10+ Strategies to Show Revenue Enablement & Sales Training ROI
[Video Recording]
Unlock Proven Revenue Enablement & Sales Training ROI Strategies
Let’s be real, sales enablement is under fire today. Teams are getting leaner, every dollar needs to show its worth, and we’ve got to align our activities directly to performance. In this webinar, we’re tackling these challenges head-on.
You’ll learn:
How to transform enablement into a revenue powerhouse (not just a cost center)
The secret sauce to measuring revenue enablement & sales training ROI
Ways to partner effectively with revenue teams to drive top results
The leading and lagging indicators to watch out for
How to maximize your sales training investment
Join our very own Lauren Bailey, Founder of Factor 8, and Deniz Olcay, VP of Marketing at Allego, as they dive deep into best practices for maximizing your sales enablement/training investments. Learn how to measure ROI like a pro and spot the key indicators that make all the difference.
Lauren and Deniz, both seasoned enablement and sales leaders, will share real-life stories and actionable tips from their careers and their work with thousands of companies worldwide.
Watch the video replay!
Unlock Proven Revenue Enablement & Sales Training ROI Strategies
Let’s be real, sales enablement is under fire today. Teams are getting leaner, every dollar needs to show its worth, and we’ve got to align our activities directly to performance. In this webinar, we’re tackling these challenges head-on.
You’ll learn:
How to transform enablement into a revenue powerhouse (not just a cost center)
The secret sauce to measuring revenue enablement & sales training ROI
Ways to partner effectively with revenue teams to drive top results
The leading and lagging indicators to watch out for
How to maximize your sales training investment
Join our very own Lauren Bailey, Founder of Factor 8, and Deniz Olcay, VP of Marketing at Allego, as they dive deep into best practices for maximizing your sales enablement/training investments. Learn how to measure ROI like a pro and spot the key indicators that make all the difference.
Lauren and Deniz, both seasoned enablement and sales leaders, will share real-life stories and actionable tips from their careers and their work with thousands of companies worldwide.
Lauren Bailey, known to many as “LB”, is a sales leader, enablement leader, and entrepreneur and founder of 3 successful brands: Factor 8, providing front-line job training for inside sellers and managers, The Sales Bar, a subscription-based virtual sales training platform, and #GirlsClub, a community and development program helping more women earn leadership positions in sales.
Her mission is to change lives by supercharging people’s careers and helping them love coming to work. When we feel confident and successful at work, everything is better, right? Known on the speaker circuit for her “No B.S.” style and spunk, look for LB to make you laugh, keep things moving quickly, and help you take immediate action with her tactical tips and insights.
Deniz has had a sales-centric background from the start, including working in the sales training industry at RAIN Group where he was directly responsible for creating learning programs to help sellers sell more effectively.
In his previous role at Dun & Bradstreet (D&B) he was the VP of Product Marketing, managing a portfolio of 12+ products representing over $650M in annual revenue. He played a pivotal role in training a 500+ person sales team and is intimately familiar with the challenges of arming sellers with the knowledge and tools to be successful in selling virtually.
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With all the economic uncertainty out there, it’s tough to find and keep good reps right now. Data from HubSpot indicates that sales rep turnover is around 35% (even in an economic downturn, attrition is shockingly high).
So how do you keep your star players around? Well, according to our Sales Team Retention Research Project study, the top reason both reps and managers stay with a company is ongoing training and development opportunities to help them succeed in their roles.
In my opinion, the key to a solid rep-manager is: both sides support each other to develop and grow. Here are some tips to put it into action to improve the sales rep-manager relationship.
1. Create coaching opportunities outside the normal flow
A lot of managers wait until the pipeline call or the forecast call to coach. While those meetings add value, they focus on specific outcomes. Where reps often struggle is investing in skills that they can apply to a variety of situations, like negotiation and price anchoring. Spend 30-60 minutes with your reps to work on these skills, and you’ll start seeing more engagement from them. As a general rule, newer or underperforming reps should be coached once per week and tenured or high-performing reps should be coached once per month.
2. Create an explicit growth template
Reps can’t grow if they don’t know what their growth path is supposed to look like. This means you need to actually document the basic competencies and objectives you expect. Then monitor rep improvement on a weekly, monthly, and quarterly basis—not just during an annual 360-review.
People have a strong B.S.-meter. They know when you’re faking them out. So if you’re going to expect things from them, you better make sure you’re holding yourself to the same standards.
This doesn’t mean you need to be “macho” or push bravado all the time. You’re going to make mistakes, just like anyone. But set the example of always striving to be better, holding yourself to a high standard, and fixing problems when they arise.
4. Drive deeper engagement
The more engaged your reps are at work, the more they’ll stick around. So make sure their work stretches them and helps them grow. Provide opportunities for them to push themselves without setting them up to fail.
When appropriate, let them provide input on the direction and growth of the product and company. They have valuable insights that you can use. Plus, it helps them feel included.
5. Stay hungry and humble
Even though you’re in a management position, there’s always the opportunity to learn more. Don’t rest on your laurels. Stay hungry, and always look for ways to learn, grow, and improve.
Don’t fall for “mini-me” syndrome. Just because you have a great process for selling doesn’t mean it’s the best for everyone. Instead, think about how effective reps are in driving results and meeting quotas, and focus on helping them close gaps and reach those goals faster. There can be an openness in process and style, while at the same time consistency in results.
7. Seize on little opportunities to build human connections
Managers can do a lot to show reps that they care about them not only as sales machines, but as individuals. And these don’t take a lot of extra time.
Especially in virtual environments, reps hear from their managers only to discuss forecasts, or when there’s a problem. Find other ways to connect with them as well, even if it’s just to talk about how they’re doing on a personal level.
What can reps do to build a better relationship with their managers?
1. Be solution-oriented
Don’t come with problems and no solutions. Be a solution-oriented thinker. It helps show the manager that you’re taking ownership of a problem, rather than force them to handle every little thing that comes up.
2. Be coachable
The opposite of coachability is “I already know everything.” Know what you know, but also know what you don’t know. And be open to learning and growing. It’s really hard for a manager to support a rep who thinks they know everything.
We all hear it all the time: If only the leads were better… Strike that phrase from your vocabulary! Stop blaming outside sources for your problems. Find a way to make the most of what you already have.
4. Get comfortable with ambiguity
Things aren’t always going to be straightforward, especially at different stages of companies. Can you execute when the answer isn’t fully defined? Are you willing to put the answer together yourself? If so, your manager will love you for it.
5. Always be curious
No one knows everything. There’s always a chance to learn, grow, and evolve. While your manager should be open to your own style, don’t assume that your way works best. Learn from others, and find a way to implement those learnings in your own unique way.
Final thoughts on the ultimate rep-manager relationship
The key to a good rep-manager relationship is this: support each other, hold each other accountable, and focus on growth. If you do that, you’ll build a solid foundation that makes both parties hesitant to leave the organization. Happy selling!
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Freight and logistics sales has undergone a massive change in the past few years. As companies embrace digital transformation, in-person sales meetings are falling in frequency. So you’re probably spending a lot more time on the phone than before.
This can be…how should I put it…intimidating? 😱 Or at the very least, uncomfortable?
So here are six logistics sales tips to help you crush cold calls and reach those tough-to-crack prospects.
(Psst! Interested in logistics sales training? We can help! Contact us today.)
1. Don’t stop calling
For sales calls, the third time isn’t the charm. You have to call someone at least six times before you get a response. Not just for cold leads, but warm leads too.
People are shocked when I say this. But think about it: when was the last time you called someone once and immediately got a response? (I’m gonna guess it doesn’t happen that often.)
Over 36% of purchased leads receive no sales contact. And it’s not because reps are lazy. It’s because we’d rather go after the low-hanging fruit for immediate results. But there just isn’t enough low-hanging fruit to go around. If you want consistent results, you’ve got to climb a little higher. That’s why I recommend 10 touches for A leads, 8 for B leads, and 6 for C leads…as a bare minimum.
Yes, you read that right. Every time. It’s easy to ignore a missed call. It’s harder to ignore several missed calls, multiple voicemails, emails—you get the picture. If you’re going to invest the time in making several hundred calls a week, make it hard for them to forget it.
Think of the voicemail as a resume. It’s there to show who you are, what differentiates you, and what value you offer. If you put it in front of them enough times, the prospect is more likely to pick up. Once that happens, then you can start selling.
In a virtual environment, sales cycles can be longer than traditional, F2F approaches. So when you make 100 calls in a day and don’t hear anything, don’t worry! Eventually, you’ll call someone enough times and they’ll pick up (even if it’s because they feel guilty 😉). At that point, you can make them feel like they’re the one doing you a favor by taking the call.
Salespeople often talk about “engaging prospects.” But what does “engage” actually mean? It’s simple: An engaged prospect is a talking prospect. And what’s the best way to get someone talking? Ask them a question.
So instead of going through your usual dog-and-pony show, use the SWIIFT℠ methodology (So, What’s in it for Them?) to flip the conversation around. SWIIFT℠ gets the prospect to answer 2-5 short, closed questions to get the conversation going. This helps you build the necessary rapport and understand the prospect enough to demonstrate your value.
Be real: how many times have you jumped at the chance to “check in” with a sales rep? Yeah, me neither.
If you’re going to ask for your prospect’s time, you better give them a good reason to get on the line with you. So start brainstorming how you can add value to them:
Address a specific issue they raised last time you talked
Update them on new and improved features
Talk about something in the news and how you can respond to that
Share something you learned from another client—a kind of cross-pollination
Don’t just call to sell something. Call to add value…real value.
In virtual sales, the average first call is three-and-a-half minutes. If you last that long, you’re doing great.
You may wonder: what could I possibly get done in such a short amount of time? In reality, you only have to do three things:
Differentiate yourself
Get a commitment for the next step
Book the next call
Commitments change depending on where the buyer is in the journey: set up a demo, loop in other stakeholders and decision-makers, read over a contract, or even sign and onboard. But every call you make needs to involve getting some kind of commitment. Then, you use that commitment to bridge to the next call.
At my very first management job, I managed a little retail pop-up at Lindale Mall in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Funny how that experience was SO cool in my twenties, cringy in my thirties, and now just a sweet memory.
In that job, I learned the hard way how important it is to teach yourself (or your team) what a successful meeting should look like. I learned that if you don’t have a plan, agenda, or at least a list, then what you will have is a train wreck. Your meetings will be too long, too short, too impersonal, or too casual. However, with a little pre-planning and strategy, your sales manager meetings can be both impactful and efficient!
I will never forget my first “team meeting” at the retail store. I prepared for DAYS and my 45-minute meeting went TWO HOURS long. The patient, part-time adults working there were DYING of boredom. Every new manager has felt this pain, right? (Please, tell me I’m not alone). That experience stayed with me as I left retail and went into the bright shiny world of sales.
In the sales world, there are so many important sales manager meetings. As a fledgling manager, it was hard for me to understand the nuances of each separate type of meeting.
This meeting should be standing room only. The point is to get in, get pumped, and get out (and on the phones!) This meeting starts the day with focus and gets everyone on the same page. It’s also a good place to set the day’s goal – “Today we’re all going to get 5 touches.” And every once in a while, this is a great opportunity to do a quick skill reminder or overview of a new skill!
How Often:
Newbie team – Every day
Tenured team – 2-3 per week
How Long:
Short – 15 minutes or less
Insider Tip:
Keep this meeting interesting, mix it up. Don’t run the meeting every time. This is a great opportunity to give those up-and-coming managers a chance to start practicing their leadership skills.
2. Performance 1:1
Goal:
The performance 1:1 meeting should be a private meeting with just you and your rep. You will go through all of their metrics, talk about team ranking, discuss performance, set goals for the next month, and address performance issues (if necessary).
How Often:
Once per month, I recommend doing them the first week of the month.
How Long:
30 – 60 minutes
Insider Tip:
Resist the urge to make this a 15-minute meeting, even if they’re hitting all of their numbers and you don’t think you have anything to address. If that’s the case, then use this time to build your relationship. Go beyond the numbers. Most Millennials and Gen Z crave connection to their leaders. This is a perfect chance to do just that!
3. Call Coaching
Goal:
This meeting is all about skill-building. Coaching is not about performance or discipline. We are discussing and building new skills. If you’re coaching regularly, then you’re not waiting to find something wrong. You’re either encouraging already stellar behavior or getting ahead of those areas of opportunity. This usually works best if you and your rep listen to the recorded call and score separately before your meeting. Then you come together to compare notes. Using this structure not only builds their sales skills; it helps them learn how to self-reflect. This meeting can be 1:1 or you can do a group meeting up to 3:1. Just be careful, in a group meeting it’s important that each rep still receives individual feedback on their call.
How Often:
Newer or Underperforming Reps – Once per week
Tenured or High-Performing Reps – Once per month
How Long:
15 – 60 minutes
Insider Tips:
You don’t have to find something wrong! Coaching sessions are a great time to boost your rep’s confidence by sharing positive feedback on their calls. You can even dive deeper into their strategies and share them with new reps! (Use our COACHN℠ model to help you in your coaching sessions!)
Be sure you chart their progress and present a visual representation of it at least twice per year. Seeing a visualization of their progress (or lack thereof) can increase engagement, both in top-performing reps and in reps that might be underperforming.
4. Pipeline
Goal:
This is a full team meeting. We are talking big picture only in pipeline (forecasting, wins and losses, clarifying needs to meet goal, adjusting expectations, and sharing strategies). To keep yourselves on track, stick to the facts – no stories. If a particular deal or client needs to be drilled into more, book a 1:1 or group strategy meeting only for the people who need to be involved.
How Often:
Newbie Team – Once per week
Tenured Team – Once per month
How Long:
Varies based on team size
Insider Tip:
Individual pipeline meetings kill your day and don’t do anything to motivate your newer or underperforming reps. It’s going to be easier for Rob to tell you 1:1 that he’s not going to hit goal. Announcing this to the whole team will be a bit more intimidating and can provide a little extra motivation.
5. Sales Strategy
Goal:
This is where we look at how deals and performance are trending. We also talk about getting deals unstuck, strategizing how to penetrate accounts, etc.
How Often:
Newbie & Mid-Level Reps – Monthly
Top Reps – Quarterly or Bi-annually
How Long:
15 – 60 minutes
Insider Tip:
These meetings work really well in a slightly larger group 3:1. If you are struggling with a particular rep, try pulling in your top reps to help with this brainstorming session!
It’s important to have your top reps present their book of business to you twice per year, even if they are continuously hitting quota without issue. Give them love!
6. Team Meetings
Goal:
This is a chance to get everyone on the same page about general items. It could be reviewing training skills, making team or company announcements, discussing customer success stories, answering product questions, or simply doing team-building exercises.
How Often:
Newbie Team – Monthly
Tenured Team – Quarterly
How Long:
60 – 90 minutes
Insider Tips:
Try to frame company policies, product roll-outs, etc. in terms that are going to be important to your specific team. At least one team member is bored 75% of the time… most of the time it’s because they think that the issue doesn’t pertain to their job.
Also, this is another meeting you don’t have to run every time. Have an up-and-coming leader? Let them run with one meeting. Have another department you work closely with? Bring in one of their leaders to provide a new perspective.
7. Rep Career Reviews
Goal:
Talk about career goals and make a plan on the skills needed to get them there. Career advancement and development are continuously two of the top elements Millennials and Gen Z are looking for from their employer. This is the perfect opportunity to provide them with the feedback they desire!
How Often:
Once per quarter
Instead of creating an additional meeting, use one of your monthly 1:1s each quarter for this meeting.
How Long:
60 minutes
Insider Tip:
Strive for equal talking time during this meeting. The best way to understand where they want to be is by letting them tell you.
If your company has a standardized annual review doc, use that during these meetings. It’s a great tool to help you track progress.
8. Team Training
Goal:
Different from a team meeting, this is the place where we answer the “how do I…” questions in greater detail. Track your top skill needs, watch for industry trends, survey your team, and then work with your enablement department. This is a great place to bring in a professional sales training provider (ahem, that’s what we do here at Factor 8)
How Long:
Depends on the skill being taught. Consult with your trainer and decide together how much time works best for that particular skill.
How Often:
Monthly or Quarterly
Insider Tip:
Do not do this all alone! If you have to do the hiring, training, coaching, firing, AND the rest of your job, you will never go home. If you have an enablement team, use them. If you don’t perhaps a training partner is the right move for you.
Have the team do pre-work and homework if you can. The more you can get pre and post-engagement, the higher the retention rate for the training will be.
Applaud improvement, any improvement. The goal here is to build a growth mindset within your organization. If you have a performance-based culture that is only celebrating the “winner” of the staff ranking, then that means that some of your team is “losing,” even if they’re hitting their numbers. People stay in jobs where they feel successful and there is more than one measurement for success.
Now, is this a list of all the sales manager meetings you will be a part of? No, but it’s a good place to start if you need to either begin setting up your schedule or if you need to take back control of it. As a manager, sometimes your day can get away from you while you are working hard to help each member of your team. If that’s the case, use this list to find the right meeting to address the question. How would you spend the extra time you’ll get back each day?
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Sales Enablement Secrets: Building A Manager-First Approach To Empower Your Team
[Video Recording]
Strengthening Enablement and Leadership Partnerships
Sales enablement is TOUGH right now for some of us. We’ve lost staff (and friends) and we’re frantically trying to help revenue leaders get results – but they have less time than ever to help us help them. So let’s come together and help each other.
We’re featuring respected sales enablement leaders to crowdsource tips to get those revenue leaders engaged, involved, and ready to partner to get results. You’ll talk away with AT LEAST 10 ideas to try when engaging, aligning, and empowering managers to be your partners in sales training their teams.
A special focus on:
Communicating with sales leaders
Getting buy-in from sales teams
Sales enablement tools that help
Implementation best practices
Showing ROI of sales training
Bonus: 15-minute Q&A time with experts in your field!
Watch the video replay!
Strengthening Enablement and Leadership Partnerships
Sales enablement is TOUGH right now for some of us. We’ve lost staff (and friends) and we’re frantically trying to help revenue leaders get results – but they have less time than ever to help us help them. So let’s come together and help each other.
We’re featuring respected sales enablement leaders to crowdsource tips to get those revenue leaders engaged, involved, and ready to partner to get results. You’ll talk away with AT LEAST 10 ideas to try when engaging, aligning, and empowering managers to be your partners in sales training their teams.
A special focus on:
Communicating with sales leaders
Getting buy-in from sales teams
Sales enablement tools that help
Implementation best practices
Showing ROI of sales training
Bonus: 15-minute Q&A time with experts in your field!
Lauren Bailey, known to many as “LB”, is a sales leader, enablement leader, and entrepreneur and founder of 3 successful brands: Factor 8, providing front-line job training for inside sellers and managers, The Sales Bar, a subscription-based virtual sales training platform, and #GirlsClub, a community and development program helping more women earn leadership positions in sales.
As Head of GTM Enablement, Michelle ensures all global systems, tools, and programs are successfully in place to educate and enable internal employees, sales reps, systems engineers, partners, and customers on product, process, and everything in between.
Formerly the Head of GTM Excellence at Zoom, Anna brings over 15 years of experience in Revenue Enablement to this webinar. Passionate about Manager Enablement, she is excited to share insights gained from her background and experience across enabling executive leadership, front line management, and supporting revenue teams. Anna is a seasoned professional dedicated to empowering sales leaders and promoting diversity and inclusion in the workplace as the founder of the Sales Manager Excellence Program at Zoom.
With a successful track record in sales and sales management in a variety of industries, John transitioned into sales training/enablement in the late 2000s, leveraging his knowledge and experience to empower emerging talent in the field. His most recent experiences are with international companies seeking to expand their global reach.
Sheryl Buscheck is a passionate Enablement leader who has worked in technology for over 30 years, GoToMarket effectiveness for 20 years and Sales Enablement for 10 years. She is dedicated to ensuring every person is equipped to achieve their highest potential, and feels strongly that everything Enablement does should have measurable outcomes.
“Factor 8 is proud to be the only sales training provider included on Selling Power’s ‘Top Sales Training Companies’ list that built their foundation 100% on virtual sales,” said Ted Martin, President & CRO Factor 8. “In the past, companies have emphasized the value of field sales over their digital or inside sales counterparts. More recently, companies began moving to remote environments, which caused them to realize the value of virtual sales. This is a win for all of us who have built our careers in inside and virtual sales.”
According to Selling Power publisher and founder Gerhard Gschwandtner, quality sales training remains paramount to B2B sales success. “As the economy continues to struggle with a soft landing, and AI is disrupting the sales landscape, having an effective and forward-focused sales organization is critical to accelerate revenue growth. Partnering with the best sales training companies will help ensure your team’s success.”
All companies on the list submitted a comprehensive application that included a detailed listing of their offerings for both training and retention, innovative solutions, and their company’s unique contributions to the sales training marketplace.
The main criteria used when comparing applicants and selecting the companies to include on this year’s list were:
Depth and breadth of training offered
Innovative offerings (specific training courses, methodology, or delivery methods)
Contributions to the sales training market
Strength of client satisfaction and overall client feedback
To evaluate applicants for the list, the Selling Power team surveyed and considered feedback from nearly 300 clients of the applicants. Here is a brief selection of comments from their clients:
“Amazing team! They have had such a positive impact on the teams’ results, our organization has been transformed into a sales powerhouse!”
“Their program is built on an ethical philosophical foundation linked to a clear understanding of human behavior.”
“Outstanding strategic partner- way beyond a sales training content provider but an end-to-end solution for developing and enabling commercial teams to be successful: driving business through skills development.”
“Top quality trainers, very well informed about our company transformation and its challenges, good understanding of our business, great project team.”
“They are great to work with and extremely beneficial to our team in developing skillsets around holding difficult conversations and learning more about themselves and their clients through understanding and recognizing behavioral styles.”
“When we did deploy their process and training, it was flawless in execution and the sales teams were excited about the methodology and applying it to their customer accounts. We achieved compelling ROI!”
Selling Power magazine editors say CROs, sales VPs, and sales enablement leaders can leverage this list to find the right sales training partner to help salespeople succeed during social distancing and remote working. See the Selling Power Top Sales Training Companies 2024 list.
About Factor 8
Factor 8 is an award-winning sales rep and management training company focused 100% on helping sales teams sell in a virtual world. The want people to love sales – and stay! They are a team of expert sales leaders who quit the daily grind so they could spend their time developing people. Together, they’ve solved the big problem: Sales Reps and Managers are not gaining the skills they need to quickly feel confident and successful long-term. That means they ramp slowly and leave quickly.
Fact: Sales management is the busiest job in the world. Okay, maybe that’s not a real fact, but if you’re a sales manager, you probably feel like it is. Chances are, you’ve got a pretty tremendous and stressful workload. According to the American Institute of Stress, 39% of stress reported amongst employees in the US is caused by an overwhelming amount of work.
So, what happens when you can’t get it all done? For starters: you go home later, you feel less satisfied with your accomplishments, and you add an extra level of anxiety to your plate. Let’s get some of that time back in your day.
Here are our top 8 sales management productivity tips:
1. Make Proactivity the Goal
Start by leaving your reactive self in the past. How? First, we need to identify your priorities. I get it, you received 100 emails just in the time you are reading this blog. But you were not hired to write emails. So, let’s take a closer look at what you were hired to do and what your priority should be. Next, set your daily goal to hit that priority. Setting (and hitting) that goal will make you feel a lot more productive and will make it easier for you to stay on track. Finally, we need to learn how to recognize whether the new things that come our way each day are proactive versus reactive. This will help you say “no” at the right times and help you prioritize the things that you really NEED to get accomplished.
Hint: Reading emails = Reactive. Helping reps with questions that pop up = Reactive. Calling a strategy meeting to help a rep hit their goal = Proactive! Creating a new KPI report = Proactive!
2. Rethink Meetings
Your meeting cadence is the process that organizes your team’s regular interactions. When scheduled properly, the cadence will prevent you from handling a series of reactive “fires” every day. Create the cadence that works best for you and your team. We’ve taken a bit of time to dive into the 8 essential sales manager meetings. Check out this deep dive and learn which meetings are short, which are long, which are 1:1, and which should be done in a group. Read more here: 8 Essential Manager Meetings. While you’re working on your meeting cadence you can also perfect your 1:1 meetings.
3. Live in the Matrix
Have you used the Eisenhower Matrix before? If not, it all starts by asking yourself 2 critical questions. Is it urgent? Is it important? From there we break things down into 4 groups.
Is this a Fire Drill?
An item to Schedule?
An item to Delegate?
Or an item to Trash?
Let’s dive in a little deeper to see how these questions help us categorize each task. First are the urgent items. Urgent means time-sensitive and goal-related. Maybe the customer is on the phone and needs an answer to close the deal, or maybe the contract department is reviewing your deal in 1 hour and you need to tie up a few loose ends first.
Next are the important items. Important means it is critical to the mission but it is not time-sensitive. These important things can be scheduled out. This might be mapping out a strategy for a certain campaign, or reviewing the team\’s numbers to ensure they will hit goal.
Now, let’s see how the two questions help us categorize our tasks
Important + Urgent = Fire Drill – do it ASAP
Important + Not Urgent = Schedule – put some time on your calendar to complete the task
Not Important + Urgent = Delegate – find the right member of your team to handle this task
Not Important + Not Urgent = Trash – remove it from your plate
4. Start Saying “No.” A LOT
Spoiler alert: You’re about to find out that 3 out of 4 requests aren’t urgent OR important. Oftentimes, they’re actually something your rep can figure out on their own. So, we need to get REALLY good at pushing pop-up requests to meetings, delegating to others, and taking them off your plate!
Here’s how we’ll do it:
Identify the proactive tasks
Categorize tasks according to urgency and importance
Properly respond to requests. It looks something like this…
“Hey, (Rep) this sounds AWESOME! But I’m late on a deadline right now, could you bring the story and the call recording to our call coaching session next week?”
OR
“Whoa, (Rep), I need to stop you a moment. This sounds important and I want to give it the time it deserves. Please put it on the agenda for our 1:1 next week?”
If you’re on Slack, it could sound like this…
Manager: What’s up?
Rep: Got a minute?
Manager: I have 30 seconds right now, or 15 minutes at 2pm. Hit me back then if you still need help?
Here we are putting the action item back on them. You’re not saying you will call them at 2pm, you’re saying call me if you can’t figure out a solution to your problem.
OR
Rep: Got a minute?
Manager: Sorry, in a meeting. Can you reach out to Bob, please?
Here we are delegating to someone else to help the rep.
5. Get COACHN℠
I probably spent 3 hours preparing for my first team meeting. From the scheduling, to figuring out what to say, to deciding what I needed, to realizing I forgot really important things, it was draining, to say the least. What I realized is that if I streamlined the process and prepared for each meeting the same way, I could save myself HOURS of previously wasted time (I only say wasted because those hours were not helping my team reach goal).
Through that painful process, we developed the COACHN Model™. This acronym is about to make your meeting preparation SO MUCH EASIER!
COACHN℠ stands for:
C: Clarify Expectations – This sets the tone for the meeting. “Last time you decided to work on your intros and I know we have a few calls scored. Let’s see how you’re improving.”
O: Observed Behavior – You start first, lay out facts, and list your observations before you…
A: Ask Questions – Great leaders talk in questions. Have them prepared before your meeting.
C: Commit to Actions – Your number of action items should be 0-1, their action items can be anywhere from 1-4
H: How Can I Help – This helps the rep learn to trust you. Growth is good, but we cannot grow unless we can admit that we need help!
N: Next Steps – We are agreeing at the end. “You own this, I own that, we’re going to meet again ______. Will you (rep) please send the invite!”
6. Have One Source of Truth Within the Organization
Use a standard coaching form. Define what “good” is across the company. If people move or shift, you don’t need to retrain or redefine these elements. If you need a place to start, you can grab our Call Coaching Activities here to help you prioritize and plan your coaching sessions.
7. Stop Proving, Start Delegating
It’s time to put your reps in charge. I get it, you want to help them. But you need to stop giving the fish away. Stop solving all of the problems and owning all of the actions. It’s time to teach those reps to fish instead!
Here are 6 easy things you can delegate TODAY:
Grading their own call recordings and creating a list of skills to improve
Sales huddles – Not all of them, but maybe 1 per week
Notes from all meetings (actions, decisions, and deliverables)
Their PIP actions and check-ins
Scheduling follow-up meetings
Team meeting training
This one will require a bit more guidance, but instead of running every training session, let\’s open up a few for peer training. You will need to double-check their work beforehand (no one wants a 2-hour “look at me” session). But if you have a top rep that is CRUSHING prospecting or brush-offs, let them show the rest of the team how they do it.
8. You Cannot Control How Much Other People Care
This was a tough one for me to really wrap my head around in the beginning. But the truth is that there is a reason that you were promoted to manager. There is a reason that other people will remain as a rep. You cannot control how much other people care. When you care more about their job than they do, it will cause numerous problems.
Let me tell you a little story. Back at the beginning of my sales career, I had a rep, let’s call him “George.” Well, George just could not seem to get himself to work on time. I got one excuse after another. There was a part of me that felt guilty that I didn’t have car trouble and that I could afford a new alarm clock, etc. One Thursday during lunch I left work to go across the street to buy George a new alarm clock (I know, I know). That was when it hit me. What the hell was I doing? If George didn’t care enough to figure out how to get an alarm clock on his phone or borrow a buddy’s clock, or heck, go to Goodwill and buy a used one, then why did I care so much? That was my “ah-ha” moment. I was caring more than George and no amount of new alarm clocks was going to force him to care more.
You need to stay within your span of control. You can control your schedule, your reactions to things, and your time. You don’t control your team, you can’t control a pricing increase, you don’t control what the customer’s going to say, you just don’t. You can influence your team’s skill level, activity, and focus, but you can’t control it. There are a lot of things under your concern, but that you can’t control. There is very little you can actually control. So, stop spinning your wheels and stressing out about it. You can provide coaching and help when appropriate, but “George” is either going to make it or he’s not.
BONUS!
Kill all of your notifications! All of those Instagram posts and text messages can wait until your lunch break. These notifications will only distract you and make completing your tasks take much longer.
Time block goal actions on your calendar. Block out checking your email, your phone messages, etc.
Keep tasks in the same place. Your meetings and your time-blocked tasks are on your calendar. But I’m betting you also have a bunch of other things to do. Compile all of those to-dos into one list. Whether it’s an app or a paper list, keep everything in the same place so nothing slips through the cracks.
Set a time for similar actions and tasks. If you have 3 tasks on your to-do list that require emails, complete those tasks during your time block to check emails. If you need to go pick something up, do it at the same time you need to go to the post office. By grouping similar tasks together, your mind will be able to focus more efficiently and complete those tasks faster.
I know this was A LOT of information and your inbox has probably increased by 200 emails now, but if you take the time to start implementing at least some of these sales management productivity hacks that we talked about here, it will make a difference: in both your success and your happiness! You will feel and be more productive. It will just take a little practice!
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Can you guess what percent of sellers HATE prospecting?
(Hint: it’s not 100% – that was my first guess) But it is the majority of sellers…
64%!
Yet 100% of managers DO say that sellers need to prospect more (and be better at it – if you’re one of those managers, contact us. We can help 😉)
So what can you do?
It all starts with planning.
In order to get better results without feeling like you’re wasting hours, you’ve got to put some work in ahead of time. But have no fear, there is a way for you to plan for prospecting without being part of that 64% hating it along the way (and if you already are, maybe this article will change your mind!)
Check out these top 4 sales prospecting strategies to help speed things up.
Yep, read it again. Think about it this way: what’s your main goal when you pick up the phone? The obvious answer is to entice them to set up meeting 1. But that’s probably a pretty unlikely accomplishment with just one phone call.
What’s the most likely case? You’re going to get their voicemail!
With speed in mind, think about the key elements you need to craft and leave your voicemail during your prospecting. Here’s a list of the usual suspects with a breakdown of why you do or don’t need them.
Name – This one is pretty obvious. Know their name when you call! (But guess what? Sometimes you don’t even need this when they’ll repeat it in their voicemail!)
Solution Match – If they aren’t even on the phone, you’ve got nothing to diagnose for them, so you don’t need it yet.
Value Prop – YES! (SWIIFT℠ everyone!) What value are you bringing them? An absolute must. A whopping 74% of buyers will choose to work with sellers who are the FIRST to add value according to Corporate Visions.
Case Study – Sure, a ready case study is helpful, but do you really want to bog down your call OR voicemail by spitting out stats? They don’t care yet! Skip it.
Pricing – Again, hard to know what they need yet, and that doesn’t lend itself well to providing pricing.
Job History -Spoiler: it’s not needed! Focus instead on one quick rapport builder.
Call Intro – Make sure you have this down pat.
Voicemail – ALWAYS leave a voicemail! Otherwise, the effort you put into making this call goes right down the drain. You’re not buying a billboard to leave it blank, are you? (Shameless plug: your voicemail is 3x more likely to get returned when you take our class, Messages That Get Returned, which we offer in our eLearning platform, The Sales Bar)
So to summarize – when you pick up that phone, know their name, have your value prop handy, your call intro, and a voicemail if all else fails. Save the image below to help you remember.
Group Your Leads
Make it easier on yourself by grouping your leads together. Here are some quick categories to organize them by:
CRM History
Trigger Event (did they all attend a conference? Fill out an inbound lead form?)
Profile/Demographics
Offer (do you have an incentive to offer when you reach out to them?)
Location (do you have a rep going to that location soon? Perfect time to reach out!)
Social Connection (mutual friend, past acquaintance, school history, etc.!)
When you do your research, your first instinct might make you feel like you HAVE to give individual attention to every single person and potential lead. Guess what? You don’t!
Easily group call goals, qualify & explore questions, voicemail scripts, and your SWIIFT intros.
What should you individualize? The rapport builder – it’ll be unique for each person.
Boom, you just saved yourself a whole lot of time!
Never Prepare Twice
Be nice to future you! By taking better notes and including specific details about the voicemail you’ve previously left, you’ll never be left scratching your head wondering what you’ve already done and having to double back.
Here’s what to include:
What group is your lead in
What value prop did you use
What was your rapport builder
What was your call goal
What type of voicemail did you leave
BONUS: Always Add Value
Seems like a no-brainer, right? You always want to call to add value to your prospects. Try the following:
Interact with them on social media – comment and share their posts
Recognize something – give a compliment!
Customize your request
Be brief
Always GIVE something first
Ask short and closed questions to get them talking
Bottom Line
Prospecting is always going to be a numbers game. Remember: it takes 6-9 times to get to 90% of the people on your list! Put in the work – but don’t worry about putting in extra.
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Choosing the right sales training partner is critical to your team’s success and growth. This comprehensive checklist will guide you through the essential considerations to ensure you select the best partner for your training needs.
We’ll share:
When you know it’s time to outsource sales training
What to budget for sales training
Why you need to partner with a sales training vendor
A checklist to use when evaluating sales training partners
What to expect when you invest in sales training
Ensure your investment in sales training delivers tangible results. Download our free sales training partner checklist now to start evaluating potential training partners with confidence.
Download Guide
Your Guide for Evaluating Sales Training Partners
Choosing the right sales training partner is critical to your team’s success and growth. This comprehensive checklist will guide you through the essential considerations to ensure you select the best partner for your training needs.
We’ll share:
When you know it’s time to outsource sales training
What to budget for sales training
Why you need to partner with a sales training vendor
A checklist to use when evaluating sales training partners
What to expect when you invest in sales training
Ensure your investment in sales training delivers tangible results. Download our free sales training partner checklist now to start evaluating potential training partners with confidence.
Discover how to effectively train your sales reps and managers when you’ve got little to no budget. This guide is filled with free sales training resources and provides actionable strategies to enhance team skills and drive performance without spending a dime.
We’ll share:
How to foster a shared focus and accelerate skill adoption
Tips for extending the impact of free webinars
The importance of discussing skill application, sharing insights, and practicing new skills
Why you need manager buy-in for success
Tips for ongoing learning through challenges, role-plays, and focused coaching
Don’t miss out on this opportunity to revolutionize your team’s development. Download your free guide now and start building a stronger, more skilled team today.
Download Guide
Free Sales Training Resources and Tips
Discover how to effectively train your sales reps and managers when you’ve got little to no budget. This guide is filled with free sales training resources and provides actionable strategies to enhance team skills and drive performance without spending a dime.
We’ll share:
How to foster a shared focus and accelerate skill adoption
Tips for extending the impact of free webinars
The importance of discussing skill application, sharing insights, and practicing new skills
Why you need manager buy-in for success
Tips for ongoing learning through challenges, role-plays, and focused coaching
Don’t miss out on this opportunity to revolutionize your team’s development. Download your free guide now and start building a stronger, more skilled team today.
