THIS MONTH’S CONTRIBUTORS: TAMARA SCHENK, DAVE KURLAN, MICHAEL GRIEGO, LISA CLARK, BRIAN SULLIVAN, MARK HUNTER, DAN MCDADE, JAY MITCHELL, JOE GALVIN& GEORGE BRONTÉN

FROM TOP SALES WORLD SEPTEMBER 2016

Jonathan Farrington interviews 3 Salesforce executives about the new initiativesfocused on sales professionals Sara Varni, SVP Marketing, Tiffani Bova, Global CustomerGrowth and Innovation Evangelist and Tim Clarke, Director Product Marketing

T P SALES MAGAZINE

ALSO INSIDE: MHI Globalannounces SalesLeadershipExecutive Series

The Sales Puzzle:Salesforce goesbeyond the technology

TOP SALES MAGAZINE SEPTEMBER 20162

Building A CaseFor Investing InSales ManagersFirstTamara Schenk

1211 Ways YouCan QuicklyIncrease Sales,Revenue andProfitDave Kurlan

14

SalesManagement ­Raising the NextGenerationMichael Griego

16If There’s OneThing Your SalesAnalytics isMissing, It’s ThisLisa Clark

18

In EnterprisePursuits, It’sAbout TimeBrian Sullivan

20Why MostProspectingEfforts Don’tWorkMark Hunter

22

PulchLeadsDan M

2

hritudinoussMcDade

24 King Arthur andStatus Quo: A Tale Too OftenPlayed Out inSalesJay Mitchell

28

TrustingNew DataJoe Galvin

30Contentmarketing isdead. What’snext?George Brontén

32

ContentsSeptember 2016

Editors: Jonathan Farrington JF@topsalesworld.comLinda Richardson linda@lindarichardson.comDesign: Bill Jeckells bill@billjeckells.comPublished by: Top Sales World A JF INITIATIVE

The Sales Puzzle: Salesforcegoes beyond the technologyJonathan Farrington interviews3 Salesforce executives aboutthe new initiatives focused onsales professionals Sara Varni,Tiffani Bova, and Tim ClarkePAGE 6

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The Real Value of InvestmentJonathan Farrington PAGE 4

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TOP SALES MAGAZINE SEPTEMBER 20164

The Real Value of Investment

And yet, I remember with considerable clarity,my embarrassment only 20 years ago, whenGB were languishing 36th in the Atlanta

Olympics medal table, the entire team securing onlya single gold between them. This is the story of aremarkable transformation…

As that nadir was being reached back in 1996,

the most pivotal change of all had already takenplace. The advent of the National Lottery in 1994,and the decision of John Major's strugglinggovernment to allocate significant streams of itsrevenue to elite Olympic sport, set in motion afunding spree unprecedented in British sport.

From just £5m per year before Atlanta, UKSport's spending leapt to £54m by Sydney 2000,where Britain won 28 medals to leap to 10th on themedal table. By the time of London 2012 ­ third inthe medal table, 65 medals ­ that had climbed to£264m. Between 2013 and 2017, almost £350m inpublic funds will have been lavished on Olympic andParalympic sports. It has reinvigorated some sportsand altered others beyond recognition.

There are ethical and economic debates raised bythis maximum sum game. Team GB's 67 medals wonin Brazil cost an average of £4,096,500 each inlottery and exchequer funding over the past fouryears. At a time of austerity, that is profligate tosome. To others, the average cost of this Olympicprogramme to each Briton ­ a reported £1.09 peryear ­ represents extraordinary financial and

My passion for sport is wellchronicled, so there will beno surprise that I amfeeling immense pride at

Team GB’s efforts in Rio over the past 2weeks. It has been an Olympic fiesta likenever before for Britain: second place inthe medal table for the first time in 108years, the first nation to increase its medalcount at five successive Games, the onlyhost nation to go on to win more medalsat the next Olympics.

Editorial

emotional value. Funding has not flowed to all British sports

equally, because in some there is a greater chance ofsuccess than others. On Lagoa Rodrigo de Freitas,Britain's rowers dominated the regatta, winningthree gold medals and two silvers. With 43 athletes,they also had the biggest team of any nation. Forty­nine of the nations there qualified teams of fewerthan 10 athletes. Thirty­two had a team of just oneor two rowers. Only nine other nations won gold. Incomparison, 204 nations were represented in trackand field competition at Rio's Estadio Olimpico, and47 nations won medals.

British efforts in the velodrome, where for thethird Olympics on the bounce they ruled the boards,were fuelled by a budget over the four years fromLondon of £30.2m, up even from the £26m theyreceived in funding up to 2012. In comparison, theUS track cycling team has only one full­time staffmember.

Then there is the decline of other nations whoonce battled with Britain for the upper reaches ofthe medal table, and frequently sat far higher. In2012, Russia finished fourth with 22 golds. Theywere third in 2008 and third again in 2004. Thissummer, despite escaping a total ban on theirathletes in the wake of the World Anti­DopingAgency's McLaren Report, they finished with 19golds for fourth, permitted to enter only one trackand field athlete, Darya Klishina.

As Team GB has risen, others have fallen back. InRio, 129 different British athletes have won anOlympic medal. It is a remarkable depth and breadthof talent and the abilities of those men and womenhave been backed up by similar aptitude in coachingand support.

It is an intimidating thought for Britain'scompetitors. After two decades of consistentimprovement, Rio may not even represent the peak!

Is there a connection here to the sales space?Can we identify similarities? Lessons we can learn?Of course, there are many!

I am thinking: training, coaching, investment…

I am deeply concerned that even the super­richcorporations, who used to put their latest intakes ona solid two year program before letting them looseon an unsuspecting audience of buyers, now believethat around two weeks of product training is quitesufficient.

And yet there is compelling evidence whichproves that those companies who are making a long­term investment in on­going learning andimprovement are reaping rich rewards: Turnover hasbeen reduced to virtually nil; teams are happy andfeel valued; staff typically work longer hours, but arealso working smarter, and they are totally dedicated.None of that should come as a surprise to any of us.When a company demonstrates its commitment toits employees by investing back into them, thoseemployees are anxious to repay that faith – it is a“no­brainer” and definitely a “win­win”.

The reality is that dependence on salespeople iskey to delivering the latent capability of a business.Our salespeople are the greatest source ofcompetitive advantage we have and that is preciselywhy we should continue to invest in them and fullydevelop them. This means that sales directors andsales managers who are not happy with the resultsthey are achieving must make changes.

Organizations that want to permanently increasetheir sales results need to approach sales differentlyin order to create “the difference that makes thedifference”, to positively impact bottom lineperformance.

Sales captains and salespeople, who have 100%commitment to doing whatever it takes to elevatetheir sales to a whole new level, are the ones mostlikely to succeed.

Team GB made such a commitment and look atthem now! n

To read more of Jonathan's articles, posts,white papers and thoughts visit his personal

site here. You can also follow himon LinkedIn here

TOP SALES MAGAZINE SEPTEMBER 2016 5

JF: You’ve really been increasing the amount ofthought leadership initiatives focused on salesprofessionals at Salesforce – Why is this soimportant for you?

TC: Many people look to Salesforce for their salestechnology, though this is only one piece of the

puzzle. We want to go above and beyond this,ensuring we are helping sales professionals and salesorganizations develop their skills and processes andgaining true sales intelligence. This is why we have ateam purely focused on partnering with the toppeople in the sales industry, to share theirknowledge through content, webcasts and events,helping sales professionals be their best.

SV: As Tim says, you can have the best technology,but if you don’t have the right process, it doesn’treally matter. Our commitment to salesprofessionals goes above and beyond thetechnology. At Salesforce, we work with some of thelargest sales organizations in the world and we wantto work with our customers to share best practicesand help sales professionals be better than ever.

TB: This was really one of the key reasons for mejoining Salesforce, when you think about who has astrong pulse on what is happening in the overallworld of sales, Salesforce is top of that list.

Jonathan Farrington interviews 3Salesforce executives about their newinitiatives focused on sales professionalsSara Varni, SVP Marketing, (SV) TiffaniBova, Global Customer Growth andInnovation Evangelist (TB) and Tim Clarke,Director Product Marketing (TC).

TOP SALES MAGAZINE SEPTEMBER 20166

The Sales Puzzle: Salesforce goes beyond the technology

The Jonathan Farrington Interview

Understanding what is happening within salesorganizations, the impact technology is having oncustomer engagement, and getting a closer look intoa day in the life of seller. My number one goal everyday is finding ways to help customers be moresuccessful, and then taking those insights andsharing them with the wider sales community.

JF: Do you see many sales professionals beingable to set aside time from selling to learn anddevelop?

TB: The high­performing sales organizations arethose that have leaders that ensure they hit theirquarterly numbers, whilst looking ahead 8­10quarters to orchestrate what is needed for futuresuccess within their teams. However, irrespective ofhow strong the leader is, if a seller doesn’t have theirown drive and desire to be the best sales personthey can be, they won’t succeed. The only thing asalesperson can really control is their behaviour infront of a customer and their personal preparation.So setting aside time to learn and develop both withwhat companies may offer internally and what theycan do on their own, will be critical for their futuredevelopment and success.

SV: Striking the right balance is hard and when theydo want to learn, traditionally there have been veryfew good destinations for sales professionals to goand learn from their peers. Which makes sense as it’sa competitive field and people don’t necessarilywant to share their secrets. We think there’s a goodchallenge ­ and opportunity ­ here and that’s whywe’ve really been focused on bringing salespeopletogether to help them learn from each other.

TB: We’ve all seen the research from consultingfirms and analysts that show the buyer is becomingincreasingly savvy and consuming content in newways, via associations, social media and peers. Thebuyer is looking for information prior to reaching outto a brand, more so than ever. Both B2C and B2B

organizations are increasingly focused on getting tothe top of the funnel before the buyer realized theyhave a challenge or a pain. If they see what othercustomers are doing with you, this is far morevaluable than a targeted ad with a ‘buy now’ button.

TC: You need the right content, easily accessible andsearchable, in the right medium for you. I regularlyscroll through my social channel feeds and seeorganizations and individuals pushing product, eitherorganically or paid, and this turns me off. There isabsolutely the right time and place for this type ofcontent, but in general, I want to engage with peoplewho are adding value to me. So we set out to do justthis – get best practices from our customers, owninternal sales executives, some of the leading mindsin the sales industry. That’s why we createdQuotable, a location site with exclusive contentfeaturing helpful, thought­provoking, andentertaining articles that benefit sales leaders,managers and reps, not biased by product.

JF: So Sara, in your role of Product Marketing,how do you ensure that your initiatives stay true toyour goal of leading with insights not product?

SV: I’ve seen companies in the past that have triedto lead with thought leadership, but you get a coupleof pages in and it’s really just about the product – itdoesn’t deliver on the original promise they set outwith. It’s really a natural extension of your brand ­you want to create a conversation around yourbrand, but this won’t happen if it’s just aboutproduct – it’s much easier to do this when talking inthe context of their daily life and the challenges thatthey face.

TC: Our Quotable tagline is ‘Learn from the best.Sell like the best’. We are dedicated to top qualitycontent from the best minds in the industry, whoare living and breathing sales each day. We wantto really ensure we set a high bar for quality, andit’s all done independently of any of our product

TOP SALES MAGAZINE SEPTEMBER 2016 7

initiatives. We’ve spent a lot of time analyzingwho is out there in the sales industry andpartnering with them to share their insights, fromlarge organizations like McKinsey & Company andCEB, through to individual thought leaders likeTim Sanders and Colleen Francis. Salesprofessionals want to learn from their peers, notjust those with those most followers on Twitter!We’re just scratching the surface, when we lookat our customer base, we are really starting tofocus the individuals that have some great salesstories to share, from their career journeys totheir top tips!

SV: When creating this content, I look at whatcompels me to read something in my consumer life.Really there’s 3 different pieces of content that Igravitate to; Research­based; disruptive or reallypractical. Nobody wants to read middle­of­the­road content with one foot in thought leadershipand one in product where it’s real intent of thecontent is unclear.

JF: Why did you decide to go with a differentbrand, ‘Quotable’? Couldn’t you have just built offthe Salesforce name?

TC: This is a great question! We have some greatcontent across all of our Salesforce properties, forour different buyers at different stages in thejourney, though we wanted to create a dedicatedspace specifically for sales professionals with purethought leadership content (top­of­funnel content).We carried out research across many brands thathave created content sites with subtle branding anddifferent names, one such example beingAutodesk’s Line//Shape//Space. Quotable playsoff the sales ‘quota’ plus ensuring each article has akey quotable takeaway!

TB: Being part of a customer's initial outreach whilethey are learning the best way they can solve a realbusiness problem has become far more impactful

than unsolicited outreach. In providing the rightcontent which isn’t about themselves, brands canfind an increased amount of engagement in newopportunities or discussions that they may not havebeen in before. With so much of informationgathering happening “off­brand’ (meaning not acompany’s website), it is important to meetcustomers how and where they want to engage.

JF: So other than self­development, what otherroles does this content play for salesprofessionals?

TC: Having spent many years in both sales andmarketing roles, the most successful relationships Ibuilt with my prospects and customers were when Iled with insight, not product. Having this greatinsightful content is perfect for prospecting andopening new doors. As an Account Executive, Iwanted to share great content on my socialnetworks to build my own brand as well as that ofmy own company, knowing that when the potentialbuyer realized they had a business challenge / issuethat they would think of me.

SV: This is why sales enablement has been socritical to us to increase our reach. Getting thiscontent in the hands of our sales professionals willhelp them, as well as their prospects andcustomers. An Account Executive sharing this witha prospect starts a new 1­to­1 journey and it’salways going to be a lot more powerful thanmarketing pushing the content out.

JF: How are you seeing content consumed bysales professionals now?

TC: Each person has their own learning style – I’mvery visual and like watching videos or listening toaudio. We have set out to ensure that any contentwe share is available in each medium, whether awritten blog, an audio podcast or a videorecording.

TOP SALES MAGAZINE SEPTEMBER 20168

The Jonathan Farrington Interview

TB: It’s important for brands to be on as manychannels as you can be (depending on where youraudience is), without going crazy. If you only have 1channel covered, then you are missing a portion ofthe potential audience

SV: It’s clearly so subjective and personal. I tend toread on my commute into work so a great mobileexperience is always going to be critical. Salesprofessionals have limited time so we need contentto be easily accessible. If I’m going to watch videos,they need to be short and to the point. Anintegrated approach combining all these mediumshelp to make it as easy as possible for the salesprofessional to consume and act on.

JF: With so many events out there, why did youcreate the new Sales Machine event in NYC?

TC: Events are another really important way ofengaging with sales professionals, though clearlynot as scalable. here are many events throughoutthe year focused on different industries andprofessions, certainly in the technology space. Wefelt there was an opportunity to create a new typeof thought leadership event which was onlyfocused on sales professionals, connecting themwith compelling industry thought leaders andcontent, that make it worth the time away fromselling. In partnership with Sales Hacker, we spent alot of time working on the content to ensure thatwe covered the full landscape of topics, as well ashaving actionable takeaways.

SV: It was certainly a big bet for us to try somethingnew. It’s widely recognized the challenge of gettingthe VP of Sales and their teams away from their dayjob to do career development. But this event reallyfocused on networking as well as self­development– we needed to ensure that it was as compelling aspossible.

TB: Sales executives need to look at the calendar of

events throughout the year and pick 1 or 2 whenyou can really shut down from your day­to­daybusiness and learn a fresh perspective, taking 1 or 2things back to your business. WIthout the time tonetwork with other sales professionals and extendyour own personal knowledge base you will findyourself stagnant in your career. Getting motivated,inspired and empowered to be the best salespersonyou can be ­ especially at an event like SalesMachine ­ is a win win for everyone.

SV: We’re also expanding our other events such asDreamforce to ensure we have sales thoughtleadership embedded within it. In order to deliverthe best technology for sales professionals, weneed to truly understand the market and challengesthat they go through. Our findings and industryresearch is the type of content we need to share atour own conference, ensuring the right balancebetween process and product. That’s why this yearwe are running our 4th annual Sales Summit atDreamforce!

TC: We’re just scratching the surface. The world ofbuying and selling will continue to evolve rapidlyand we will keep finding new ways of helping salesprofessionals to be as successful as possible. n

Useful Links:Quotable

Salesforce Sales Leadership Community Dreamforce Sales Summit 2016

TOP SALES MAGAZINE SEPTEMBER 2016 9

Footnote: Do look out for an excellentaudio interview I recorded withSarah, Tiffani and Tim. Detailswill be in October’s edition,which will be out on September27th. JF

https://www.salesforce.com/dreamforce/DF16/sales-summit/

https://www.mhiglobal.com/leadership-executive-series

Investments in sales productivity are often asignificant budget item, and sales leaders need totailor these investments to achieve their business

goals. As the results of our CSO Insights 2016 SalesEnablement Optimization Study show, mostinvestments in sales productivity are focused onsalespeople, and investments to develop frontlinesales managers are still not a top priority. In the maininvestment categories of $500­$2,500 per personper year, 53.6% of all training investments aretargeted to salespeople; and 41.4% for salesmanagers. Furthermore, 18.6% of all respondentsreported not investing in their sales managers at all,compared to only 6% who reported not investing intheir salespeople.

At CSO Insights, we encourage our clients to lookat it this way: If an investment in one person canimpact the performance of six, eight, or ten

salespeople, why would you not prioritize thisinvestment?

Frontline sales managers: key role but poorlydeveloped

Frontline sales managers have a greater impact onsales execution, productivity, and transformationthan any other role. What makes this role sodemanding is the need to continually balance threeoften­competing areas – customer, business, andpeople – in constantly changing and complex sellingand buying environments.

Furthermore, frontline sales managers are almostalways sandwiched between the competing goalsand motivations of their team and corporateexecutives as well as between those of customersand the internal organization. Their performance isjudged on their ability to achieve multiple, often­competing goals at the same time.

Having been the best sales professional in theorganization does not automatically qualify anindividual to be a top­performing frontline salesmanager. The root cause of poor performance is thefailure to develop frontline sales managers in theirnew role. Poorly developed frontline sales managersdrive top performers out of the organization andpromote mediocre performance from those whoremain. This is something sales leaders withambitious growth and performance goals simplycannot afford.

Investing in frontline sales managers drivesresults if done the right way!

The data from our 2016 Sales EnablementOptimization Study shows that organizations thatmake little to no investment in sales managerdevelopment fail to achieve even average results.

“The Principle of Prioritystates (a) you must know thedifference between what isurgent and what is important,and (b) you must do what’s

important first.”― Steven Pressfield

TOP SALES MAGAZINE SEPTEMBER 201612

Building A Case For Investing In Sales Managers First

Tamara Schenk

Conversely, those study participants who investedmore than $2,500 per sales manager per yearexperienced far better results. For example, byinvesting in sales managers, the win rate forforecasted deals could be improved by 9% up to50.5%.

However, modest investments were not enough.Those respondents who reported making only minorinvestments in sales manager development saw a winrate of only 43.7%, which was 5.5% below thereported average of 46.2%.

Investments in frontline sales managerdevelopment correlated to an even bigger impact inthe area of revenue plan attainment, which could beimproved by 18.4% up to 106.7%, compared to theaverage revenue plan attainment of 90.1%.

Coaching is the key to leveragingsalespeople’s full potential, but it has to beformalized to be effective!

Coaching does matter. The impact on salesperformance metrics, such as quota attainment orwin rates, is remarkable. But the impact depends onthe coaching approach. And the way organizationsapproach coaching their salespeople remains aninteresting data point. Only 27% of all studyparticipants reported having a formal or dynamiccoaching approach. “Formal” means that there is acoaching process defined and that sales managersare trained this way and required to coachaccordingly. Dynamic means that in addition to theformal approach, the coaching framework is alsoconnected to the sales force enablement framework.

Almost half of the study participants (47.5%)reported leaving coaching up to their sales managers.But this laissez­faire approach creates noperformance impact whatsoever. When coaching isleft up to managers, quota attainment was only53.4%, as compared to the study’s average quotaattainment of 55.8%. An informal coaching approachimproved quota only slightly better than average. Inour study, a formal coaching approach resulted in

significantly better than average performance, and adynamic approach improved quota attainment by anastounding 10.2% up to 61.5%.

These findings show that investing in less than aformal coaching approach is a waste of money, ifsales leaders want to get better than average.

Investing in frontline sales managersleverages the investments made in a salesforce enablement foundation

The CSO Insights 2016 Sales Enablement OptimizationStudy highlighted another interesting correlation thatcould be used to leverage synergies between salesperformance initiatives. Organizations with anenablement function invest more in their salesmanagers than those without an enablementfunction.

Sales force enablement’s foundation provides agreat starting point for sales manager development.Based on an existing sales force enablementframework, a coaching framework should bedeveloped, sitting between the customer’s journeyand the internal processes. To make frontline salesmanager enablement successful, especially coachingenablement, it helps to design the coachingframework as a mirror image of the enablementframework. This connects coaching to theenablement services and promotes adoption andreinforcement.

Coaching is a vital skill that has to be learnedfrom scratch, and a dedicated, formal sales managerdevelopment program is a must­have for anyambitious sales organization. This sales managerdevelopment program must cover all three areas ofthe frontline sales manager triangle: customers,business, and people. And, while coaching is onlyone aspect of the people side of the triangle, it isthe most impactful and differentiating one. n

Tamara Schenk is a Research Director withCSO Insights, A Division of MHI Global.

Find out more here

TOP SALES MAGAZINE SEPTEMBER 2016 13

In his June 30 insights, Verne included a quotefrom Greg Brenneman, author of Right Away andAll at Once ­ 5 Steps to Transform Your Business

and Enrich Your Life. Verne really liked Greg'semphasis on how to drive sales. Greg says, "Empiricalevidence shows that you get at least four times themarket value for a dollar of profit that comes fromrevenue growth versus a dollar of profit that comesfrom cost reduction."

TOP SALES MAGAZINE SEPTEMBER 201614

11 Ways You Can Quickly Increase Sales, Revenue and Profit

Verne Harnish is thePresident of Gazelles - thecoaching organization thathelps fast growthcompanies. In addition to

his best-selling books, Mastering theRockefeller Habits and his latest, Scaling Up,he writes the Weekly Insights, which Ialways read from top to bottom.

Isn't that a great quote? But it's more than aquote. It's a blueprint! Let's discuss some of theways that you can achieve the desired revenuegrowth.

I have encountered far too many companies thatexpect their growth to come from acquisitions, ortheir increase in profit from cost­cutting and it nevermade any sense to me. With as much data as wehave at Objective Management Group (OMG), wedidn't have that 4x data. I love it!

So the question to ask is, how can any companyorganically increase its revenue, beginning today?

From 30,000 feet, there are eleven possibilities:

l Expand your channel(s)l Add salespeople to your existing geography

and/or territoriesl Replace under performing salespeoplel Raise pricesl Add products or product linesl Expand your geography and/or territoryl Improve sales performance

Dave Kurlan

Replacing under performing salespeople andadding salespeople works ­ but only if you aresignificantly better at hiring the new ones than youwere at hiring the old ones. If your recruiting andselection process haven't undergone significantchanges, you might select salespeople who are evenmore ineffective than the salespeople beingreplaced! Check out the leading sales candidateassessment to drastically improve sales selection.

Expanding business within existing customers isa lot more challenging for salespeople than it shouldbe. At this point in time they probably have greatrelationships and won't want to jeopardize thoserelationships by pushing for more, especially if thecustomer believes they are already buying as muchas they can from you. In this case their need to beliked is a huge weakness.

Geographic and Channel Expansions areexpensive and take time. While they usually pay offin the long term, they suck up resources, spread theleadership team thin, and the move is often risky andfrustrating.

Adding Products can open new doors andincrease revenue from existing accounts. However,your existing salespeople are typically creatures ofhabit and often struggle with new products. You'llprobably have to bring on new salespeople if youwant new product lines to successfully add revenueto your top line.

Companies get the biggest bang for their buckwhen they focus on Improving overall salesperformance, sales management effectiveness,sales strategies, systems and processes. These tendto be some of the most cost­effective, fast­working,long­lasting changes a company can make toincrease revenue. The most important thing to beaware of with this particular choice is that theimprovements become an integral part of your salesculture and continue to pay dividends in the nearand distant future. n

Dave Kurlan is the Founder & CEO ofObjective Management Group Inc. Visit here

TOP SALES MAGAZINE SEPTEMBER 2016 15

l Improve sales management effectivenessl Improve sales strategiesl Improve sales systems and processesl Expand business within existing customers

From my 30 years of experience helping companiesdo many of these things, the easiest and fastest ofthese is the price increase. Most companies handleprice increases very poorly, over complicate it,ineffectively communicate it, and manage tosomehow get their sales force distracted for monthsby this simple step.

I worked with one company in Los Angeles thateveryone knows and visits and we needed tochange three months of sales training where wewere working on their consultative approach andrefocus on how to deliver the message of the priceincrease. All of that focus on price made themnervous, negative, and took them off message. Itwould have been much more effective to simplyignore the change and handle it when customersasked!

Bob, the new sales manager can't help himself.He's on a customer call with one of his salesreps and he sees the meeting going sideways.

The customer seems confused in comparing acompetitor's product against the solution the rep ispresenting. The rep is trying to address the issuewhen Bob jumps in and takes over the discussion.For the rest of the customer meeting Bobcommandeers the conversation and skillfullymaneuvers the customer to a clear distinctionbetween the products in context to the customer'sspecific issues and requirements.

The sales rep is amazed and pleased that Bobwas on the call and that he helped move theopportunity forward.

Bob is pleased as well. He's able to report tosenior management that he helped keep thissignificant deal in play.

Once a Sales Super Star...

Bob was a consistent top sales performer in his day.After 10 years in the territory and moving acrossdifferent types of expanding territory and accountresponsibilities, he finally accepted the offer tomove up into field sales management.

He loves it. And while his company did not haveany real formal Sales Management training, he feelshe's performing quite well, thank you. His team of 5reps is slightly ahead of plan through Q2 and he'spretty much able to get involved in most of the keydeals that his reps are managing.

What's Wrong with this Picture?

This is a very common scenario. Top rep getspromoted into sales management. The new managerdives right in and does what he knows best: sell. Hejumps into live opportunity deals with his reps andteaches them to sell the way he used to, or literallydrives the selling himself.

And what's so wrong with that?Plenty.Because that's not what his new job is anymore.

And if he keeps this up he will fail as a sales managerand/or a never develop into a brilliant and effectivefield sales leader or organizational VP or Chief SalesOfficer.

The Job of Sales Manager

I learned a long time ago that the real job of an

Along with the common misunderstanding that great salespeople arenaturally born rather than nurtured, there's a common corollarymisunderstanding that great salespeople naturally become great salesmanagers.

TOP SALES MAGAZINE SEPTEMBER 201616

Sales Management - Raising the Next Generation

Michael Griego

effective sales manager is to be a creator andsustainer of a great sales culture. How does one dothat?

There are 4 key elements through which a greatsales manager establishes, communicates, andcultivates a great sales culture:

1. Defined Sales Process ­ he or she ensures a clearand aligned Sales Process that syncs withMarketing's perspective of the Buyer'sJourney/Process and with Sales Operations. A salesmanager's support and reinforcement of anoptimized Sales Process is key to an effective andscalable sales team and organization.

2. Forecast/Pipeline Management ­ he or sheconducts regular Forecast/Pipeline Review meetingswith their individual sales reps and collectively as ateam. The reports are crisp, clean, and make veryvisible the key metrics that reflect the values of themanager and company. There is private and publicobjective accountability based on agreed toobjectives. Commentary is fair, accurate, andhelpful.

3. Business Review Process ­ he or she has aspecific cadence and uses appropriate frameworksfor weekly, bi­weekly, monthly, quarterly, semi­annual, and annual Business, Territory, and KeyAccount/Opportunity Review Processes. Dependingon the nature of the business and need, these takethe form of Annual or Quarterly Business Reviews(QBR), or Quarterly Territory Reviews, or regularKey Account or Major Opportunity Review sessions.

4. Training Mindset ­ he or she perpetuates a valueof continuous sales training across their team. This iscommunicated in team sales meetings highlightingproduct, industry and market knowledge, successideas and selling best­practices amongst the team.He or she challenges ongoing learning via books,classes, advanced training sessions, and internalsales success stories.

Like a Great Parent

In many ways a great sales manager is actually verymuch like a great parent. Great parents establish"flexible order" in routines and schedule (DefinedSales Process) and institutionalize this across thehousehold. There are limits and boundaries foractivities and behavior reflecting parental values andfair and reasonable consequences for violations(Forecast/Pipeline Management).

Great parents maintain order and obediencewith accountability that is clearly communicated andunderstood (Business Review Process). Oversight isnot tyrannical and heavy­handed, but wiselydisciplined and consistent yet malleable to changingcircumstances.

Finally, great parents become great teachers andlesson­creators always seeking reasonable teachingmoments to help their young charges (TrainingMindset). They learn to mentor appropriately pertheir child's specific needs and consequentlyproduce healthy and productive children whosomeday can become effective parents themselves.

Raising Up Bob

Fortunately, Bob the sales super star turned salesmanager is teachable. He can be taught to redirecthis great selling skills toward becoming a great salesmanager/leader/coach/mentor ­ a great salesculture creator and sustainer. He and hisorganization merely need the 4 key elements forgreat sales management to be honed/developed andinstitutionalized across the company.

Bob is up to the task. He just didn't know.By combining great sales experience, instincts,

and intelligence with wise structure and balancedrigor, there's hope for the next generation of salesmanagers. n

Michael Griego is the President/Founder ofMXL Partners. Find out more here

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As 2016 rolls on, the focus of many B2B salesleaders no doubt turns to a single thought:does my sales team have what it takes to

make goal? With the proliferation of salestechnology, you’d think that with a few strategic,data­driven software purchases, the sales executivemight sit back and rest easy. The technology willdrive every sales rep’s quota attainment to 120%,teams will effortlessly meet pipeline milestones, andentire territories will rack up impressive quarters.

Of course that’s an illusion. Outstanding salesperformance remains a fundamentally humanendeavor, enhanced by thoughtful salesdevelopment and a commitment to great coaching.Yet, increasing revenue expectations place an

enormous burden on front­line managers chargedwith growing successful teams. They are largely time­constrained, lack the tools to be successful, and areoften incapable of knowing who and what to coach on.

With only limited opportunity to observe reps “inthe wild”, it’s difficult for managers to know for sure iftheir reps are prepared to add value in clientinteractions. This forces sales leaders to rely on othersources, such as CRM reporting, to get the fullpicture of an individual team member’s capabilities.Yet what CRM activity data is telling them isfrequently not aligned with results.

Do Your Reps Have What It Takes to Win?

As it turns out, the single most important metricimpacting top­line revenue growth is not tracked byany CRM available today, but it does exist thanks toan emerging class of data­driven mobile technologiesdesigned to capture and correlate ‘sales capabilities’data. Having a pulse on reps’ knowledge, skills andunderstanding of processes is essential to goodcoaching, and provides powerful data­driven insighton where the sales executive can make maximumimpact with each specific rep, in areas such as:

l Product Proficiency – many B2B sales repsrepresent multiple products, or a larger solutionplatform with multiple applications. Reps mustmaster a tremendous amount of feature and functioninformation as well as ultimate benefits to customers.

Despite our industry’s growing obsession with sales analytics, most datastill can’t address the question that bedevils every sales executive: do mymanagers and reps have what it takes to achieve their revenue goals? Byquantifying sales capabilities, and applying data-driven coaching insights tothe activity metrics they use every day, sales leaders are finding the answer– before it’s too late.

If There’s One Thing Your Sales Analytics is Missing, It’s This

TOP SALES MAGAZINE SEPTEMBER 2016 19

Lisa Clark

l Competitive Positioning – It’s imperative that repsgo beyond product understanding to differentiatetheir products against alternatives, even when newcompetitive entrants arise without warning.

l Discovery, Negotiation and Closing Skills –Different phases of the sales cycle require differentskills and behaviors. Some reps have the personalityand temperament to be great openers, yet strugglewhen it comes to asking for the deal – and vice versa.

Moreover, today’s buyers want a sales rep who canact as a “trusted advisor,” not just an information­source. Reps must plan, act fast, think on their feet tomake every available moment count. This requiresnot only a thorough understanding of marketknowledge, competitive nuances and core messagesthat pertain to the prospect’s industry, but alsosituational fluency and confidence.

The Rise of Data­Driven Coaching

A data­driven coaching approach that unites CRMand measured sales force capabilities is a particularlypowerful solution. For a $3 billion global Internetcompany in the Bay Area, data­driven coaching wasthe only way to go. Despite a wealth of data on handfrom sales acceleration solutions, it was missinginsight into the skills and capabilities of its 3,000 reps.To improve their coaching culture at scale, theysought to use data to synthesize individualizedcoaching actions into a system that could prescribeto sales executives to save them time and targetindividual and team needs at a glance.

The firm framed three key performance indicators(KPI’s) for each sales rep from three sources:

1) Metrics from its CRM system, such as individualquota attainment and win rate; 2) Selling skill­set metrics as observed anddocumented by the sales coach; and3) Sales rep proficiency and engagement metricsfrom Qstream, a sales capabilities platform that

analyzes data from thousands of sales rep responsesto scenario­based challenges.

The company leveraged an online dashboard whichtracked their reps’ strengths (and skill gaps) relative toprospecting, countering objections, addressingquestions while following regulatory guidelines ofvarious industries, and closing.

Using the dashboard, sales coaches could morequickly target and prioritize 1:1 coaching plans andidentify team­wide gaps in required knowledge orbehavior so they could address them faster – atscale. Having a quantified metric on these criticalcapabilities sent a clear message that more wasexpected of reps than just their pipeline, and thatmanager 1:1s were something more than justpipeline reviews.

Next­Generation Sales Analytics

Too often, sales analytics focuses on activity trendsand rear­view metrics, but fails to provide a fullpicture of the insights required to actually changethem. Knowing the limitations, and the possibilities ofthis reporting, can make all the difference.

In an era where most everything in our businesslives can be measured, a data­driven approach tosales management makes intuitive sense. The abilityto monitor and manage the ‘human side’ of salesacceleration through objective, quantifiable data istransforming sales managers into more effectivecoaches, and helping them to ignite their reps’ skillsand capabilities in a way that pays dividends to thebottom line – before it’s too late. n

Lisa Clark is vice president of marketing atQstream, provider of a mobile sales

capabilities platform. Find out more here

As that precious time passes, the doubts, theuncertainties, the risks, and the costs increase.And these costs go far beyond the financial.

Organizational assets and energy dwindle as the

calendar pages turn. The human resources – thepeople who must be applied to an enterprise pursuit– are occupied and often unavailable for other needs.And the opportunity cost is dear. Making a decisionto pursue a complex deal over a long timeframemeans other initiatives simply must be foregone.

So, how do selling organizations overcome thisfrustrating challenge of time while also increasing thelikelihood of success? Fundamentally, you mustdevelop and follow an effective territory, account,and opportunity planning process. Having a well­crafted and relevant process in place very simplymaximizes the likelihood that the deals you pursueare the ones you’ll likely win, while at the same timestreamlining your path forward. Additionally, havingsuch a practical, intuitive process allows you to mapwhat you do best as an organization to the

Of the many dauntingchallenges that sales teamsface in selling into complexenterprise accounts, one ofthe most frustrating is that

of long, drawn-out sales cycles. Monthscan pass, even years, while pursuing amajor opportunity with an enterpriseaccount, an opportunity that may or maynot be won.

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In Enterprise Pursuits, It’s About Time

Brian Sullivan

opportunities you’re considering pursuing. Thisaligning of strengths with relevant opportunitiesguides you to forego the deals that don’t match yourprofile and to attack those that do, the ones you’remost likely to win. It sounds simple, doesn’t it? Clearlyunderstanding what you do best and then using thatknowledge to create the most effective matchespossible in the deals you pursue. It is straightforwardbut, unfortunately, such fundamental planning is alltoo often ignored. Or, it’s pushed aside by theemotional fervor of charging ahead into the wrongdeals, the tantalizing deals that bring with them thatpainful draining of precious organizational resourcesand all too often, crushing and costly losses.

So, the effective territory, account, andopportunity planning process increases your chancesof winning. Because, again, you are pursuing the deals

that align to what you do best. But when you do fullycommit to pursuing one of these aligned, profileenterprise opportunities, what can you do over thelong sales cycle to improve your chances of success?Think about the scenario. As time passes in theenterprise pursuit, your team will be engaged inmany, many transactions with that account.Meetings, calls, emails, requests for information andclarification – the volume of touch points can beincredible and you can be assured that you will beevaluated with every action you take. Actions that willshowcase your responsiveness, follow­up, andattention to detail ­ or lack thereof. All along the way,the buying organization is gaining a clearer picture ofwhat you’d be like to deal with as their chosenpartner. Every impression you make, good or bad,contributes to their ultimate decision. Truly, in longenterprise pursuits, the journey is the destination. So,needless to say, leaving the most positive impressionsin those many touch points is critical because thejudgments made by the prospect organization will notbe of your organization in a vacuum. Enterprisepursuits provide a crystal clear sampling group – all ofthe firms competing for the business. And regardlessof how capable, prepared, and sophisticated yourcompetitors are, they might become just a bitforgetful as the long months go by. They might taketheir eyes off the ball for just a moment. Perhapsthey’ll completely miss a deadline or carelessly submita boilerplate response instead of devoting therequired time and effort to respond in a customizedway. At just the right time to leave just the wrongimpression.

So, the key is to stay focused. With your effectiveplanning done, trust in your due diligence. You’veearned the right to be in the pursuit, crediblycompeting for the business. And since you’veestablished that the deal is well worth pursuing, besure that every action you take clearly shows theprospect that the deal is worth pursuing well. n

Brian Sullivan is Vice President of SandlerEnterprise Selling. Find out more here

TOP SALES MAGAZINE SEPTEMBER 2016 21

The explosion of social media platforms and therampant talk about how “cold­calling” is deadhas created in the minds of too many

salespeople the idea that prospecting simply doesnot work. Nothing could be further from the truth!Prospecting does work if it’s done right.

First issue is social media. A good phrase toreference is this: “Social media without socialcommunity is social stupidity.” The populist theory isif you just do enough on social media, then you’llhave all the prospects you need. Nothing could befarther from the truth. Likes, emojis and connectionswon’t put food on your table! Yes, social media is

important, but we have to put it in context.Social media does two things for salespeople.

First, it creates a personal profile about who you are.Remember, nobody is ever going to take your call,see you, or do anything with you without firstchecking out your on­line profile.

Second, it is a communication tool, butunfortunately, salespeople don’t view it in the samemanner they view other communication tools. Socialmedia is no different than the telephone, email orany other tool, in that it allows you to engage one­to­one with another person.

Remember my comment earlier about social

It’s time to have a candid discussion about prospecting. Too manysalespeople view it as a topic to be avoided like politics. Problem is ignoringit doesn’t mean it goes away, which is really what most salespeople wishwould happen.

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Why Most Prospecting Efforts Don’t Work

Mark Hunter

media without social community is social stupidity? Iengage with numerous people solely via LinkedIn,Facebook, and Twitter to gain business. It worksgreat when used one­to­one.

Now back to another big reason mostprospecting efforts don’t work – there is simply noplan! If you fail to plan, then don’t ever expect tosucceed. If you don’t plan, you’ll fall victim to onlygetting what falls your way. Successful prospectingneeds a plan for one very simple reason:Consistency!

The majority of prospecting salespeople do isnothing more than a random bunch of emails thatare glaringly pathetic to the recipient, if they evenreach the intended person.

Successful prospecting begins with a clearunderstanding of whom you’re targeting. Warmbodies are not prospects! Too many salespeoplemake the assumption just because somebody talksto them or fills out an on­line form, then they’regoing to turn out to be the dream customer.

The key in successful prospecting is tounderstand two things. First, the most valuable assetyou have is your time. No, it’s not what you sell. It’snot your customers. And it’s not anything else. Yourown time is the only asset you have that is finite, andthis means you must use it to your advantage everyday.

Second – and this one picks up on the first one –your objective is to spend more time with fewerprospects. Yes, you read that correct. More timewith fewer prospects.

The game is not to have a massive sales pipeline.Show me a big fat sales pipeline and I’ll show youprospects that aren’t going anywhere. Yourobjective is to have a thin, fast­moving pipeline thatallows you to move a lead through to being acustomer quickly.

Having a fast­moving sales pipeline means youneed to clearly segment the prospects you’repursuing. Don’t think what works for one type ofprospect is going to work for another. I tell clientsthe typical sales team will have between 5 and 8

types of prospects for which they are looking.This means there will be an equal number of

prospecting plans. Yes, they will contain many of thesame elements, but things like message format,questions being asked, and timing of touches will allbe different. The worst mistake you can make isassuming all of your prospects are alike. They’re not,regardless of what you sell.

Now that you’ve segmented your prospectingprocess to fit the different audiences you’re trying toreach, you need to be just as specific in building aplan to qualify leads fast. Remember, your time is themost valuable asset you have. That means the fasteryou can determine if the lead has potential, thebetter off you’ll be. Too many salespeople wastelarge blocks of their time month after monthworking with leads that may talk a good story but aresimply not capable of buying.

Your objective is to qualify fast those who canbuy and get everyone else out of your world. I’m notsaying you discard them, but you move them into adifferent system of low­level touches that can beautomated or handled by someone else.

When qualifying a prospect, don’t hold back yourline of questioning. Too many salespeople are timidat this point, because they don’t want to turn thelead off by coming on too strong.

I’m not saying to be a bull in a china shop, but Iam saying to be upfront by asking questions that willhelp you qualify. Here are the ones I like:

l What’s your timeline for making a decision?l How have you made decisions like this in the past?l Who else have you been speaking with?l What would be the method of payment?

Are these questions direct? Yes, but remember it’syour time they’re taking up. Prospecting does workwhen done right and done with a plan. n

Mark Hunter is keynote speaker, sales trainerand author. Find out more here

TOP SALES MAGAZINE SEPTEMBER 2016 23

“The leads are weak!" If you don’t rememberthe interaction between a young JackLemmon and younger Alec Baldwin in the

1992 classic, Glengarry Glenn Ross, find it andwatch it. What a perfect example of the disconnectbetween marketing and sales over the perceivedquality of “marketing leads” today.

I will never forget working with the CMO of acloud company who was very frustrated with hissales counter­parts because no matter what heprovided to them in the way of leads they werenever satisfied. Finally, somewhat tongue in check,he offered sales management the following choicesregarding spending a $100,000 budget to generateleads:

l 200,000 targeted contacts (name and title) in theright verticals (no email addresses)

l 100,000 companies with up to three executivecontacts in the right companies (no emailaddresses)

l 20,000 companies with multiple contacts andverified technical environment information in theright companies (no email addresses)

l 4,319 contacts who downloaded a white paperbut may or may not be in targeted companies orhave any need or authority to buy (emailaddresses, many bogus and no companyfirmographics and no telephone numbers)

l 117 appointments with people in the rightcompanies but may or may not have any need orauthority to buy

l 81 highly qualified sales opportunities with theright contact(s) who have a need backed by someform of compelling event and complete contactinformation for the multiple contacts.

He was trying to make a point with his offer. Hispoint was that he was happy to provide sales withwhatever they would accept and take action on.However, if sales treated highly qualified salesopportunities as though they were random contactnames he was not willing to spend the money tofilter down the 200,000 name list to 81 highlyqualified sales opportunities. Sales could not make adecision, he left for another opportunity and thecompany’s stock is down from a high of $10 earlierthis year to just above $2.00 today.

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Pulchritudinous Leads An industry friend of minereferred to his wife (onFacebook) as“pulchritudinous”. I figuredhe was going to be looking

forward to a number of nights on thecouch or in the spare bedroom. He wasnot, and I was surprised. More on thattoward the end of this article.

Dan McDade

Brian Carroll has been talking about somethinghe calls a Universal Lead Definition (ULD) for almosta decade. A ULD clarifies what a lead is to everyonein your organization, and these leads also:

l Fit the profile of your ideal customerl Have been qualified as sales­readyl Spell out the responsibilities and accountabilities

of Sales and Marketingl Make Marketing and Sales more efficient

Brian’s blog continues:“ULD doesn’t need to be complex. Here’s an

example from one of our past research partners, an$80 billion IT management organization.

An inquiry becomes a lead when it:

l Fits the target customer profile (industry,revenue, number of employees, etc.)

l Has interest from a decision makerl Needs what the company sellsl Plans to evaluate the solution in three months or

lessl Plans to make a purchase decision in six months

or lessl Is ready to speak with a sales rep within two

weeks

Setting and using this definition brought a 375%increase in sales­ready leads without an increase inspending.”

In my book, “The Truth About Leads” I suggestthat the lack of a universal lead definition (agreedupon by marketing and sales) results in the followingconditions suffered to some degree by everycompany:

l Forecasts are thin and inaccuratel No closed loop to measure the effectiveness of

marketing programsl No consensus regarding marketing and sales

strategy, including what I call M2O (market,media and offer).

So, if you are a senior executive in any size companythe bad news is “the leads are weak.” The good newsis the problem is fixable:

l Establish a universal lead definition (agreed to bymarketing and sales and probably NOT based onBANT [budget, authority, need, timeframe] orANUM [authority, need, urgency, money]). If youwant to know why no BANT or ANUM, reach outto me to discuss.

l Establish an unbiased review team to examineEVERY lead that is not proactively accepted or isproactively rejected by sales and fix what isbroken. I call this the judicial branch.

One final note in this discussion: It’s important tonote that lead definition is not something to be doneonce and checked off the list. It’s a continuousprocess to assure that market trends, changes in thecompetitive landscape and your evolving offeringsare taken into account.

Finally, what is a “pulchritudinous lead”? First thedefinition of the word:

Definition: physically beautifulAbout the word: If the meaning of this word

seems counterintuitive, it's probably because theword's Latin ancestor pulcher ("beautiful") isunfamiliar, and pulchritudinous sounds moredisgusting than enchanting.

But Richard Burton used it to describe his firstimpression of Elizabeth Taylor: "... the mostastonishingly self­contained, pulchritudinous,remote, removed, inaccessible woman I had everseen."

So, go make some beautiful leads and as AlecBaldwin says in Glengarry Glen Ross, “Coffee is forclosers.” So, get to work until you earn a cup. n

Dan McDade is President & CEOof PointClear. Find out more here

TOP SALES MAGAZINE SEPTEMBER 2016 25

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In this specific scene, King Arthur had justwitnessed the Black Knight defeat the GreenKnight in a duel. King Arthur then approaches the

Black Knight to congratulate him and offer him aseat at Arthur's court on the Round Table, but theBlack Knight only stands still, holding his sword, andmakes no response until Arthur moves to cross thebridge. The Black Knight refuses to stand aside.Reluctantly, Arthur fights the Black Knight and, aftera relatively short exchange of sabers, the Knight'sleft arm is severed.

Even at this, the Knight refuses to let King Arthurpass, insisting his arm wound “Tis but a scratch”.Later the knight insists he has "had worse", and

fights on while holding his sword with his remainingarm. Soon the Black Knight’s right arm is cut off byKing Arthur, but again, the Knight does not concedeeven though he has literally been disarmed. WhenArthur points out the Black Knight's injuries, theKnight insists “It's just a flesh wound!” Then Arthurchops off the Black Knight's right leg. After morebanter, the Black Knight replies by saying, "I'minvincible!" Arthur finally cuts off the Knight’s left legand sheathes his sword. Now reduced to a merestump of a man, the Black Night says, “All right, we'llcall it a draw”. Sounds like “STATUS QUO” won inthat battle of mortals.

Have you experienced something similar withyour clients? While you, like King Arthur, may seethe major issues clients are facing – outdatedsolutions/no arms to fight back – your clientscontinue to reply “Tis but a scratch” or “we are fineand will work through it.”

The problem with “Status Quo” is that it is rootedin a belief that the problem is not as severe as itreally is. Choosing “Status Quo” is perceived as

Do you know what moviethis picture is from? It’sfrom Monty Python and theHoly Grail. A classic parodymovie packed with humorand one-liners.

TOP SALES MAGAZINE SEPTEMBER 201628

King Arthur and Status Quo: A Tale Too Often Played Out in Sales

Jay Mitchell

comfortable, and requires little risk and little effort.But oh, what a fallacy that is, and sadly the failureoften lies at the feet of the seller.

The purpose in selling is to help solve client’sproblems – their pains – but that must begin withclients acknowledging that their problem is indeedpainful…that it is more than just a scratch. Forsellers, objective number one is to help clientsunderstand the risk in not making a change is higherthan stepping­out and trying something new, andthat is predicated on bringing them insight into thepains their underlying situation is causing.

Pains come in three flavors: Business, Financialand Personal.

l Business pains are typically associated withsymbols, such as % and #. They aremeasurements including: declining customersatisfaction levels, deteriorating departmentreputation, lost market share and higheremployee attrition.

l Financial pains are typically associated withcurrency symbols such as $, €, £ and ¥. They areoften directly correlated to the business pains,and include performance metrics like higheroperating costs, lower revenues and increasedcustomer acquisition/retention costs.

l Personal pains typically associate with thesymbols ☹, ☺ and !, and are ALWAYS the painsthat matters most to a buyer. Examples includereduced compensation/bonus/equity payouts,increased threats to job security and reducedpersonal time/quality of life.

The most effective action sellers can employ toactivate buyers’ pains is asking insightful, relevantquestions – something many B2B salesprofessionals are not equipped with the skills to do.Asking engaging questions helps the customerdiscover which pains/needs are truly critical toachieve their objectives – identifying their issues.By magnifying those pains, sellers motivate buyersto take action on their own behalf and for their own

success – intensifying the pain. Finally, it isimportant to help customers understand how thesolution will help them succeed personally –internalizing the pain.

As an example, a sales professional meeting witha CFO might follow a line of questioning such as:

l As your company rolls out the CEO’s newbusiness strategy, how does your financial modelevolve over the next 6 months/12 months/24months/36 months with that strategy?

l What concerns do you have about the financialmodel to support that strategy (e.g. tooaggressive revenue targets, unachievableoperating expenses)?

l What is the impact on your company if thoseconcerns materialize?

l What is the impact on your finance team if thoseconcerns materialize?

l What is the impact on you personally if thoseconcerns materialize?

This line of questioning empowers the buyer toanswer (both logically and emotionally) thequestions “Why do something?” and “Why dosomething now?” Even when customers are able tosee the value of a purchase, they often still fail to actbecause the risk of the purchase is so great. It isimportant to continue to remind the customer of thecurrent pain, and how the solution can be the cure ifthey embrace the opportunity to change.

As sales professionals, it is fundamental weembrace the opportunity to help the buyersrecognize they have a problem. Like King Arthur,you may see the severe catastrophe and bleedingright in front of you, but unless you enable yourclient to internalize the true pain of their currentstate, and find ways to make them see it too, “StatusQuo” will continue to win, and your clients will neverreach their true potential. n

Jay Mitchell is the President & Founderat Mereo LLC. Find out more here

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TOP SALES MAGAZINE SEPTEMBER 201630

However, introducing new analytic data mustbe accompanied by a change managementstrategy that allows sales people, managers

and management to incorporate productivity­improving insights. It must not be treated as a newweapon to challenge their forecasts.

Introducing analytics to the sales organizationoffers fresh insights into the business, provided thesales team uses it. With pipeline integrity already inquestion, analytics threatens to dissolve the statusquo of the semi­secretive yet effective manualforecast process. Simply pushing new reports at thesales team, or worse, ambushing them with a deeperlevel of scrutiny will ensure that new data is metwith mistrust and challenges to its validity ­ orsimply ignored.

Trusting New Data Sales analytics is the bridgeto the digital salesorganization of the future.While analogue humaninteractions will always

inject a degree of variability into theequation, the insights analytics providescannot be ignored.

When new analytic data is introduced,opportunity, pipeline and forecast data is shown in anew light. Sales people, managers and leaders arenaturally suspicious, wondering how this new datamight be used against them; casting the shadow ofdoubt on their current sales process or exposingflaws in their business they didn’t see or chose toignore. For sales managers, putting analytics in thehands of financial analysts who are far from day­to­day customer interactions represents more risk thanvalue because it limits the manager’s ability torespond to new questions or to defend forecastsbased on old school theories. This new “science” ofsales may be perceived as a threat to those whobelieve sales is more art than science.

Analytics Power

Business intelligence (BI) applications generate new

Joe Galvin

insights into business performance and productivity.BI tools connect, sort and assemble multiple datapoints to create a new perspective. In sales, analyticsare used to track forecast volatility, project customerpropensity for cross sell – up sell and measureopportunity conversion and cycle length by salesphase.

Analytics track forecast and pipeline shift andchanges over the course of the month or quarter.Opportunity data snapshots based on anticipatedclose date allow for the comparison of movement toupdates. Analytics dashboards display currentbookings and project forecasted revenue based onopportunity movement. For sales management, thisinformation illuminates, in real time, the path toobtaining forecast.

Analytics can also identify cross sell and up sellopportunities by comparing existing customerproduct usage against potential. If 75% of customerswho use product A and B also use C, then targetingcustomers who have purchased A and B but not C iseasy.

Sales cycle data is especially powerful.Monitoring qualified opportunities as they movethrough the sales cycle gives sales management anew way to predict opportunity outcomes.Measuring conversion rates by sales stage asopportunities advance or fall out develops a pipelineprofile based on number of opportunities and theirdegree of movement. Adding the dimension of timein each sales phase and using the demographics ofthe opportunity like customer type, product mix orprice creates an even deeper profile of theopportunity. The result is a multi­dimensional viewof the pipeline that can be used to predict andimprove pipeline and revenue performance.

Manage Change

As with any new initiative, a change managementstrategy must accompany the launch of analytics. Asnew data comes online, sales management,managers and sales people must be introduced to

new data in ways that allow them to accept andabsorb how this fresh insight helps them. If pipelineanalytics are introduced, they must be presented inthe context of how an analytical perspective canhelp the manager better understand and manage hisbusiness as compared to his current method offorecasting. For example, if the data showsopportunities that spend more than 90 days in agiven sales phase are 50% less likely to close, salesmanagers may need to be taught how to use thisdata to improve pipeline integrity, factor or eliminatestalled deals and coach their sales reps to adjusttheir focus.

While analytics represents the future of thedigital sales force, how it is introduced is asimportant as the data it generates. For sales leadersto embrace analytics, data must be presented as anew tool, providing perspectives and insights intotheir business and leading to a more productive salesforce. When sales leaders and managers are giventhe data with instructions for incorporating it intotheir existing process, a beachhead can beestablished from which increasingly detailed andintrospective data can be introduced.

Believe in Data

In 1927, when Charles Lindberg became the firstman to fly solo across the Atlantic to Paris, it wasn’tthe durability or the fuel range of his airplane, theSpirit of St Louis, that was questioned. Rather,skeptics wondered whether he could interpret andexecute the 36 precise navigational data pointsneeded to fly the great circle route to Europe usingnewly introduced compass technology. New data,when trusted and understood, can open incrediblenew possibilities. For sales leaders, trust of new datais a hurdle they must overcome before data can bethe vehicle that takes their business to the nextlevel. n

Joe Galvin is Chief Research Officer atVistage. Find out more here

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TOP SALES MAGAZINE SEPTEMBER 201632

Content marketing is dead. What’s next?

Marketers tumbled over themselves to jumpon the bandwagon. They signed up forseminars, webinars, classes, and software.

They hired writers and content managers and“CCOs” (Chief Content Officers) to run entiredepartments to pump out unprecedented quantitiesof marketing content.

This content took the form of blogs (so manyblogs!), ebooks and endless email nurturecampaigns. Marketing departments created“persona documents” and “buyer’s journey” maps.They created “gated” content with special landingpages to “capture” email addresses, then calledthose addresses “leads” and created emailcampaigns to “convert” them into “opportunities.”

Sales departments—who were rarely consultedduring this process—were told that this would meanthe end of cold calling.

It is true that companies who got into the contentmarketing game and did it well often increased theirprominence in the marketplace. Some of them alsogenerated prodigious quantities of leads, and someof those leads turned into sales.

For the vast majority, however, the promise ofcontent marketing has never fully materialized. Infact, I contend that for the b2b sales industry as awhole, it represents an expensive failure so far.

When content marketingfirst rose to prominencearound 2012-2013, it wastouted as the next big thingfor marketing and sales

departments. It promised to deliver asteady stream of highly qualified leadsdirectly into sales departments at a lowercost per lead than had ever been achievedbefore.

George Brontén

The problem with content marketing

There are four big problems with content marketing,as I see it.

1. It’s badly alignedThe vast majority of content marketing programsfailed to consult with their sales department, andtheir clients, and, thereby, succeeded only inwidening the age­old gap between “marketingqualified” and “sales qualified.” As long as marketingdepartments continue to single­mindedly focus onvolume­based KPIs, such as “number of leadsgenerated” and lack a shared definition of whatrepresents marketing qualified and sales qualifiedleads, this misalignment will continue. Also, it is notuncommon that the actual content production isdelegated or outsourced to someone that may lackthe insights and detailed knowledge to producethought­provoking material for your target groups,making the content irrelevant for your potentialcustomers.

2. Attracting (and engaging with) the wrongstakeholdersTo make matters worse, even where contentmarketing is executed in coordination with salesdepartments and clients, it’s rare for these efforts toeffectively target the high­level decision makerssalespeople need to reach. Generally, a low­levelemployee is tasked with “finding a solution” and,thus, content marketing is largely consumed bythese employees. These, then, are the employeeswhose contact information is collected by the“gated” content. Oftentimes, these “marketingqualified” leads are placed directly into the salespipeline and sales people run with them, havingdiscussions with people who may not evenunderstand the business problem to be solved. Thissituation is worsened when junior sales people aretasked with lead follow­up, which is often the case.If you don’t get to the true decision­making teamand fully understand their situation and help craft

their vision and the solution, you are unlikely to winanything but the low­hanging fruit.

3. Sales departments ill prepared for this shift inbehaviorsWhat was supposed to be a boon for salesdepartments everywhere has created an expensiveproblem. Companies can’t afford to stop contentmarketing, because it’s now an expected part of theconsumer’s landscape. Companies also can’t recallthe information that’s already out there, so they’reforced to continue feeding the content machine.Meanwhile, all that content has put unprecedentedamounts of information in the hands of customersand thereby changed the dynamics of the salesengagement.

Educating customers using content marketing isnot a bad thing, but it does mean that sales teamsmust evolve and change ­ a difficult and time­consuming process that most companies and salesdepartments are not properly managing. Whencustomers have educated themselves withmarketing created content believe that the onlymissing piece of the puzzle is asking the sales personfor a price, sales cycles can become very short (oftento your disadvantage...)

4. It has cannibalized its own advantageOriginally, a well­executed and aligned contentmarketing program represented an opportunity foreven small companies to differentiate their brandwith the quality and helpfulness of their content.With the saturation of content we see today, thatdifferentiation opportunity has all but evaporated.Content is still an important part of marketingefforts, but it’s no longer a viable way to easily standout from the crowd. What was once a good bet, isnow merely table stakes.

All is not lost

Bells cannot be unrung, and content cannot berecalled (the internet, after all, is forever). Likewise,

TOP SALES MAGAZINE SEPTEMBER 2016 33

most companies cannot stop investing in contentmarketing, because good content is now thebaseline along which many customers dividecompanies they consider working with from thosethey don’t.

However, as sales leaders, we cannot afford tolie down and accept the worst without trying toturn it into a win. And there is hope. For those whoare paying attention, the great content marketingexperiment contains valuable lessons that havethe potential to transform the sales industry in apositive way. Here are four ways to use the lessonsof content marketing to improve saleseffectiveness.

1. Optimize the systemOne thing that content marketing learned to do verywell is to optimize the system. By tying each piece ofcontent to specific metrics like opens, reads,downloads, conversions, and leads, marketers gainvaluable insight into how their websites, blogs,emails, and other marketing elements perform.World­class content organizations optimizeeverything down to where, precisely, a button isplaced on a page, to ensure the highest possibleperformance at that particular point in thecustomer’s journey.

The same has not, on the whole, been true forsales departments. Often, performance is measuredagainst only a few major metrics such as revenue,profit, and win/loss ratios. While these metrics areuseful for judging salesperson performance, moredetailed leading indicator metrics (such as thosemeasurable in a platform like Membrain) enable salesdepartments to achieve the same level ofoptimization that marketing assets now can.

2. Make content customer­centricProduct sheets and brochures have a place in bothmarketing and sales, but as the optimizationexperiments of hundreds of content marketerstaught us, content is only as effective as it is alignedto influence the customer’s journey. This is as true

for sales departments as it is for marketingdepartments, as validated by the latest CSO Insights“Sales Best Practices Study.” Make sure that youcreate content that is relevant and can shape thebuying vision for your prospects.

3. Use content to support salesWhile content marketers have been busy focusingon creating large volumes of marketing content,forward­thinking marketing departments arm theirsales departments to better guide buying­decisionswith customer­aligned quality content to:

l Prospect better on social mediaContent developed for the LinkedIn Pulseplatform can help salespeople build their thoughtleadership standing and connect with relevantcontacts.

l Pre­qualify leads to ensure a healthy pipelineChecklists, built into the sales effectivenessplatform, help salespeople quickly disqualifyunqualified leads and only put qualityopportunities into their pipeline.

l Get to the important stakeholdersDon't assume that people catched in your digitalmarketing net are the right ones to engage within a business dialogue. More often than not, theyaren't and you need alternative strategies, tacticsand messaging to engage with the executiveswho will make the final decision.

l Provide content in contextIn complex B2B sales, content can be used toeducate and nurture each opportunity throughthe sales process. When it’s mapped to thecustomer’s journey, content can be used todecrease loss to specific competitors, increaseurgency, and validate the company’sdifferentiation points.

l Minimize admin workCreations like proposals, ROIs and RFPs can bemodularized to make the process simpler forsalespeople, saving time and ensuringconsistency across the organization.

TOP SALES MAGAZINE SEPTEMBER 201634

George Brontén

l Reinforce trainingTraining content can be built into the system anddelivered at the right times to help salespeopleconvert new knowledge into behaviors, and toensure that they have the support they needthroughout each sales cycle. Especially importantfor new hires.

4. Make marketing responsible for revenueTraditionally, marketing has been held responsibleonly for brand awareness and leads. Once the sameanalytics and content approaches that have createdthe content marketing monster are applied toimprove sales effectiveness, then marketingdepartments can be brought into alignment withsales departments, and made responsible forrevenue rather than just for leads.

Marketers won't replace sales people incomplex sales environments

Content marketers, on the whole, still want you tobelieve that they will transform your company, andeven make sales people irrelevant, while, for themost part, they’re still talking about leads that willnever become sources of revenue. Sadly, by themeasures that matters most—revenue and profit—content marketing has largely failed. Instead,companies will do well to focus on what that failurehas to teach, and how they can bring both marketingand sales into alignment to deliver higher revenueand profit. n

The VIP Area provides free access to the Sales eLibrary, offering avast array of articles, eBooks, white papers, webinars, videos,books and so much more, all submitted by the world’s leading salesexperts and refreshed daily. It also houses the Top Sales Academyand is home to the Top Sales Magazine archive.

The eagerly anticipated TSW VIP Area hasnow been formally launched...

More Details Here

TOP SALES MAGAZINE SEPTEMBER 2016 35

George Brontén is the CEO and Founder ofMembrain. Find out more by visiting here

http://www.knowledgetree.com/sales-enablement/

Top Sales Article & Blog Post

TOP SALES MAGAZINE SEPTEMBER 2016 37

Most sales models include a conversion funnelin which reps try to convert a marketing­

generated lead into a prospect and then a customerthrough sequential steps. In this model, sales peopleare expected to make the process as friction­less aspossible for the potential buyer and to close the dealat the end by using certain phrases and techniquesto “overcome objections.” This perspective ispromoted in books and seminars, but researchindicates it is not how people buy.

As one of us noted in a previous article, buyerswork their way through parallel streams (rather thana funnel) as they explore, evaluate, and engage inpurchase decisions via web sites, white papers,social media, and contact with other buyers through

sites like Marketo, and so on.This why the end of a sales process is the worst

time to handle objections — prospects typicallycontemplate their objections long before “close,”and, to avoid conflict, often cite a socially­acceptablerationale such as price, which may not be the realbarrier to buying. To better address this reality,sellers should ask prospects to make incrementalcommitments throughout the process.

Along with improving sales results, research hasshown that incremental commitments can boostcharitable giving, increase show rates for blooddrives, and reduce smoking. In a seminal study, ateam posing as volunteer workers canvassed aneighborhood and asked residents...

This Month’s Top Sales ArticleTo Increase Sales, Get Customers to Commita Little at a Time by Frank Cespedes

We are running into some of the same sellingchallenges we did 25 years ago, despite the

explosion of technology and information. Knowledgeisn’t the issue; application of knowledge is.

For example, how many of you have observed asalesperson move into a product dump, even thoughhe knows that he should be asking questions ­­ notpresenting solutions? Or the salesperson thatdiscounts early and often, even though she justattended a negotiation­skills training course.

The problem is that most sales managers andCEOs are focused on the wrong end of the problem.When a salesperson isn’t hitting quota, their bossfocuses on teaching and coaching more hard selling

skills. Those are important. But in many sellingsituations, emotions start running the meeting,which affects the salesperson’s ability to execute thehard selling skills.

Let’s look at a couple of hypothetical situations.A salesperson is meeting with a challenging

prospect or customer whose behavior triggers anemotional response in the salesperson ­­ a fight­or­flight response. The salesperson gets defensive orsets out to prove the prospect is wrong. A flightresponse results in the salesperson simply shuttingdown, and nothing intelligent can enter their brain.

In both cases, all those good selling skills taughtand coached by the sales manager...

This Month’s Top Sales Blog Post2 Ways Emotion Management ImprovesSales Results by Colleen Stanley

Read More

Read More

TOP SALES MAGAZINE SEPTEMBER 201638

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