focus on value, remind them about what they want to accomplish and how you are helping them do just that. 
  • Remind them about the problems they're solving and what they said would happen if they didn't solve them.  Tell stories to illustrate the value. Don't immediately fold on price without referring back to the value of your recommendations, based on what THEY told you. 
  • But, remaining client-centered, the final decision is theirs. If necessary, eventually, ask them questions to determine what they value the most, and want to do now.  This includes what they want to remove, adjust, or not do. It's talking about outcomes, situations, using stories, and focusing on the value and solution, not just the price. 

Satisfaction-oriented:

  • If you've ever dreaded answering when you see a certain client's name appear on your ringing phone, you know how important this is. If you do as recommended above, you will so rarely have to worry about your clients being unsatisfied. Or, at least not about how you did your best to help them during the sales process. 
  • You will have done your best to serve and help your clients, and they'll know it. Of course, you'll also need to assist (as possible) when they reach out to you with questions or for help, but that will be so much easier once the relationship is started right to begin with. 

Future-focused:

  • Selling to your clients in this way, is what lays the solid foundation for future and ongoing referrals, staying in touch, periodic need reviews, and cross-selling later to meet needs you couldn't initially, or discovering new needs as things change (when trigger points occur – births, deaths, job changes, moves, and more - whatever life circumstances indicate that needs for your product may have changed). 

All The World's a Circle

To circle back to where we started this whole discussion, selling and servicing your clients properly is what allows you to build and grow a portfolio of satisfied, loyal, long-term clients who will fuel your business in years to come, because you provide true value to them.

When you do that, you escape the never-ending rut of Groundhog Day, because you will be developing a solid account base, renewing more and more orders, getting more and more referrals - and not just at the point of sale - but over time, further developing your relationships with your clients and deepening their ties to you. You will need far fewer other leads, and will be working smarter, instead of the same (or harder) every year.

Poke. Poke. Poke.

I hope this has provided some food for thought. One final provocation... the more uncomfortable you felt reading this message, and perhaps the more strongly you're resisting it right now... the more you need to consider it. Sorry. 

Praise, feedback, or disagreements may be posted here or sent to me privately at mike_kunkle at mindspring dot com, at your discretion.  

Be safe out there, and happy selling!

Mike
___________________________

Mike Kunkle

Contact me:
mike_kunkle at mindspring dot-com
214.494.9950 Google Voice

Connect with me:
http://www.linkedin.com/in/mikekunkle
https://twitter.com/#!/mike_kunkle

Take the 2012 Sales Performance Optimization Survey

My psychometric assessment buddies at Profiles International are sponsoring the 2012 Sales Performance Optimzation Survey from CSO Insights, so I thought I'd pass this along.

I've done it; it's painless and takes less than 15 minutes. And, you get an ebook when you're done. Details below...  

Gain the Insight to Crush Your Competition:

Take Part in CSO Insights’ 2012 Sales Performance Optimization Survey

Profiles International is proud to sponsor the 2012 Sales Performance Optimization Survey from CSO Insights. CSO Insights is a research firm specializing in providing sales best practices, trends and industry comparisons. This study is one of five annual research reports that CSO Insights presents. Their research helps companies, managers and sales employees around the world.

The Sales Performance Optimization Survey is an in-depth study, covering the challenges sales organizations face and best practices for increasing sales effectiveness. Each year, CSO Insights refines and updates its survey questions in keeping with the current business environment and sales trends.

The survey only takes about 10-15 minutes to complete.

After taking the survey, you will:

  • Immediately be able to download CSO Insights’ most recent Sales 2.0 ebook
  • Discover key trends within today’s sales environment
  • Compare your organization’s sales effectiveness with others in your industry
  • Learn best practices to improve your sales effectiveness and sales management

Start Now: Click Here to Take CSO Insight's 2012 Sales Performance Optimization Survey

Feel free to pass the word along, and as always, be safe out there...

Mike

___________________________

Mike Kunkle

Contact me:
mike_kunkle at mindspring dot-com
214.494.9950 Google Voice

Connect with me:
http://www.linkedin.com/in/mikekunkle
https://twitter.com/#!/mike_kunkle

 

WTH is a Performance Lever?

I was asked this question recently (and yes, just that way), as I was talking with  someone about my work. Performance Levers are central to what I do, and the book that I am loosely writing in stolen moments, so I thought I'd dedicate a post to it, since my blog is one of three ways that I am crystallizing my thoughts and the work I've been doing for... oh,  let's just say a "good number of years" now.  :-|

So, Performance Levers. I came up with this term in my crusty ol' head, circa 1995. You don't see it often elsewhere, but I have seen it used by others now - often to simply mean something that drives performance, or success factors. That's close, but no cigar for me. Back to that in a moment. First, the origin.

The Origin of Man. Errr, Performance Levers.

I was working for Hyatt Hotels Corporation in 1995, for Cody Plott, VP of Sales (now CEO of Pebble Beach, what a gig, eh?). Frank Calaguire also worked for Cody as his VP of Field Sales. Both are absolutely great guys who were mentors to me in different ways. I respect the Hell out of these guys and appreciate what I learned from them. At the time, we were championing some account development and market management principles which were pretty logical and exciting.  As part of that work, Frank was fond of using the term lever, often quoting Archimedes, "Give me a lever and a place to stand, and I will move the Earth." I was pretty engaged in learning everything I could about moving from standard training practices to truly improving human performance in the workplace. So, in my head, as you can probably see coming, I had a peanut butter meets chocolate moment. Lever. Performance. Performance Lever. I don't remember talking about it much at Hyatt and the term seemed esoteric and radical for business leaders at the time, so it mostly hung in my head, with other crusty ideas that often don't get much airtime.

I think the term hit print for the first time at my work at NovaStar, circa 2003. I was working with a creative instructional designer named Scott Fausett and shared my performance lever concept with him. He turned that into Applied Productivity and Performance Levers (yes, APPLes) in a program we designed together. That was a stroke of brilliance on his part, because the term APPLe stuck, even with execs. I can't tell you how many times I had to "poker face" a snicker, sitting around a boardroom table hearing senior leaders ask about how someone was doing with their APPLes. Fun times. But, that certainly wouldn't have worked in every culture.

And for that reason, I still prefer my original "Performance Lever" term and reverted back to it after NovaStar.

Alright Already, WTH Is It?

I have an annoyingly specific definition. Well, it's annoying to some, anyway, and occasionally even to me. Here it is:

A Performance Lever is any competency, knowledge, skill, behavior or condition that must exist, for ethical, sustained, high performance to occur.

A Frog is Born. Then Killed for Science.

Let's dissect.

Competency:
I wrestle with the term competency, and vacillate between it and characteristics or capabilities. (If you have an opinion, please share.) What I mean, is the stuff inside the person that they bring to the table. It's a reference to the need to understand a role, what it requires, and the science and art of selection, to match a person's capabilities to that role. Job fit. If they don't know everything they need to, or don’t possess every skill they need, they must possess the capability to learn and the willingness to do so. Attitudes and mindset, both central to success, fall in this area. So do the hardwiring and learned behaviors around ethics.

Knowledge | Skill:
This is the stuff people know and what they can do. In the context of delivering well-above-average business results, what must someone know? What skills must they possess? What must they do with that knowledge? And if they don't know something or have a particular skill, but have the ability to learn (see above), can you close the gap with training, learning and education and reinforce all appropriately?

Behavior:
See http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/behavior. This seems to confuse some people, or maybe I confuse them when I explain it, but I consider this different than "skill."  I’ve heard behavior defined as “anything a dead person can’t do.” To me, in a work context, behavior is skill in action. It’s the use of skills or a series of skills together. Let me offer an example. I have a degree in music. I played trombone and euphonium. Some may debate the level, especially today, but I have the skills required to play the euphonium and once did it pretty well. For a moment, take rusty skills out of the equation. Do I play the euphonium today? No, I sold my last one in 2003. (I still have a trombone and a bass trumpet, and I'm confident you're excited to know that.) So, I have the skills to play the euphonium, but I do not exhibit the behavior of playing one. I know plenty of people who have the skills to do something at work, or in life, but don't. Reasons vary, but the end result is the same. Skills, yes. Behavior, no. Make sense? There are also things that I do very well but hate doing. I’m sure you’re the same way.

Assessment companies talk about this sort of thing all the time. Profiles International assesses cognitive horsepower (can they do it?), personality/behaviors (will they do it?), and occupational interests (motivation: will they enjoy it?).  Job fit, baby. Except in this case, I'm just talking about the behavior part.

Condition:
This is a bucket of things. For sales, consider: Is the product viable? Does it meet its intended market's needs? Is pricing competitive? Does compensation drive and reward the right behaviors? Is it motivating? Do company processes and policies support selling, or is the company in the "sales prevention business?" Does management understand, encourage and support what is being trained? Can they diagnose sales rep behavior relative to the Performance Levers and reinforce training, coach and manage performance accordingly? You might think of this as organization effectiveness work. I think of it as aligning the other supporting organizational and functional Performance Levers, to support the role and task levers for a given position.

Ethical:
I do most of my work in sales environments. Need I say more? Hmm. Well, yes, I guess I do. I have learned over the years that top 4% (top 20% of the top 20%) is something to be both revered and feared. Why? Because it usually indicates one of two things. Thing one: Exact right wiring for success, doing the exact right things, consistently, with a strong sense of values and servitude. Someone who has "The Right Stuff," figured out the magic sauce. Thing two: Unethical business practices, working some angle, scamming the system, unethical, immoral and/or illegal activities. Percentages between one and two, fortunately, lean toward number 1, in my experience, but I've seen enough of number 2 that as a confirmed cynic, I always try to assume the best but look closely anyway. Or, as I used to tell new managers, trust but verify.

Sustained:
High performance doesn't do you much good for one day, one week, one month or one quarter, now, does it? Not that I consider one bad day, week, or month the opposite of sustained, but generally, can you keep the level of performance at "high" (and possibly grow it) or not?

High Performance:
This gets stickier, I suppose. To some degree, you'll need to determine what "high" means in your organization and situation. I generally think in terms of top quartile, top 20%, or wherever the statistical breaks are, using standard deviation. It's amazing how accurate the old 80/20 rule usually turns out to be. (In a recent study I did, statistically significant groupings occurred at the top of the heap at 7, 14, 25 and 32% - and based on the difference in gaps, I considered everything at 25% or greater to be "high performance." Top quartile.) My only caveat is that you should reach low enough that you have a prayer of getting your average performers moving in that direction. 

Must:
Silly to include this in the definitions of terms? Think again. I put "ethical" in the definition specifically, because I don't want to assume everyone feels it's a must, and it's critical to me. But that aside, I spend a lot of effort deciding what really drives performance or prioritizing those things. What knowledge MUST be present? (NEED to know; not NICE to know.) What skills MUST be possessed? What competencies are REQUIRED and what behavior patterns are MANDATORY for ethical sustained, high performance?

Organizations and roles are often vastly complex, and I know it's easy to choke on that complexity. For a given position, you could have as many as 9 role-based Performance Levers, with 120 different tasks. And to achieve "ethical, sustained, high performance," they may all be necessary, but I do try to figure that out, to simplify the complex as much as possible. (Or, as oft-attributed to Einstein: "Make things as simple as possible, but no simpler.")  It's amazing what some people will tell you is necessary, but when you study top producers, it simply isn't true. In the early stages of Performance Lever identification, I usually err on the side of inclusion, and pare down and prioritize over time, as I learn through experience and observation, within that specific organization.

Who Needs Ambien After That? But Wait! There’s More…

Well, that is my definition of Performance Lever. If interested, there’s more at http://slidesha.re/PerfLevers082011. For example, I believe Levers occur at the Organization (Company), Function (Department), Role (Job/Position) and Task level. And in the slides, there is an engine metaphor that oddly seems to resonate for many people. Check it out when you have time.

Not sure if that was good for you or not, but it was good for me. Smoke 'em if ya got 'em. (Figuratively, please. If you actually read this blog, I want you to live.)

Thoughts? Comments? Arguments? Praise? Debate? Lemme know.

Be safe out there,

Mike
_______________________________________
Mike Kunkle

Contact me:
mike_kunkle at mindspring dot-com
214.494.9950 Google Voice

Connect with me:
http://www.linkedin.com/in/mikekunkle
https://twitter.com/#!/mike_kunkle

Thoughts on Account Development Planning

Earlier tonight I replied to a posting in a LinkedIn group and then thought I should share some of the same information here with a bit more detail.

The question was about the account planning process and I shared some of the things I've developed and taught over the years. I call it Account Development Planning, but different people use different terms.

Overall, the process I've developed includes:

  • Account Profiling - detailing or reviewing what you know (and don't, but want to) about an account, including:
    • Decision Roles - who is making the decisions and what roles they play
    • Contact Viewpoints - how each of the decision-makers and influencers view you and your company
  • PCF and Likelihood Ratings - documenting the account history, its potential, and the likelihood of reaching that potential
  • Account Objectives & Goal Setting - based on the situation analysis and above factors, what do you hope to accomplish with the account
  • Force Field Analysis - technique to generate ideas about how to move from point A (Current state) to point B (desired Future state)
  • Action Planning - documenting strategies, tactics, actions, responsible parties and timelines

PASS THE ALPHABET SOUP
Here are some other definitions:

  • M = missing info
  • P = past account performance
  • C = current account performance
  • F = future account potential
  • L = likelihood of achieving the potential

ACCOUNT PROFILING
Start by listing what you do or don't know about an account. Consider things such as:

  • Decision-makers (and what you know and don't know about them)
  • How they view you your company (and if you don't know)
  • What you know about all the players (or don't) even if they're not decision makers (influencers, users, etc.)
  • What you know (or don't) about their situations, circumstances, wants, needs, problems and goals (for the company and major players, if there are conflicting interests). This is sometimes referred to as a Situation or Factor Analysis. 

Documenting what you don't know (but wish you did) is just as important as documenting or reviewing what you do know. This becomes your "M" or missing info, that you need to plan to gather.

As part of this profiling process, I usually also consider the old marketing RFM model, if it applies to your business and what/how you sell:

  • R = Recency of orders/business
  • F = Frequency of orders/business
  • M = Money/revenue and how it came in over the past <number of months you are analyzing>

This helps to set up the next phase of analysis.

PCF & LIKELIHOOD RATINGS
Looking at this info, do a frank analysis of:

  • What data or information you are missing that you need to gather (the M or Missing Info)
  • The business they have given you in the past (P = Past)
  • The business they are giving you now (C = Current)
  • The honest potential for future growth (F = Future)
  • The likelihood of reaching that potential (L = Likelihood)

I usually rank accounts in each element of PCF with a rating system, such as 1 (low) and 5 (high). This creates a shorthand to talk about accounts.

  • PCF of 135 would be a good growth story
  • PCF of 425 would not be such a happy story if the likelihood of getting to the potential of 5 was low, but would be if the likelihood is high 
  • PCF of 125 would be worth some real focus, if the likelihood of moving from C to F is good (based on what you know about the account)

Then, I add the fourth Likelihood rating at the end, which is my estimate of the likelihood of reaching the P or potential.  I usually add a dash to make it look like this: 425-1 (probably a lost account, and a regrettable loss, to boot).

From this info, you can start to create action plans to close info gaps during every customer interaction (planned interaction management) and also plan to realize the account potential.

ACCOUNT OBJECTIVES & GOAL SETTING
To do that, I start by  setting Account Objectives and Goals, and then conduct a Force Field Analysis to create action plans to close the gap between C and F.

I consider 5 objectives:

  • Acquire - P&C are low but the F potential is great and you want to win this new business
  • Maintain - no growth opportunity but good C and want to keep it flowing
  • Grow - plenty of C to F upside, if you do things right
  • Reactivate - P > C and you want to bring it back up
  • Deactivate - for whatever reason, the F is not exciting, or the likelihood of reaching the potential is very low, or the C is more pain than it's worth (low ROI) and time is better spent elsewhere

Based on the gap between Current Performance (C) and Future Performance (F), and considering the Likelihood (L), I establish written Goals for the account.

FORCE FIELD ANALYSIS
This is a technique that was created in the 1940s by Kurt Lewin and is well-documented on the internet. Here are two good explanations:

As you see, this is a great method for turning account planning or factor analysis into something actionable. Considering all the factors from your work up to this point, you plan to minimize or eliminate restraining forces that are holding you back, and add or strengthen driving forces, which are propelling you forward toward your future account potential (F) and toward achieving your Account Objectives and Goals. Sweet, eh? Good 'ol Kurt Lewin.

ACTION PLAN
The steps and plans for gathering Missing information (M) and dealing with restraining and driving forces, simply become your Action Plan. Assign tasks (mostly you, if you're the sales rep, but you may need assistance from others on your sales ops, service, sales engineering, or executive teams, or even others). It's always an educated guess (more so if there is a lot of Missing info), but "timeline it" as best you can.

This is the "plan your work" stage. When done, all that's left is the "work your plan" stage or execution.

That's it. This is just the methodology I've developed over the years. As you can tell, it's a pretty dramatic oversimplification crammed into a blog post, but it's also fairly logical and straightforward, so hopefully something here might be helpful.

Happy Account Development Planning and be safe out there,

Mike
_______________________________________
Mike Kunkle

Contact me:
mike_kunkle at mindspring dot-com
214.494.9950 Google Voice

Connect with me:
http://www.linkedin.com/in/mikekunkle
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Aligning Performance Levers for Breakthrough Sales Results

Click here to download:
Aligning_Performance_Levers_for_Breakthrough_Sales_Results_-_Mike_Kunkle_082011.pdf (3.83 MB)
(download)

With a few minor changes for publication vs. presentation, this is a presentation that I gave recently at the Dallas ASTD Southwest Learning Summit for their sales training track.

It's difficult to cram 15 years of progressive learning into a presentation, but I have been working on codifying and documenting my work methods and processes for the book. It's going slowly, but this is the basis for it all, although it's missing a lot of detail yet. 

I'm presenting a slightly different version on September 16 at Profiles International Executive Client Summit in Dallas (9/14-16) in their sales effectiveness track, which should be blast.

Here's just a snippet of a few interesting things I've learned over the years:

Who's On First?

Accurate Performer Selection and putting people in categories appropriately drives much of this. Study the wrong people, or give emphasis to the wrong things that they do, and you will have much less impact than you'd like.

I have long since stopped asking sales leaders to tell me who is a top, average and low producer. I figure it out, and (may) allow leaders to pull people out (based on their reasoning and logic), but will rarely allow them to add people (especially to the top producer category). When you do comparisons across performer bands, it even matters which bottom producers you study. Studying low producers who don't care or aren't trying doesn't prove anything. You need to find low producers who 1) aren't new, 2) who care and 3) are trying hard, but struggle and can't get the results that average producers get.

Who's On The Bus?

  • Diagnosing Performance Levers
  • Documenting the differentiating best practices (based on statistical analysis) from top producers (contrasted with average and low producers)
  • Building training around the levers and best practices
  • Training sales management first (on the levers and best practices as well as how to diagnose them and coach to them)
  • Creating learning systems and transfer plans
  • and Aligning other organizational levers...

....are all very important, but they will have MUCH less impact if you don't have the right people in frontline sales and sales management roles.Selection and Promotion methods matter.

  • Pigs don't fly.
  • Penguins and Turkeys are birds but can't achieve lift-off.
  • Sparrows fly but can't outpace an Eagle.
  • If you want Eagles, hire Eagles.
  • And by the way, we all seem to know that the best sales people don't make the best sales managers, so why the Hell do we still do that? Just stop it, for crying out loud. (Sorry Mom).

Figure out what makes a great sales manager (if it's any different in your organization than everywhere else in the free world) and get those people in management roles. And then help them close any skill gaps. Selection, promotion and development (the people stuff) are the fuel for the engine. You can tune the car all you want, you can put new wheels on it and lube the chassis, but if you put water, juice or even single-malt scotch in the tank, you're in a world of hurt. (Hmm. So find Eagles and feed them Gasoline. I need to stop mixing metaphors, I guess. ;-)

Could You Fill That Out In Triplicate, Please?

I don't display this in the slides but I should. People get degrees in training and there are probably billions of book pages dedicated to training and development practices. At the simplest level, I think there are really three big building blocks to make a difference. Those things are Content | Delivery | Transfer.

  • The Content needs to be right. It needs to produce results in the real world. Much of my work is centered around identifying the differentiating practices to develop great content that gets results. Performance, baby. If your content won't make a difference, why are you wasting your time and theirs?
  • The Delivery needs to be right. Doesn't matter whether it's elearing, instructor-led training (ILT) in the classroom, virtual ILT, or blended methods, but the training must be designed for human consumption and effective learning. It must be chunked, sequenced and layered well, include assessments (both knowledge and skill), with as much skill practice (with feedback loops and re-application with more feedback loops) as possible.
  • Transfer needs to happen. There must be a strong plan for getting the training, with its proven content, used in the real-world. This should be built into the learning system, with reinforcement and support from management, with people being held accountable and incented appriopriately.

I'll stop there for today. Comments always welcome and I hope someone might find this helpful.

Be safe out there,

Mike
________________________________
Mike Kunkle

Contact me:
mike_kunkle at mindspring dot-com
214.494.9950 Google Voice

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The Gap in Sales - What We Know vs What We Do

Out of Focus
Over at Focus.com (http://www.focus.com/questions/why-do-buyers-claim-50-all-sales-people-they-meet-are-not), Focus Expert Bruce Brien asked a great question about the prevalent lack of sales call preparedness, which is supported by research. Bruce cites buyer surveys from IDC for 2010 suggest that sales people are ill-prepared for the meetings they conduct, adding, "Buyers also suggest that most sellers do not understand their business. Sellers spend less than 20% of there (sic) time preparing for meetings."

It Gets Fuzzier
Tamara Schenk, another exceptionally bright Focus expert, added: "Looking at the Forrester Tech Buyer Inside studies, I'd like to provide a bit more color on that: Sales people are prepared (from their point of view) - but not in a way the buyers expect the preparation: Sales reps are according to this research prepared talking about the own company, products and services (88%), about the buyer's industry (55%). Only 34% are prepared in terms of understanding the buyers (sic) role and responsibility, and only 29% are prepared to talk about the specific business challenges and business problems, their buyers might have."

Me, Me, Me
Intriguing, eh? As a sales training and sales effectiveness executive, I've been wrestling with this issue of the sales planning void for years. In places where I've worked, I've gone a long way toward resolving the gap, but don't kid myself that I eliminated the issue - just minimized it and helped reps improve their planning skills (including but not limited to sales call planning, usually as part of my Performance Lever Alignment work).

The Truth Is Out There, Scully
This has been bugging me for awhile, so this Focus thread just exacerbated it. I want to ask a similar but different question here. Consider this, first:

  • The responses I read on Bruce's Focus question were quite good. Sincerely. There is much knowledge in that thread and many bright people weighing in.
  • I hang online with a really solid group of sales consultants who do great work, and they are all seeing this call planning issue (lack of preparedness) as an issue and have commented on it or blogged about it.
  • This concern isn't limited to call planning, however. Those same consultants bemoan the lack of many other foundational sales practices, and these are some of the same missing basics and fractured best practices that I have noticed over the years.


To Quote Cee Lo Green in "Forget You:" WHHHHYyyyyyy!!??
I'm curious to hear opinions about why sales best practices are in such short supply. Sales experts abound. Focus, Quora, LinkedIn, Twitter, blogs, and my sales consultant buddies prove it. Information and knowledge is available within a few clicks. In every organization, the top 20% and the top 4% (top 20% of the top 20%) are crushing it - selling exponentially more than the rest of the organization.

So why - with this glut of expertise and great knowledge of best practices for sales skill, methodology, process, and more - is there such a gap between what is known and what gets done?

Hope to hear from you. Be safe out there.

Mike
____________________________________
Mike Kunkle

Contact me:
mike_kunkle at mindspring dot-com
214.494.9950 Google Voice

Connect with me:
http://www.linkedin.com/in/mikekunkle

 

Presenting at the Dallas ASTD 2011 Southwest Learning Summit

Just a quick note today to announce that I've been selected as a presenter at the Dallas ASTD 2011 Southwest Learning Summit (SWLS).  I'll be speaking about my performance lever work. 

ABOUT THE SUMMIT

Dallas ASTD 2011 Southwest Learning Summit and Exposition

  • When:   Tuesday, August 9, 2011, 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.
  • Where:  Plano Centre, 2000 E. Spring Creek Parkway, Plano, TX 75074

This is the 12th annual SWLS.  I'm relatively new to Dallas and attended for the first time last year. I really enjoyed it - it's a great event. Presenters will host learning sessions devoted to one of four topic tracks:

  • Technology
  • Leadership Development
  • Sales Training
  • Strategic Partnering in L&D

Since  the event is at the Plano Centre, there'll be an exhibition, too, so you can meet with some vendors, learn about their latest initiatives, and pick up some new ideas, tools, or resources.

For more information about the summit, see: http://bit.ly/DallasASTD-SWLS2011.

ABOUT MY SESSION

I'll provide more detail as the session nears, but here's the basic information for my session:

  • Session Title:  Aligning Performance Levers for Breakthrough Sales Results
  • Session Track:  Sales Training Track
  • Session Time:  10:00 a.m.
  • Session Length:  75 minutes
  • Session Description:  Would you like to explode your training ROI by radically improving sales results? To do that, you'll need to identify the knowledge, skills, behaviors and conditions that truly drive high-performance in your sales organization. In this session, sales performance expert Mike Kunkle will show you how to identify these levers, build training around best practices, align the processes, systems, tools and policies that support the levers, and engage sales management to reinforce them. He’ll also share a case study where his series of performance lever projects delivered a $398MM increase in sales revenue, a $9.96MM increase in net profit and a 400% return on investment.  

I'll write more in the near future, but I hope this piques your interest for now. If you're in or near Dallas, and interested in training and development or my performance lever work, I sincerely hope you'll attend.

Be safe out there,

Mike 

__________________________________________
Mike Kunkle

 

Contact me:
mike_kunkle at mindspring dot-com
214.494.9950 Google Voice

 

Connect with me:
http://www.linkedin.com/in/mikekunkle 
http://twitter.com/mike_kunkle