adapt & thrive - ryan estis · pdf file3 adapt & thrive great salespeople are more...

ADAPT & THRIVE: HOW SALES LEADERS CAN PREPARE

TO WIN IN A 2020 WORLD

BY RYAN ESTIS AND DON MACPHERSON

ryanestis.com

1 ADAPT & THRIVE

The conventional sales wisdom is based on

dialing for dollars. You bang out 100 cold calls

a day — that’s how most people get started in

sales. That’s how I started. But that’s not how

buyers want to buy today. We looked at the data

and saw that cold calls were inefficient. We said,

let’s sell to buyers the way they want to buy.

Phil Horn, VP of ticket sales and service, Sacramento Kings

HOW SALES LEADERS CAN PREPARE TO WIN IN A 2020 WORLD 2

Customers are changing fast, and the truth is that most sales organizations

aren’t keeping up. As we look toward 2020, the most successful salespeople

are going to leverage this transformation as both a defining moment and a

big-time opportunity. They’re going to evolve the way they sell.

Making that shift isn’t so easy. We wrote this ebook to help you get there. For the past two years, we’ve been studying the intersection of sales and engagement, looking for insight into recruiting, hiring, managing and developing the kind of sales talent that will succeed in 2020. We also interviewed six leaders who

are running best-in-class sales organizations to find out what they’re doing differently to prepare their sales teams to compete and win well into the future.

Here’s what we learned.

3 ADAPT & THRIVE

Great salespeople are more relevant and valuable than ever before. Consultative salespeople are finding ways to provide new information, offer additional value and help customers think differently about the future. They’re experts about their products, competition, customers and category, and are well-positioned to thrive now and in the future. They win on value and refuse to compete on price.

Because customers have changed, the way we sell has changed. However, it’s not enough for sellers to evolve. The way we lead the sales organization needs to change also. We studied what makes salespeople tick to better

understand how to develop and lead a high-performing sales function.

First, let’s take a step back and consider engagement in the U.S. workforce. Our research shows that only 15 percent of all employees are fully engaged. To us, that points to a huge leadership crisis — and a massive opportunity. Imagine the incredible amount of human potential and contribution that isn’t being captured because employees are largely disinterested and disengaged.

The numbers for sales professionals trend a bit higher: Seventeen percent of salespeople are fully engaged, and 36 percent are moderately engaged. But this is no cause for celebration

— especially when you know that while salespeople are more engaged, they are also

much more likely to leave.

Forty-three percent of salespeople agree or strongly agree that they’re actively looking for a new job, compared with 26 percent of nonsales employees.

What’s even more surprising: More than 80 percent of salespeople would consider leaving sales altogether if they could make the same amount of money in another role.

How should leaders respond? A good place to start is understanding the core drivers of engagement — what makes salespeople engaged, happy and committed to sticking around?

ENGAGEMENT DRIVES SALES PERFORMANCEWe compete in a marketplace that’s become incredibly transparent. Sophisticated customers have unprecedented

access to information on margin and price. It’s often the case that products, solutions or services seemingly offer

no compelling differentiation. However, there is one key difference-maker that can protect your margins and drive

demand. The difference-maker? You.


NONSALES SALES

SALESPEOPLE ARE MORE ENGAGED AND MORE LIKELY TO LEAVE

FULLY ENGAGED

17% 13%

FULLY ENGAGED

ACTIVELY LOOKING FOR A NEW JOB

43% 26%

ACTIVELY LOOKING FOR A NEW JOB

46% 57%

DISENGAGED AND UNDER-ENGAGED

DISENGAGED AND UNDER-ENGAGED

5 ADAPT & THRIVE

THE 8 CORE DRIVERS OF ENGAGEMENT

I HAVE CONFIDENCE IN MY ORGANIZATION’S SENIOR MANAGEMENT.Employees at my organization have good career-advancement opportunities.

I HAVE CONFIDENCE IN THE FUTURE OF MY ORGANIZATION.Our values guide how people at my organization actually behave.(When employees work for a company without organizational values, just 1 in 144 are fully engaged. Values matter, and so does how you communicate and consistently reinforce them.)

MY WORK GIVES ME A FEELING OF PERSONAL ACCOMPLISHMENT.

MY ORGANIZATION TREATS EMPLOYEES WELL.

SENIOR MANAGEMENT SHOWS A SINCERE INTEREST IN EMPLOYEE WELL-BEING.In my work group, we work well together as a team.


KEY DRIVERS OF ENGAGEMENT FOR SALESPEOPLEBeyond the eight core drivers of engagement on the previous page, our research shows that money matters to

salespeople. When salespeople are compensated on their performance through commissions or bonuses, they

are much more engaged. Sixty-three percent of commission-based salespeople are fully or moderately engaged,

compared with 43 percent of noncommission salespeople.

We turned to some very effective, growth-oriented executives for practical insights on creating a highly engaged sales culture.

Larry Flick has been managing sales teams for 25 years. He’s now chairman and CEO of the Berkshire Hathaway real estate organization Fox & Roach Realtors, a company with 4,000 sales associates. He is crystal clear on the importance of understanding your people.

“Have conversations with your salespeople about their dreams for the next few years,” he says. For some people, those dreams might include putting kids through college. For others, it’s buying a vacation home. Whatever your people want to accomplish, a leader’s job is to help them figure out how they can get there. Great sales leaders know that their people don’t just care about money — they care about what that money represents in their lives and for their families.

When people know that the organization is invested in them personally and a leader truly cares, they are a whole lot more likely to commit and contribute their full potential. It’s worth considering how often people are receiving feedback and recognition for their contributions, especially in remote sales organizations.

At the technology company Bullhorn, CEO Art Papas thinks about creative ways to reward salespeople — through both compensation and public recognition. “At Bullhorn, we reward hitting financial goals with compensation. But we focus all of our recognition on things that aren’t quantifiable.” For example, every month, Art asks sales managers for stories about how their employees have succeeded. Then he shares those stories at a companywide

“town hall” meeting. “We put an individual employee’s picture on the screen in front of

the whole company and share how they built a relationship with a customer,” he says. “We’re looking for opportunities to create moments of memorable praise.”

He teaches sales leaders how to create those moments during a leadership training program. During the training, Art will single out a new leader in the room, put them on a slide and talk about them in front of the group for five minutes. The impact is clear and immediate.

“That person feels special — they’re thinking, ‘I didn’t even think you knew who I was.’ And everyone else is thinking ‘I wish he would recognize me like that.’ That’s a lot more powerful than just sending an email about someone’s accomplishment. By creating those moments of memorable praise, we’re cementing the behavior we want people to exhibit.”

7 ADAPT & THRIVE

Forrester estimates that 1 million B2B salespeople will lose their jobs to self-service e-commerce by 2020. The first 500,000 out the door will be the salespeople who cannot differentiate themselves as a critical part of the value proposition. On the other hand, the massive shift in customer expectations around the buying decision is providing unprecedented opportunity for world-class producers to win big. Sales professionals have to adapt or risk becoming obsolete.

Today’s best salespeople are committed to continuous reinvention. They obsess about learning and focus on self-improvement. In our research, we found that the majority of salespeople consider themselves to be creative

— 64 percent of salespeople identify as “creative” versus 44 percent of nonsales employees. The top performer of the future thinks creatively, is hungry for new information and is adept enough to create new solutions to customers’

problems — often getting it done by ignoring traditional lines between departments and working in close collaboration with colleagues from other functions, including engineering, marketing, accounting and customer service.

Gerry Burke has seen the changes happening to the profile of a top performer firsthand in his role as sales manager at Vanguard. “There used to be a wining-and-dining culture that helped you win,” he says. “The best sales reps don’t rely on that anymore. Instead, they earn respect, help clients think differently, and add value.”

For example, the old way to approach a client meeting was to bring all available information, and when something came up, dig through the information to find something relevant. The new way is to come prepared with customized information that matches the client’s needs.

“You’re showing the client: I thought about you in advance. You’re important to me.” Gerry says

today’s best salespeople are focused on long-term relationships. They forgo the easy, short-term sale to better meet a client’s long-term needs. The bottom line: Top producers out-prepare their competition.

They also focus on creating long-term success internally. “Twenty years ago, the best salespeople were I-focused. Now, they’re we-focused,” Gerry says. He sees top salespeople concerned about their own success and the success of the entire team and division. “At regional meetings, they’re leading breakout sessions. They’re doing extra research and bringing it to the staff people to help everyone else.” More than ever, selling is a team sport.

Even in a traditional B2C sales function, the role of a top performer has changed. Gavan Hunt is vice president of sales at Chris-Craft Boats. He says there was a time when sales reps might have been able to get away with not working

THE DNA OF A TOP PRODUCER To drive sales growth you need to get the right people on the bus. If you’ve been recruiting for the same skill set and

experience profile for the past 10 years, it’s time for an update.


on their skills, learning new ideas or practicing their craft — they could wait on “door swings.” But today, “the successful reps are the ones who produce the door swings. They take the dealership to the people — hosting events, teaching classes and seminars — anything that engages the customer. The pros are innovative and creative. They make you want to be a part of something,” Gavan says.

At Bullhorn, leaders have defined what makes a great sales employee by looking at what personality types work best for their customers. As Art Papas says, “our salespeople have to be hungry and competitive, but also really responsive to customers. The talent profile we’ve tuned over the past 10 years is a reflection of what we’ve learned about our customers and what our customers need.”

Bullhorn has also used data to more clearly define what kinds of hires will thrive and grow at the company. Before a job applicant makes it to the interview, they take a 30-minute online assessment that measures personality traits and markers for success. “We’ve correlated specific traits to performance and success at Bullhorn. We want to hire people who have the greatest likelihood of advancing through the ranks in sales.” That kind of data-driven hiring eventually creates what Art calls “a talent magnet.”

“Our employees are the best advertisement for the company,” he says. “When a candidate is in an interview and they ask Bullhorn employees what their career has been like, we want to be able to share stories about learning, growing and advancing.”

9 ADAPT & THRIVE

SALESPEOPLE

WHO RECEIVE THE

TRAINING THEY

NEED TO DO THEIR

JOB WELL ARE

10 TIMES MORE LIKELY TO BE

FULLY ENGAGED.


According to an August 2016 survey by Aon, Anaplan and The Sales Management Association, just 60 percent of front-line sellers hit their goal in the last full fiscal year.

That number’s even lower -- in the 50 percent range -- for some industries. For example, software salespeople are struggling to meet quota as they face the conversion from traditional license models to SaaS pricing.

In response, best-in-class companies are pushing for more forward-looking quota processes to better allocate quotas across the

“haves” and “have nots” -- senior versus junior reps, reps with large territories versus small territories, or just reps with better relationships with their sales manager.

For many organizations, the primary way to help salespeople meet their quotas is investing in training. And, in our research, we found a direct correlation between training and engagement. Salespeople who receive the training they need to do their job well are 10 times more likely to be fully engaged. Top producers want to sell for a company that makes the investment in making sure they are prepared to win.

This trend toward training and development isn’t going away. Millennials (born between 1980 and 2000) prioritize training and development at work, and by 2020, millennials will make up half of the global workforce.

At the Sacramento Kings, Phil Horn has made learning a priority. A few years ago, the NBA team’s sales staff set out to reinvent how they sold to reflect customers’ evolving expectations.

They started looking for tools and technology to drive a “Sales 3.0.” initiative. They were looking for new ways to be:

• Social: Help sellers tell a story and amplify it through social conversation.

• Accelerated: Work faster and more efficiently.

• Collaborative: Foster a team selling environment and help reps share ideas with each other.

Through their “Sales 3.0” tools and strategies, Phil says, salespeople have become “micro-marketers.” They use email marketing, smarter dialing, social selling and content sharing to anticipate what customers are looking for and who’s most likely to buy. After a year of training,

testing and celebrating the wins, “Sales 3.0” has became the culture.

The training doesn’t just come from the top though. The Kings sales team is built to be collaborative. “We have a team selling environment. We’re always trying to make each other better,” Phil says. “Someone sitting next to you might be selling to your customer at the next event, so we all need to share ideas. When you introduce cool ideas and you’re open and transparent, there’s a domino effect. You start getting new ideas from everyone on the team.”

Sales leaders at the Kings show salespeople how they can advance within the organization.

“In the past year, 25 percent of the team has advanced to a role with more responsibility,” Phil says. “That’s a big number given how many sales and service staff we have. It shows that if you work hard, you’re going to keep progressing. We’re helping our people learn and build skills that will help them in any future job in the industry. We’re investing in them.”

The best sales leaders invest in preparing people for what is next in work and life.

LEADERS STAY IN THE LEARNING LANEWhile the best salespeople drive their own development, sales leaders must meet them halfway. This mandates

new tools and technology, an investment in training and a solid go-to-market plan.

11 ADAPT & THRIVE

Tim Minahan is chief marketing officer at the technology company Citrix, and he’s made it a top priority to increase collaboration between marketing and sales. He sees data as the answer to a lot of the historical disagreement and miscommunication between the two groups.

“Data can really eliminate a bunch of the he-said, she-said friction that has muddied sales and marketing relationships,” he says. “Data cuts through all that emotional bias and drives the right course of action.”

At Citrix, Tim and his team have used real customer data to create what he calls “single points of truth” that guide decisions. “It’s like peeling back the layers of an onion. Once you begin to base your decisions on data, you

can move the big boulders and find the small things you never knew existed,” he says. “When you have full transparency into the data, you can get a common vision. And if there are issues, we can see them and come up with a collective plan to improve on them before they become problems.”

Smart sellers aren’t afraid to collaborate in an effort to generate ideas, because they know that the only priority is the customer. Sharing information and generating out-of-the-box input across department lines can help unlock creative, high-impact solutions for the buyer.

Effective sales leaders are creating environments that encourage collaboration and creativity.

SELLING IS A TEAM SPORT Sales leaders have an opportunity to improve the relationship with customers

by spearheading more internal collaboration. Specifically, marketing and

sales leaders can collaborate to drive growth in a marketplace where

customer expectations continue to evolve at warp speed.


Data can really eliminate a bunch of the he-said,

she-said friction that has muddied sales and

marketing relationships. Data cuts through all that

emotional bias and drives the right course of action.

Tim Minahan, CMO, Citrix

13 ADAPT & THRIVE

TAKE ACTION NOW The future happens. The question is: How are we going to respond?

Amateurs react. Leaders anticipate and take aggressive action to

advance the organization. The key to success is to disrupt your own

business before the marketplace does it for you.

TO RECAP KEY INSIGHTS FROM THE RESEARCH:

Building a sales team that will succeed in 2020 is going to require some evolution. If you’re not sure where to start, take a step back and develop an action plan. What could you take action on right away to move your team toward success?

Salespeople are more engaged than

nonsalespeople, but they’re also more likely to

leave. Forward-thinking leaders will find new

ways to attract and retain salespeople who are

the right fit for the role and the organization.

Today’s salesperson wants more than money.

Leaders should consider compensation,

recognition, training and development,

and advancement opportunities to keep

salespeople performing at their best.

Selling is a team sport. Leaders should

consider how to break down silos within

the organization to create a culture of

collaboration and idea-sharing.

The customer is king. Sales organizations

that focus on their customers, listening

to customers’ stories and digging into

customer data, will be better prepared to

meet customers’ evolving needs.


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Go first. Before you ask your team to commit to performance goals, tell them what they can expect from you. Get specific! Tell them what you’ll do to help them meet their goals. Set high expectations for yourself and deliver on your promises consistently.

Get close to the customer. If your goal is to sell the way customers want to buy, you need to understand your customer. Leverage customer feedback and data. Conduct focus groups and meetings with prospective buyers in your target demographic. Be open to surprises that challenge the status quo and build the next iteration of your go-to-market strategy in partnership with your best customers.

Schedule “white space.” Leading change requires time to think. If you’re like most leaders, you’re overscheduled and time poor. Find ways to change that by scheduling “white space” — time to reflect, look for inspiration outside your business and problem-solve. What you schedule gets done. Audit your calendar and schedule the time to work on the future of the business.

Promote continuous learning. Build a culture of continuing education. Assign teaching topics that challenge reps to stretch and grow. Share

case studies from outside the organization. Champion mentoring and encourage self-development.

Recognize success. Start every sales meeting with recognition about what is going right. Emphasize the behavior and practices that drive results. You’ll get attention and effort based on what you inspect and share openly with the team. Celebrate together and reinforce the impact you are having on both customers and the business.

Leverage the power of storytelling. Include customer case studies in every sales meeting. Focus on customer outcomes and reinforce your compelling value proposition and opportunity to create customer success. Find ways to share customer testimonials (through customer panels, Q&As or recorded customer interviews). Elevate belief and commitment by encouraging everyone to own these success stories.

Let collaboration rule. Define collaboration for others. Talk about when it’s important and why. Invite participation from other functions in the organization and demonstrate why collaboration is a critical next-level sales competency. Focus on team goals and team success.

Brand the customer experience. Process discipline drives results. Every touchpoint with a customer represents an opportunity to add value and advance a relationship. Auditing and subsequently elevating every touchpoint with a customer for maximum impact is critical to ensure a consistent approach to the marketplace. Build the road map for sales success.

Check in. Provide feedback and have future-directed conversations every 30 days with sales staff. Annual performance reviews are dead. Today’s top producer requires a more consistent feedback loop and expects the opportunity to contribute thinking and feedback to help the business improve. Leaders are listeners. Master the art of effective, two-way communication.

Drive performance. Maintain an obsessive focus on performance targets and customer outcomes. Constantly recruit and develop the best sales talent. Remove barriers and provide the resources and coaching that reps need to compete and win. Create an environment of clearly defined expectations and accountability. Continue to adapt and make forward progress as market conditions and customers evolve.

As leaders, we have the opportunity to change lives, shape careers and help others realize their full potential. Leadership isn’t a job — it’s a responsibility. And leaders who take that responsibility seriously can make a major impact on the customers they serve and lives of the people they lead.

HERE ARE 10 IDEAS TO GET YOU STARTED:

Subscribe to our blogs for more research, case studies and leadership best practices: www.ryanestis.com/blog and www.modernsurvey.com/blog.

ABOUT

RYAN ESTIS AND DON MACPHERSON

RYAN ESTIS is the the former chief strategy officer for the McCann Worldgroup advertising agency and today runs his own research and learning organization, delivering 75 live events annually on leading change, improving sales performance and preparing for the future of work.

Ryan was recently recognized as one of “the best keynote speakers seen or heard” by Meetings & Conventions magazine. His client roster includes a diverse group of category leading brands like AT&T, IBM, Disney, Motorola, Microsoft, CVS, Mayo Clinic and The National Basketball Association.

DON MACPHERSON is an employee engagement expert and co-founder of the software and employee research firm Modern Survey, where he oversaw the 2015 and 2016 U.S. Workforce Studies

that are cited in this ebook. In 2016, Modern Survey was acquired by Aon, where Don leads marketing for the Global Culture & Engagement, Leadership, Assessment & Selection, and Human Capital Strategy practices.

ryanestis.com

adapt & thrive - ryan estis · pdf file3 adapt & thrive great salespeople are more...

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