Here's an interesting question foryou: How much is it costing

your company to generate onelead?

Here's another equally interestingquestion: How many leads doesyour company need to generate tocreate one sale?

I have spent the past two weeksasking those two questions offriends, colleagues, fellow salescommentators, clients, and prospects- in fact, everyone with whom I havecome into contact. And do you knowwhat? Nobody really knew theanswer. Of course, there were somepretty wild, finger-in-the-air guesses,but not one rock-solid, convincingresponse that you would bet yourchildren's inheritance on.

Don't you find that somewhatalarming?

I do, particularly when thereappears to be such a concentratedfocus these days on creating newopportunities. No wonder salesdepartments are viewed with somuch suspicion by the "grey men" infinance, they must be totallyconvinced that we are completelyout of control.

So, what's the answer?

The reality is that there are somany sources of leads that theprocess of generating them cansometimes cause sales people tofeel overwhelmed when tackling thisvital sales activity.

Every organization is unique andcan employ a variety of approachesin their quest to attract the attentionof their target market. (This willbecome even clearer once you havecreated your Ideal CustomerProfile). That’s why it is essential toinvest some time analyzing whichlead generation initiatives workedwell in the past, why they workedwell and what improvements can bemade to optimize their effectiveness.

There are three areas that youmust consider that can helpevaluate different lead generationinitiatives with greater objectivity.1. Effectiveness - which leadgeneration activities produced themost quality leads?2. Cost - what were the tangiblecosts for each lead generationinitiative?3. Time - how much time did it taketo initiate and follow-up on eachinitiative?

Unless we have an accurate

handle on our lead generationactivities, our salespeople willcontinue to be overwhelmed, whilstthose grey men will continue to beunderwhelmed!

Jonathan Farrington,CEO Top Sales World

Catch Jonathan's award winningdaily blog here - The JF Blogit

PS: Do get across to Top SalesWorld as often as you can – thereare new resources being addedevery day, from the world’sleading sales experts, and it is allFREE.

How Much Did That Lead Cost You - Honestly?

Editorial

February 10th Edition 2015 Top Sales Magazine 2

Contents February 10th 2015

Editors: Jonathan Farrington JF@topsalesworld.comLinda Richardson linda@lindarichardson.com

Design: Bill Jeckells bill@billjeckells.comPublished by: Top Sales World http://topsalesworld.com

A JF INITIATIVE

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13

14

18

Challenging theCorporate Mystique Linda Richardson inconversation with JoanneBlack Page 5

Top Sales Article& Blog Post ForFebruary 10th2015 Page 21

Top Sales World is Sponsored by

Top Sales Magazine February 10th Edition 2015 3

The Other Subject Nobody is TalkingAbout Dave Kurlan

Why Half-Baked Ideas Are PerfectSales Conversation Jill Konrath

Five Questions That Unlock theSecret to Differentiation and RapidSuccessMathew Pollard

Are you doing ”busy-work” orprogressing towards your salestargets? George Brontén

16Goodbye to the Weakest Link Micheline Nijmeh

This Week’s Interview

http://www.huthwaite.com/content/page/training-events

Today, that problem - genderdiscrimination - has a name,

and while enormous progress hasbeen made, women still continue tostruggle in the workplace forequality in opportunity and pay.

Fifty-two years have passedsince Ms. Friedan’s paragraphstarted the women’s movement toprofessional equality. Progress isbeing made, but data shows it is

being made slowly. The LinkedInDiversity Report tells us that thepercentage of women in salesincreased significantly in the past10 years. Women now make up39% of the sales force. XactllyInsight Gender Study reports thatwomen in sales outperform theirmale counterparts - for example,they attain 70% of quota comparedto 67% achieved by men. Yet,

despite a higher level ofperformance (or even an equallevel), women make up only 21% ofVice Presidents and there is asteep decrease the more senior therole. Subtle, and not so subtle,barriers in the corporate environmentcontinue to reinforce the glassceiling. For example, men are threetimes as likely to interrupt a woman,as they are to interrupt other men.

Top Sales Magazine February 10th Edition 2015 5

The Linda Richardson Interview

Challenging the Corporate MystiqueThe Feminine Mystique by Betty Friedan opens with the words, “The problem lay buried,unspoken, for many years in the minds of American women. It was a strange…sense ofdissatisfaction…” Ms. Friedan was writing about “the problem that has no name.”

February 10th Edition 2015 Top Sales Magazine 6

Cheryl Sandberg, COO ofFacebook and Adam Grant,Professor of Marketing at theWharton School, University ofPennsylvania, have found thatwhen a woman speaks up in aprofessional setting she barely isheard, or is judged as being tooaggressive. Hence, many womenhold back for fear of hurting theircareers.

Joanne Black, sales referralexpert and author No More ColdCalling and Pick Up the DamnPhone: How People NotTechnology Seal the Deal isembarking on a study of women’snatural strengths that make themparticularly effective in sales – "BigDeals and High Heels: WhyWomen Are Naturals at Selling."The goal is to help women leveragethose strengths and help ensure itis women’s work, not their gender,that determines careeradvancement and economic status.

I led a Q&A with Joanne tounderstand what has set her on thisjourney:

What do you see as thechallenges that women in salesface? The challenges women talk aboutare consistent. From the panels Ihave been on and my interviews sofar with 50 women acrossgenerations and industries, womenhave the same concerns: First isthat their voice is not heard. Theytell me that often when they sharean idea it is either ignored orappropriated. They also tell me thatthey are excluded from discussions,perhaps not intentionally, butbecause they are not even thought

of. Traditionally, men have had thepower and that historicalperspective carries over to howwomen are perceived. Women alsoacknowledge that they themselvesmake things worse by not speakingup, because they feel they won’t belistened to or they will be labeled as“aggressive.” And finally, some ofthe women express a lack ofconfidence for fear of makingmistakes and hurting their careers.

What in the culture of a salesorganization contributes to this?Sales leadership often does notrecognize there is a gender issue.They don’t reflect on things like theratio of women in sales to thenumber of women in salesmanagement, or family friendlypolicies for women or men. But weknow that, in most family situations,the burden falls on women. In manysituations, sales pay for women is

not the key issue, but opportunityfor career advancement andmaking an impact is. Mostbusinesses have male cultures asshown even by the language theyuse such as “hit the ball out of thepark” and “kill the quota.”

How do you see language as amanifestation of a male orientedculture?It is a reflection of a maleorientation. As you pointed out inyour recent blog, more womenleave their jobs because of the workenvironment than the mommytrack. It depends on theorganization, but a male orientedculture is not uncommon.

What is needed from salesleadership and middlemanagement to create an equalenvironment?The CEO and executive team mustbe committed to making diversity acore value. CEOs must visiblysupport diversity initiatives.Initiatives often get stuck in themiddle management level andtherefore the message must berepeated again and again and,more importantly, role modeled.There must be accountability to hireand develop women to succeed.

What do you see as the naturalabilities women can leverage?These are generalizations but frominterviews with women, customers,and men alike, the perceptions areconsistent. Women are excellentrelationship builders because theyare strong conversationalists. Theyask questions and listen. They areintuitive and lean toward listening to

While there are genderconstraints, there arealso advantages. Theimportant thing is notgender, but the quality

of the work, thecontribution and the

feeling of gratification.We know that gendersare not identical. Butthinking in terms of

women vs. men limitspotential of both.

their intuition. Women are alsocollaborative - a quality important toorganizations today. Theiremotional IQ tends to be high andthey are nurturing.

So you see femalecharacteristics, although generalized,aligning with the new sales profileand model of sales leadership?

Yes and women must recognizethis advantage. This should be aconfidence builder.

How can women leverage this totake a place at the table,influence the culture, and breakthrough the ceiling?They have to do all three, and muchis in their hands. It is up to women tofirst and foremost push themselvesto speak up. They must have theconfidence to claim a seat at thetable. Only by changing theirbehavior will they changeperceptions. They should makeevery effort to develop a mentor -even if not a formal one. Womenhave natural abilities that make themsuccessful in sales, and they shoulduse those skills to find and nurture amentor - or several mentors.

At the start of the article, I notedthat today “the problem” has aname. As a matter of fact, it hasmultiple names: Gender bias,sexism, harassment, discrimination,and workplace climate...

It has been 53 years since thepublishing of The FeminineMystique. We cannot deny thatprogress has been made. There islegislation, corporate mandates,genuine caring and actions on thepart of sales leadership, CEO’s andcompanies publicly committing to

diversity, women CEOs of globalcompanies, programs in collegesand organizations—yet there is away to go. The first step in 1963 isthe same as today: Women musttake the lead and speak up.Women should see one another as“sisters” in the second phase of theMystique. Women must find theirvoice.

I, like you, don’t want my genderto define my success. While thereare gender constraints, there arealso advantages. The importantthing is not gender, but the qualityof the work, the contribution and thefeeling of gratification. We knowthat genders are not identical. Butthinking in terms of women vs. men

limits potential of both. Sales organizations need the

talent of women and men. In the60’s there were great strides, butchange is happening more slowlynow. Change will in fact happen.Professionals such as Joanne, anda number of women in the field, areputting a spotlight on women insales so we can clearly see thestatus quo and drive progress. Inthis effort, a balance of genders,both women and men, wouldhasten and improve the results. Wewill all benefit when women andmen, at all levels in a salesorganization, not only “step-up tothe plate” but do so with a strongco-ed winning team. �

Top Sales Magazine February 10th Edition 2015 7

Joanne Black is America’s leading authority onreferral selling. Find out more by visiting here.

The Linda Richardson Interview

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February 10th Edition 2015 Top Sales Magazine 10

Even salespeople with experiencein the industry need to

participate in a formal, structured90-day ramp-up where they canlearn, internalize, practice andmaster those things that assuresuccess at your company and helpthem to understand why and howyou are different. What are thosethings?

Let’s begin with the 4 coremessages that everyone at your

company should possess the abilityto deliver, with the same exactwords, on-demand:

� Brand Promise� Elevator Pitch� Value Proposition� Positioning Statement

You may think that this iselementary but I can tell you that in98% of the sales organizations

evaluated by Objective ManagementGroup, this messaging is not onlyinconsistent, but it’s also deadwrong. Off-target. Reworded toplease the salesperson. Thesemessages must not only be taught,but also reinforced, with periodicquizzes to make sure that they arebeing used correctly.

Targeting should come next.Who do we want our newsalespeople to call on and why? If

When it comes to new salespeople, we often write about sourcing, assessments,applicant tracking, recruiting, selection and of course, getting it all right. We also writeabout skills and Sales DNA and sales management coaching. All of this is good andhelpful but I don’t recall reading any articles that discuss new salesperson ramp-up!

The Other Subject Nobody isTalking About

Dave Kurlan

there are sweet spots, let’s discussthose. Is it a certain vertical, anindividual with a certain title, acompany with particular revenue, aspecific number of employees, acertain technology missing, with aspecific technology already inplace? It doesn’t matter what idealis for you, but new salespeopleshould be able to find andrecognize companies that meetyour ideal.

Who is your competition? Howdo they position themselves in themarket? How do you compare?What are their strong points andweak points? How do you sellagainst each of them? What areyour salespeople going to hearabout them? What are they tellingyour prospects about you? How willthey handle it?

What do they need to knowabout your sales cycle? How long?How many calls or meetings? Whatdoes the first call sound like? Canyou role-play it? What does the firstmeeting sound like? Can you role-play that too? What is your salesprocess? Can you walk themthrough it? Can you demonstrate it?

What are some of the typicalapplications for your products orservices? How do your productsand services address client/customer issues? What’s a greatfit? Are there customers that newsalespeople can speak with tolearn why they chose yourcompany, how they are using yourproducts, and how your productsare helping?

Do you have CRM? What arethe expectations? Who will trainthem?

Are there expectations for the:

� First Day� First Week� First Month� First Quarter

How will those expectations bemeasured? On what will they bemeasured? Are there metrics orKPI’s that must be met? Who willhold them accountable? Whathappens if they fail to meetexpectations? What happens if theyexceed expectations? What mustthey have in each stage of theirpipeline in order to succeed?

Is there a model for success atyour company? An effective modelis duplicable and must beachievable. At its core, it showssalespeople the behaviors andactivities required in order to reachcertain revenue and income levels.It should basically demonstrate thatif they do A, B, C, D and E each day,and maintain conversion ratios of X,Y and Z, they will close N new

customers, resulting in R newrevenue and $$$ in commissions.

Who can they go to in yourcompany for help with:

� Coaching� Mentoring� Product information� Company Information� Pricing� Technical Assistance� Templates� Collateral � Tools� Leads� Executive Presence on an

Important Sales Call� ROI� Proposals� Presentations

New salespeople can fail when:

� Companies get selection wrong� Sales managers don’t investenough time preparing them forsuccess� The company has inferiorsystems and processes� Specific goals and milestonesfor the first 90 days are non-existent� The culture fails to support ahigh performing sales organization� Sales managers are noteffective at coaching salespeople.

These issues can all be addressedand improved but it requiresawareness and a commitment tochange. �

Top Sales Magazine February 10th Edition 2015 11

Dave is the founder and CEO of OMG and Kurlan& Associates. Find out more by visiting here.

You may think that thisis elementary but I cantell you that in 98% of

the sales organizationsevaluated by Objective

Management Group,this messaging is notonly inconsistent, butit’s also dead wrong.

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Visit the TSW Sales eLibrary – probably thelargest and most significant resource centerfor frontline sales professionals anywhere –whenever you are seeking inspiration. Theshelves are stocked with every resourceimaginable, including: articles, white papers,eBooks, webinars, podcasts, books,interviews etc.

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Jill Konrath

That’s when the hand popped up.It always does. In a group of

salespeople, there’s always someonewho’s brave enough to ask thequestion that’s on everyone’s mind.

"How can you bring them ideaswhen you’ve never met before andhave no clue if they’d work?"

Sounds legitimate, right? Afterall, every customer is unique. And,we want to be consultative. So itwould be almost criminal to pitch anidea before we fully understand theirneeds.

Besides, the thinking continues,our ideas need to be well thoughtout and fully formed. If we went inwith a half-baked idea, it woulddestroy our credibility.

WRONG! Those are faultyassumptions that are totally off baseand may be hindering your ability tostart sales conversations. Here’swhy:

Every prospect is not unique.Virtually every Sales VP is

concerned about meeting theirnumbers, every HR executiveworries about rising health carecosts and every purchasing agentwants to reduce costs.

If you target specific industries,

you’ll find virtually everyorganization in that market segmentis concerned with emerging trendsthat could shape their future.

People are curious how othershandle similar challenges.

The truth is, your prospects don’tget out a lot. They don’t have a lot ofchance to interact with others whohold similar positions; they’re toobusy doing the work.

If you can bring them ideas onhow companies approach theproblems they face or reach hard-to-achieve objectives, they’reinterested. This is high valueinformation.

Ideas are not promises.Instead, they get people thinking

about new options they’d neverconsidered before. Even half-bakedideas stimulate new lines of thoughtor fresh approaches to toughchallenges.

The key is to present them asideas, not the perfect solution.When you do that, you create anopportunity to talk about what your

prospects are currently doing, theissues they're facing, what they’vetried and how your ideas impactedother companies.

Even if your ideas won’t workfor their organization, you’vedifferentiated yourself fromcompetitors and established yourselfas a valuable resource. Here’s aquick example. Say I called you andsaid this:

“Hi. Jill Konrath here. Mostsellers I know really struggle to setup meetings with new prospects.I’ve got some ideas that haveworked real well for others in yourindustry.

One client achieved an 87%success rate getting into majoraccounts. If this is of interest, let’sset up a time to talk.”

Would you be interested? Even ifmy idea didn’t turn out to be an idealfit for your company?

Perfection isn’t what it’scracked up to be. Often times ahalf-baked idea is what’s neededto start the sales conversation. �

Why Half-Baked Ideas ArePerfect Sales Conversation It happened again last week. I was speaking at a saleskick-off meeting, stressing a key message—that sellers,not their products or services, are the key differentiatortoday. I said, “Be an idea person. Today’s crazy-busyprospects love it when you bring them ideas on how toimprove their business.”

Top Sales Magazine February 10th Edition 2015 13

Jill Konrath is a sales strategist and bestsellingauthor. Find out more by visiting here.

February 10th Edition 2015 Top Sales Magazine 14

This aspect of the marketingstrategy is often completely

overlooked, yet if you can find theunmet need of your target customeryou will have uncovered a huge toolto increase your success. Unmetneed is such a crucial part of thesales and marketing strategy thatDaniele Lima and I made sure to

discuss it in the third part of ourniche marketing and sales seminarseries, which can be found atDanandMatt.com.

What is an unmet need? Well,as a business owner, you know thatthe product or service that you sellmeets a need; otherwise no onewould buy it. Say, for example, that

you open a Laundromat in an urbanarea. You are meeting the needs ofthose who don’t have washers anddryers in their apartments; obviously,they still must get their clotheswashed. So, your customers payyou to use the machines that cleanand dry their clothes. However,there’s likely still an unmet need,

If you’re a business owner, there are a handful of things you must be doing. For one, youmust be offering some sort of good or service to customers- after all, that’s the basicfunction of a business. Chances are also good that you know your customer- the targetaudience to whom you’re selling your service or product. However, there’s somethingthat’s vitally important that you may not have thought about yet: unmet need.

Five Questions That Unlock the Secretto Differentiation and Rapid Success

Mathew Pollard

whether they know it, or not.Sometimes, customers know thattheir needs aren’t being met and areaware of what might make thesituation better. Other times, theymay not be able to identify what theirother needs are—and it’s your job tofigure it out. Finding this unmet needand delivering it to customers is thekey to differentiating yourself fromthe competition and achieving rapidsuccess. Just look at the successPizza Hut experienced byguaranteeing delivery within aspecific time or the pizza would befree, or that was encountered byDomino’s Pizza after providingonline ordering. Both of these needsare ones that most customerswouldn’t have even thought of; theyjust knew they hated waiting forpizza or receiving something otherthan what they ordered due tomiscommunications over the phone.

So what is your customer’s

unmet need? As a business owner,you must communicate withcustomers and/or prospectivecustomers to discover the answer.Asking customers the questionsbelow can help you understandwhat their unmet need(s) might be:

1. Why they buy or don’t buy yourproduct or service.2. What they feel before orderingthis product or service.3. The challenges they face gettingthis product or service.

a. Of these challenges whichone provides them the greatestinconvenience?4. What might make their liveseasier when ordering or using thisproduct or service.5. If they had a magic wand and asa result didn’t have to x. Whatwould x be?

While people may not be able togive you extensive details, theyoften have a general sense of whatit is they want that they’re not yetgetting. These questions will helpyou gain a much betterunderstanding of what their unmetneed could be; it will help themunderstand it, too. Going back toour Laundromat example, perhapsyour customers say they neverseem to have the change they needto run the machines, or perhapsthey say they hate waiting on site tokeep their clothes safe; perhapsthey even say they get bored. Theinformation your customers giveyou will allow you to piece together

what the unmet need(s) may beand meet them to achieve marketadvantage. In these cases, perhapsyou could offer a TV above eachwasher and dryer, or perhaps youcould find a technology that locksthe washers and dryers with acredit card swipe to keep clothessafe, and also bills the customer sothey don’t need coins. There aremany possible solutions to fill theseunmet needs; your job is todecipher which unmet needs, ifmet, would give you superiormarket advantage, and whichwould simply be nice to have; thengo about incorporating the onesyou believe will be most helpful.

Once you have some ideas ofwhat the unmet needs of yourmarket might be and how youwould go about meeting them, it’stime to test possible solutions.Before spending money ask yourcustomers, “if I were to offersomething like x, would that be ahelp to you?” In this way, you cangain great insights and learn how totailor a product to them.

So, start communicating withyour customers about what mightimprove their experience with yourbusiness, or the industry in general.Listen to feedback, and introducechanges or technologies that willaddress those needs. The secret tosuccess is really this simple, so usethe power of meeting unmet needsto get a piece of that success inyour market today. �

Top Sales Magazine February 10th Edition 2015 15

You can find out more about Matthew Pollard byvisiting here.

While people may notbe able to give you

extensive details, theyoften have a general

sense of what it is theywant that they’re not

yet getting. Thesequestions will help you

gain a much betterunderstanding of whattheir unmet need could

be; it will help themunderstand it, too.

Marketing and sales – you arethe weakest link!

Take a look at the well-knownBritish game show for a few criteriathat determine the statisticalweakest link:

� Most money lost for the team byanswering questions of high valuesincorrectly� Number of incorrect answers inthe round

� Time spent/wasted onanswering a particular question

Put into context for marketing andsales:

� With inaccurate and incompletecustomer profiles, salesopportunities can be missed –losing money for the team� Without insight into whathappens to leads after they’re

passed to sales, lead nurturing andprospect qualification can beincorrect� Without streamlined andautomated processes betweenmarketing and sales, valuableselling time can be spent/wasted

Strengthening the Link withShared InsightsBy integrating marketing automationwith new, real-time sales

Organizations have paid the price long enough for the weak processes betweenmarketing and sales. According to Aberdeen Group, the biggest gap between salesperformers and under-achievers lies in integrating sales intelligence with sales andmarketing systems. And Sirius Decisions says only a miniscule 8% of B2B companiesreport good alignment between marketing and sales teams.

February 10th Edition 2015 Top Sales Magazine 16

Goodbye to the Weakest Link

Micheline Nijmeh

engagement analytics, organizationscan remove this misalignment. Withmore synchronized teams andintegration of systems acrossbusiness groups, organizations canstreamline and improve internalcommunications to increaseproductivity.

Real-time engagement analyticsthat are available today delivermore complete customer profilesthan ever before. By sharing thisdata across marketing teams andfront-line reps, organizations canbreak down the silos and benefitfrom a more accurate andconsistent view of customers.

Marketing: Bank on BetterLead Scoring and ProspectQualificationBy monitoring sales efforts in realtime to see what interestsprospects, marketing can providemore value to sales teams throughmore consistent messaging. Withincreased customer insight,marketing can also quickly changemessages to bring more value tothe organization. By integratingmarketing and sales systems,these changes can be madethroughout the whole buyingprocess – versus just at the

beginning.Additionally, integration between

marketing automation and salesengagement systems can generatenew leads for marketing – faster.When sales documents are re-shared with additional contacts,those leads become automaticallyshared and synchronized withexisting systems, so everyone –including marketing – has a unified,real-time view and can quickly seeany new stakeholders.

This capability is particularlyuseful for large, complex deals thatinvolve many decision-makers – sothat other players can be identifiedand nurtured through the process.

Sales: Bank on Real-timeVisibility for CustomizedEngagementWithout the same access to digitalinsights as marketing, sales teamshave been operating blindly. Today,that’s changing – driven in part by asales environment that has beentransformed by more informedconsumers and exploding insidesales.

New sales engagement toolsare now available that show howprospects interact with salescontent on a very deep level. Salesreps can see precisely when aprospect opens a sales proposaland how long they view each page.By seeing how actively engaged aprospect is, sales reps can quicklyand accurately rank top prospects.

They can get instant alerts whena prospect forwards a document –

and immediately see the profileinformation for the recipient of theforwarded document. No moresurprises when a new stakeholderyou’ve never heard of shows up atthe close of a deal!

For maximum value, these toolsmust integrate with existingmarketing automation. By integratingemerging sales analytics tools withmarketing automation, sales getsthe most visibility – seeing whatengages prospects very early on –so they can better understand whenand how to reach out to prospects.

Personalization has becomecritical. According to research, 47%of best-in-class companies prioritizethe importance of personalization ofcustomer conversations. By tailoringand timing follow-up based onprospect engagement with content,sales teams can deliver moretailored and timely follow-up that’sbeen shown to close deals faster.

Raising the Jackpot withIntegrated Marketing and SalesWith an aligned effort and access tothe most complete insights, salesand marketing can work moreclosely to create a better customerprofile, cultivate new opportunities,and drive revenue for the business.

Avoid the walk of shame. Increase the insight that you

need to be successful. Get all thehigh-value questions answered.And bank the most money for theteam. �

Top Sales Magazine February 10th Edition 2015 17

Micheline Nijmeh is the Chief Marketing Officer,LiveHive Inc. Find out more by visiting here.

Additionally,integration between

marketing automationand sales engagementsystems can generate

new leads formarketing – faster.

Too often we do not separate theimportant from the urgent or

differentiate between short andlong-term gains. Checking emailsevery five minutes may increaseyour dopamine levels and sense ofaccomplishment, but it won’t bringyou much closer to your salestargets.

The Eisenhower box

”What is important is seldom urgentand what is urgent is seldomimportant.”

-Dwight Eisenhower

The former US president DwightEisenhower created a matrix tohelp visualize and prioritize tasksaccording to their level of importanceand urgency. It has become aclassic in productivity literature andmakes it clear how the feeling of

If there’s one thing we all have in common, it is time. How we choose to spend itdetermines both how we feel and what results we will achieve. A big problem with timemanagement is our inability to prioritize effectively.

Are you doing ”busy-work” or progressingtowards your sales targets?

February 10th Edition 2015 Top Sales Magazine 18

George Brontén

urgency lures us into busy-work.This is a useful tool to help get yourpriorities straight on a daily basis(an excel template for salesmanagers can be downloaded atthe end of this article).

What do sales managers dotoo much and too little of?More than any member of the salesorganization, frontline sales managersare probably in the best position tohelp increase sales results. Howthey spend their time is veryimportant, as their decisions willtrickle down to the sales people andcan either make or break the team.

However, sales managers tendto spend too little time on theactivities that help create long-termsuccess. Rather than schedulingregular coaching sessions, developingtalent, providing clear goals andobjectives and holding peopleaccountable, their calendars arefilled with unnecessary meetings,time-consuming excel reports andresponding to low-priority emails.

Activity or progress?Sales people are not exempt fromwasting time on low-value activities.You may find it urgent to read thelatest stories in your news feed,report the latest numbers tomanagement and get that expensereport out of the way. You may feelcompelled to answer the recentemails, phone calls and texts

you’ve received. However, doingsomething unimportant well doesnot make it important. In this stressfrenzy, you may be overlooking themost important tasks – the thingsthat will take you closer towardsreaching quota.

Too many sales organizationsmake no distinction betweenactivity (phone calls, emails) andprogress (milestones achieved,commitment gained). As aconsequence, we end up seeinglots of activities, but little realprogress towards our set objectives.When we spend our time in thewrong quadrants, we end up withstale pipelines.

Break the vicious circle andalign action with directionI recommend taking a step backand look at your past week. Make alist of all your activities and thenplace them in the box where theybelong.

Contrary to popular belief, theend goal is not to spend most ofyour time in the top left box, oftencalled the quadrant of necessity.Submitting the latest sales forecastand putting together last month’sexpense report are both importantactivities with deadlines attached,but neither will help you achieveyour goals quicker.

Also, be careful not to becomestuck in problem-solving for yoursales people – that’s not your role.The saying: “Give a man a fish andyou feed him for a day; teach a manto fish and you feed him for a

lifetime” is relevant to keep in mindfor tasks in the upper left box.

Instead, you want to dedicatemore of your time to quadrant 2;this is where you will do the workaligned with the long term goals ofyour sales organization. Examplesof quadrant 2 activities would beconducting a win/loss analysis, orputting together a training andcoaching program to develop yourteam.

In the lower left box (also knownas the quadrant of deception), you’llfind the majority of your busy work,such as responding to emails.Looking at what you’ve placed here,what can you scratch or delegate?

Finally, what falls into the lowerright box? These are your timewasters and need to be eliminatedaltogether.

What am I working to achieve?As a daily habit, ask yourself whichgoal the task you are currentlydoing is getting you closer towards.If you can’t find an answer, it’sprobably not the most value-creating task to perform and youshould reprioritize or delegate. Or,perhaps you are lacking clear goalsand objectives and need to spendmore time towards creating andcommunicating them to the team(and yes, this type of task would gointo quadrant 2)? If you find thismatrix helpful, start using it to reachyour goals. Download the SalesManager Time Matrix here. �

Top Sales Magazine February 10th Edition 2015 19

George Brontén is the CEO of Membrain.Find out more by visiting here.

Sales people are notexempt from wasting

time on low-valueactivities.

2015 Top Sales AcademyLaunches on March 6th

See this year’s Faculty here

Top Sales Article & Blog Posts

Perhaps it’s time for a re-think of“Death of a Salesman.” After twodecades of talk about the “neweconomy” and the “disruption” ofcertain professions by the Internet,you might think that sales as weknow it is as stale and outdated asWilly Loman — a function that hasbeen “disintermediated” by thedigital revolution.

In fact, reports of the death ofsales are not just exaggerated; theyare wrong. To paraphrase a linefrom Arthur Miller’s play, “Attentionmust still be paid.” The sales forceremains a force. True, the digitalimpact on business has been

significant and, in some industries,revolutionary. But companies thatview sales as just part of theplumbing do so at their peril.Consider:� Annual spending by U.S.companies on their field salesefforts is three timesthe amountspent on all consumer advertising,more than 20 times what theyspend on all online media, andmore than one hundred times whatthey currently spend on socialmedia.� According to a Gallup survey,about 62 percent of U.S. adults ...

Yes, professional sellers,salespeople are awesome andamazing in many cases. Salesprofessionals are what make thebusiness world go around. Haveyou ever heard the followingstatement:

Nothing happens untilsomebody sells something.

Lack of sales expertise, revenuegeneration strategies and actualsales efforts are what kills mostnew businesses. I’ve worked withthousands of entrepreneurialefforts. Many people have greatideas, but they cannot execute in away that generates revenues to

support the venture. They close.Recently Hubspot shared a post

called The 13 Stereotypes ofSalespeople: Debunked, which isall about the negatives they saypeople say about sellers. I wasshocked because frankly, I’maround some of the most amazingsales professionals in NorthAmerica, every week. If I workedinternationally, I bet I’d find amazingsellers throughout the world.

They reference a Slidesharepresentation created byInsightSquared called, 13Pervasive (and Totally Wrong) ...

Read More Here�

Read More Here�

This Week’s Top Sales ArticleWhy the “New Economy” Still Needs Salespeople by Frank Cespedes

This Week’s Top Sales Blog PostSalespeople are AWESOME by Lori Richardson

Top Sales Magazine February 10th Edition 2015 21

February 10th Edition 2015 Top Sales Magazine 22

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