Give your producers the resources they need to start hunting. Today.
The ViewPoint series for this week deep dives into the phases of your next 90-day sales strategy: Get a Grip! (Days 1-30); Build Momentum (Days 31-60); Sustain Momentum (Days 61-90) and Predictable Growth (Day 91+). Thus far you have seen distinct ideas for the first two phases. To close out the week, today’s focus is on the last two phases of the sales strategy.
Sustain Momentum
Momentum is one of the most challenging things to create within a sales culture. With the groundwork laid, your ability to sustain momentum is practiced through the science of consistent repeatable processes and amplified through the art of sales.
Here are some key principles focused on both the art and science of the sale:
Science:
- Reminders: Create a daily and weekly reminder system to the entire team.
- Prioritize: Avoid trying to do everything at once. Focus on core activities until they are ingrained as a natural component of the sales process.
- Activity Tracking: Create a scorecard mechanism. Producers provide the information and rankings are shared for both transparency and best practice cross-training.
- Plan-Do-Check-Act (PDCA):
- Review scoreboard daily. Monitor and intercede if necessary, as patterns emerge.
- Make minor adjustments to activity trackers based on results (or lack of).
- Reiterate that goals are set in stone, but plans are in sand! Don’t be afraid to be nimble, adjust and course correct when needed.
Art:
- State goals: While it may sound simple, a positive mindset does create more opportunity for positive outcomes. Keep your team focused on what they “can do” not on what they can’t do (i.e. change the marketplace, have in person meetings, etc.) – no place for negativity, its counterproductive.
- Practice: Your world is a stage. Role playing, no matter how experienced the team, refines the art of the conversation. Practice with internal stakeholders – you only get one shot with a client.
- Virtual Deliverables: Share methods that are working best and leverage unique conversation cues, value proposition statements or other techniques to bring brand continuity of the firm to the forefront.
- Acknowledge: Understand what motivates your individual team members. For example:
- Quality Time: Which producers just want a little more of your time?
- Recognition: Who is fighting to be at the top of stack rank – or simply motivated by acknowledgement of their efforts?
- Gifts and Incentives: These don’t have to be grand gestures. Small tokens of appreciation like a thank you card or gift card to cover lunch delivery go a long way.
- Celebrate!
- Find some victories even in defeat. Acknowledge your team for the little things like thinking “outside of the box” on social media posts.
- When they win an account make it a BIG deal. Celebrate small and big wins – it inspires people to keep at it.
Sustaining momentum has a lot to do with sticking with a plan. Look for areas to modify to help your producers improve on their weaknesses while leveraging their strengths. Expect excellence after you get their commitment. Settle for nothing less.
Predictable Growth
Achieving predictable growth is the culmination of the 90-day sales strategy. The three previous checkpoints (Get a Grip! Build Momentum, and Sustain Momentum) all lead to Predictable Growth. Once the sales process becomes optimized, aka predictable, you now have the data to assess the required resources to drive new business over time. According to MarshBerry data, finding and developing producers is the number one challenge for all firms as it relates to organic growth. With a predictable growth engine, confidence and trust is built and enables your team to achieve sales goals on a consistent basis. Salespeople thrive in a predictable sales process and they enjoy being a part of the system. It gives them the courage to go out and hunt new business at a more efficient pace. In addition, it creates a level of scalability/accountability which contributes to year-over-year organic growth.
To recap the 90-Day Sales Strategy series,
- Assessing your leadership team, your salespeople, and evaluating resources. Get a Grip!
- Focus on developing your executives personally, professionally, blend quantitative and qualitative metrics with business acumen coaching and development to create a well-rounded Sales Organization. Build Momentum
- Integrate the Art and Science of sales by reinforcing processes, advancing the learning of your team and providing consistent recognition to those who are performing. Sustain Momentum
- Become a trusted advisor by executing on a define sales process – you will beat your competition on a consistent basis. Predictable Growth.
While this model emphasizes creating the right environment for aligning your overall goals, taking action on prospecting activity and measuring data daily, it doesn’t end at the fourth phase. Be persistent. The 90-day sprint is part of a longer-term marathon!
If you have questions about Today’s ViewPoint, or would like to learn more about driving your sales pipeline, please email or call Frank Cox, Vice President, at 616.426.8522.
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