Goals

Jim Morgan

Setting Goals

Goals-1

Greetings my friends in sales,

Let’s say that you have found the right company;  the best product or service, eye on the customer, inspiring leadership and opportunity to earn high income.  Where do you start?

First, I salute you. You have earned this opportunity and it’s likely that you have executed on much of what follows in this post!

As the great Zig Ziglar said, “you gotta have goals!”  These goals will be created based on a combination of what your organization expects and what you expect.  They will include a quota assignment, working a territory or customer assignment, and completing some type of on boarding or training program.

Lets discuss each briefly.

Quota – Your quota will be a sales target that in most cases is set each year.  As Alexander the Great said, “Fortune favors the bold.”  How much do you want to earn?  Figure out how this translates to the sales you will need.  Set your income target to an amount that calculates to a percentage greater than your income at 100% of quota.  The number should be a stretch but not unrealistic.  You need to land on a scenario (formula for tasks and metrics leading to sales) that shows this is attainable. You will get better at managing this process as you learn more about your organization and your territory.

Training –  It’s great if your company offers an on boarding or training program. The purpose of training is to help you understand how to identity buying opportunities, manage your company’s available resources, and earn credibility as a value add resource to your buyers.  A high performing sales person understands that training and learning are lifelong commitments and something she always takes ownership of.  Never find yourself in a position where you are holding anyone but yourself accountable for lack of growth. The power in this case is with you!

Territory assignment –  In business to business sales this will usually be a geographic region that you are given responsibility for as a steward of your organization.   This is your business!  It’s now your opportunity and privilege to figure out how you can help the people who will be the cornerstone of your success; your customers!

I am truly grateful to all of my customers.  There are a handful that have probably made the difference in my career.  Thank You.  I will never forget it.

In the next posting I will spend some time discussing how a high performing sales person might create the map defining the path to success!

Your Salesman for Life.

Jim_1

jim.morgan@salesmanforlife.blog

Jim Morgan

The True Starting Point

Old Young Women

 

Greetings my friends in sales!

Have you heard the term, “Beginning with the End in Mind?”  It encapsulates the practice of establishing what the destination looks like before taking the first step.  It’s the starting point for constructing and navigating the map of the journey.  In subsequent posts I will share some thoughts on how a high performing salesperson might work in setting goals, creating his map, and navigating the voyage.

For this post, I would like to summarize the key aspects of the material covered to date. In many respects I believe the content attempts to encompass the essence of the true beginning point of any journey: A clear understanding of where you are now!

Let me start by reinforcing this thought; ” The map is not the terrain.” As a high performing sales professional, my success is linked directly to the clarity of the lens  through which I see the world; and the degree to which the map that I have created to navigate it, accurately reflects the terrain as it truly exists.

As you  read the summary below, have you thought about my view of the terrain and the lens that informs it.  Do you think my map is accurate?

“Those things that are most personal, are most general.”  Just like I cannot expect to cram for the harvest, The Golden Rule governs consistent behavioral consequences in response to my actions on both my internal and external worlds.

“Keeping the Main Thing the Main Thing.”  If customers are not buying, I am not successful. If I am not constantly looking for ways to personally engage buyers (to understand and meet their needs), chances are I am not focusing on the highest leverage activities that will result in the outcomes I am seeking.

Understanding “Power” and who has it.   I do not sell, my customer buys!  This was a very powerful realization for me and it took many years to internalize.  Choosing how I spend my time and how I make make commitments based on this awareness (part of my power), has a major impact on my productivity and internal balance.   Think about how you might respond to the immense power of an oncoming 50-foot wave?  One could exert tremendous energy fighting the wave for a return of only fatigue and stress; one could give up and allow the wave to consume them, or one could learn to surf and leverage this tremendous power as a guide to the destination facilitated by the surfer.

Yes, the high performing sales person is an expert surfer!

If you have any questions on these topics I encourage you to look through my previous posts for more discussion.   Of course, I would be delighted to hear from you!

Your Salesman for Life!

Jim_1

jim.morgan@salesmanforlife.blog

Quote on my mind: “Let every interaction be an opportunity to lift the other up”

Jim Morgan

Being Proactive

Gabby Andrrew

Greetings my friends in sales!

Let me start our visit with a question. If you had to observe a behavior that is consistently demonstrated by every highly performing sales person, what would it be? At the top of my list would be the highly developed practice of “Being Proactive.”

What do I mean by this? Before going into the short answer, I encourage you to read through  Habit 1 of Stephen Covey’s novel “7 Habits of Highly Effective People.” In this section on private victories  he talks about four unique compositional elements we possess as individuals in our common life experience.  Covey points out that the most highly developed and successful people, are those that manage life experiences, regardless of external conditions, in a proactive manner!

Now the short answer: being proactive is the practice of increasing the space that exists between stimulus and response; and being consistent in using this refined awareness to keep promises made to one’s self.

To clarify, let me ask you to think about an achievement  in your personal or professional life that brings you satisfaction? To what degree are you able to credit the outcome to your success in delaying gratification; and to consistently following a plan that credible sources would agree was sound?

My take away thought for today…. We are fast approaching the time of year that many in sales would say is the slowest.  Are you being proactive in keeping your pipeline development commitments…? If yes, I humbly salute you!

Your Salesman for Life.

Jim_1

Quote on my mind: There is no standing still.  We are going either forward or backward.

 

Jim Morgan

Prospecting Part Three – What might Prospecting with Integrity look like?

Prospecting-2

Friends, by now you are properly not surprised  that I would like to start this post  with a question.  Can you think of a time in your professional career when you realized that you were truly being heard?  For me it was over 20 years ago.  I was sitting with an important executive undisturbed in his office.   This individual sat across from me; away from his computer, no phone in hand or secretary standing at the door.  I started talking and became almost oddly aware that this individual who had given me his valuable attention, was really listening to me!  It was a brief meeting and yet had a very powerful impact on my life.

In thinking about my buyer and the prospecting experience, perhaps the best description of the thought I would like to share was encapsulated by Stephen Covey in a communications term he called  “psychological air”.  In this instance it means that no matter how eloquent I think I am, my prospective buyer will not be listening to anything I have to say until she controls the space to breath.  One way for her to do this is to hang up the phone.  One way for me to improve the opportunity of being granted the privilege for more time is to pause and ask for permission to continue!   It’s interesting, I can almost feel the experience of my buyer pausing, taking a breath and leading our path forward!

Several thoughts on what prospecting with integrity might look like. If you don’t recognize the term I invite you to read last week’s post before reading on!

  • Demonstrate that you value your prospective buyer and his time by conveying early who you are and why you are calling.  Is there something you know about this buyer’s  situation that might peak his interest in what you have to say?
  • Write out your script. Think about the words you use.  Be concise.
  • In the first 20 – 30 seconds, pause and ask for permission to proceed!
  • No matter what the outcome, even if the prospective buyer elects to terminate the exchange, be sincere in your appreciation for his brief attention and wish him  a good day. Believe it!
  • Plan for and meet your call targets! Making and keeping promises to ourselves is also an expression of self-integrity and a driving force in personal power!

In treating my buyers the way I want to be treated  I am not only consistent in taking  the necessary steps of earning the opportunity to “understand”, I am making it easier on myself to execute on my prospecting goals.   Why?  You guessed it. I am prospecting with Integrity!

Your Salesman for Life,

Jim_1

jim.morgan@salesmanforlife.blog

Thought on my mind:

“Your actions are screaming so loudly I can’t hear a word you are saying!”

Jim Morgan

Prospecting Part One

Prospecting

I want to start this post by saying Thank You. One of the great benefits of going through an exercise like this is that it reminds me of three related attributes I admire in every high performing salesperson; A passionate commitment to lifelong learning, evaluation, and application.

Let me begin by asking if you have heard about prospecting discussed in terms of these four stages of learning and execution?

1. Unconscious Incompetent – A salesperson  who “doesn’t know he doesn’t know” how to prospect!  Depending on outlook this might include a salesperson who has decided prospecting is not important.
2. Conscious Incompetent – A salesperson who “knows he doesn’t know” how to prospect and wants to learn!  I hope that some part of me remains in this stage and the next for all aspects of my life.
3. Conscious Competent – The salesperson in training. This is the one who is consistently practicing at making his learned prospecting skill sets proficient.
4. Unconscious Competent – This is the salesperson  that is so practiced at consciously developing her prospecting skills that she can execute perfectly without even thinking about it.

Let me stop for a moment to clarify my definition of prospecting as the process of personally hunting for and actively speaking with prospective buyers.  No, it does not include solely sending 500 emails unless this is part of a process that gets you into a forecastable number of conversations!

Now let’s make some observations about the learning stages just introduced and prospecting.  First, as a sales person, “Do you think prospecting is important?” If you think it is, “How vigilant are you in planning and execution?”   To answer this objectively,  “Are you are looking at your metrics?”

If you are not a consistent prospector (I have been in this category) I encourage you as a fellow salesperson to think about why that is.  More on this topic in the next posting.

If you are a consistent prospector and have refined your approach (research, clearly defined objective, execution, tracking, adjustment  and consistent achievement of call targets), I humbly salute you!

If you are in the unconscious competent category, I encourage you to continue to evaluate your metrics and determine if your approach can be adjusted to increase effectiveness (improve ratio of calls to conversations). Do this at least on a weekly basis. Technology and resulting options are changing rapidly. There are no substitutes to personal contact. The right questions is, “What can be used to enhance it?”

Whatever the outcome of your personal assessment, I encourage fearless reflection and self-honesty.  Do not decide that consistent, prioritized prospecting is not important   because you don’t like it!  I believe that many including myself are tempted to do this. With two full rings, no voice message, and a 7.5% conversation rate, I found that I can make and log up to 50 phone calls in an hour.  8 hours of uninterrupted phone work a week means 400 calls and 30 conversations!

Whatever your approach and execution tactics, personal engagement is the goal. Without it you are not helping your customers buy!

Is it possible to love prospecting? Join me next week for more on this topic.

Your Salesman for life.

Jim_1

jim.morgan@salesmanforlife.blog

Quote on my mind:

An unexamined (sales) life is not worth living!