Sales Training: An Independent Perspective. Dave Stein's Blog.

Recently I’ve had more than a few discussions with sales trainers and sales training buyers about age.

The more I see trainers include phrases like, “More than 35 years experience in sales, sales management…” in their LinkedIn profiles and in the “About Us” sections of their websites, the more conscious I’ve become of this issue.

Here’s an important point: Hiring a sales trainer, just because they are young, to train your B2B sales team is as much of a mistake as hiring someone with decades of experience—but little of it relevant to overcoming your specific selling challenges.

Does that suggest that you should hire someone in their late 30′s or 40′s just cover all bases?  Not if they aren’t qualified.

I’ve coached a bunch of trainers to remove references to their age, years of experience, or when they graduated from school. All that copy should be replaced with how they have contributed to their clients achieving their revenue and other performance targets. Mentioning the demographics of the groups they’ve trained, without being defensive, is something I’ve told them to consider as well.

I just read today that the average age of a Google employee is 26. Here’s a question: What’s the best age for a sales trainer that would be working with groups of 26-year-olds?

A sales training buyer client of ours rejected a sales trainer not because they were seen to be old, but because they were perceived as delivering the same content for the past twenty years. Now there is a challenge that can be relatively easily overcome.

Older sales trainers and consultants can offset a lot of the concern that prospective clients have about their age by:

1. Investing all the time and effort required to stay up on what works in B2B selling today: research, trends, customer buying patterns, technology, books and blogs written by thought leaders, etc. Thought-leadership can overcome some peoples’ biases against age.
2. Being active in social media, employing “the right” practices.
3. Eliminating dated references, anecdotes, and examples from their blogs, literature, and training content. Using phrases such as, “When I carried a bag in the ’80′s,” or, “Remember what Jackie Gleason used to say…” are really, really irrelevant and, I believe, damaging.
4. Replacing stilted, dated writing with what’s more widely accepted by all generations. (I read this article and it convinced me to reconsider my writing style a bit.)
5. Getting schooled on the differences among the different generations, how they work, think, learn, play, entertain themselves, sell, and buy.
6. Staying in shape physically. Eat right, exercise, get enough sleep. I highly recommend yoga. But that’s a post for another day.

 Photo source: The Dallas News

Filed under: Buyers | 2 Comments »

It’s unusual for me to publish two posts in a row covering new books about selling, but this is a special situation.

Near the end of 2011, I had the opportunity to spend an hour with Corey Sommers on the phone for the first time. At the time, he and his partner, David Jenkins, were the two principals at WhiteBoard Selling, a small, niche,  sales enablement provider. I say “were” because Whiteboard Selling was acquired by Corporate Visions last year. I called it a very smart move at the time and I still believe that to be true.

Back to the briefing. As an analyst firm, we send the following agenda to providers looking to brief us for the first time: Read more »

Filed under: Book Recommendation, Presentations | 12 Comments »

Update: April 25, 2013. If you read this book and see a strong comparison to the Challenger Sale model, let me know. I should point out that the original version of this book was written long before The Challenger Sale was written.

Original blog post begins:

It’s always an honor to be mentioned in a new book, or to be asked to provide an endorsement. In this case, the author asked me to write the forward.

Here is the forward to Tony Hughes’s The Joshua Principle (Revised Edition – 2013): Read more »

Filed under: Book Recommendation | 1 Comment »

ESR recently completed our evaluation of the Trustworthy Selling program, which was introduced 18 months ago by the Hoopis Performance Network and LIMRA. This collaboration gave birth to a high-quality, high-value selling program for the financial services industry.

I recently had the opportunity to speak with:

• Delores Freitag, AVP of talent development at LIMRA
• Joey Davenport, CLU, CLF, who is a Principal & Chief Development Officer for the Hoopis Performance Network in Chicago, IL.
• George Ludwig, a 30-year veteran consultant, speaker, and trainer, and author of PowerSelling.
• Harry Hoopis, CEO of the Hoopis Performance Network

Dave Stein: Why did LIMRA and the Hoopis Performance Network develop Trustworthy Selling? Read more »

Filed under: Book Recommendation, Interview, sales training | 2 Comments »

Last week Franklin Covey announced the acquisition of sales performance improvement provider NinetyFive 5. This thrusts Franklin Covey’s Sales Performance Practice right into the category of a Tier One provider in the sales training and sales enablement space.

Haven’t heard of NinetyFive 5? That’s not an accident. Stealth was a critical component of the growth plan designed by co-founders Randy Illig, Craig Christensen, and Mahan Khalsa. They shared with ESR just a year ago what they had accomplished up to that point. We were impressed. They are among the industry leaders in terms of content, learning technology, social media assets, tools, and measurement. Once their original product development plan had been completed, it was time for an acquisition by a larger company with proven distribution capabilities and a broader focus on business improvement for their clients.

Last Friday I spoke with Randy and Bob Whitman, CEO of Franklin Covey. They took me through the logic of the deal and the significant potential Franklin Covey now has in this market with 170 salespeople in the U.S. and delivery capabilities in 104 countries.

All-in-all this acquisition makes a lot of sense. We’ll be watching them closely.

Filed under: Sales Enablement, Sales Training Companies | No Comments »

Just for the record – I am not having a go at Americans in this post despite what the title might suggest.

But having worked with hundreds of Irish companies over the years and having been involved with selling programs such as SalesSTAR and the International Selling Programme I am only too familiar with some of the war stories that people tell about their experiences when hiring sales people aboard—and unfortunately some of the worst stories come from the U.S.

This is what I call Yankee Doodler Danger. Most of you will be familiar with what I mean—either you’ve heard the stories or had the experience first-hand.

Here is the scenario:

It’s an important new sales hire in the U.S.—the whole company is excited about it. It’s really going to help the business get a boost in growth. You’ve met the candidate; he or she comes highly recommended by someone on the board. They’ve got a great CV and have worked for some of the biggest companies in the U.S. They know the industry so they will able to open doors and use their network to get meetings from day one. All the reference checks went well—the compensation package is a bit high but the combination of your product, their experience, and their connections is bound to lead to deals—fast.

What’s not to be happy about? The die is cast and the deal is done!

Fast track 6 to 9 months. You’re tearing your hair out—there are no deals closed and a host of excuses as to why. The pipeline is looking seriously anemic; you’ve invested a fortune’s worth of time in on-boarding and support but are seeing no return. Worse still, the rest of the sales team have their hackles up and are not happy about carrying a highly paid under-performer on the team.

The fairy tale ending is that you fire the person you hired quickly and move on. The not so happily-ever-after ending is that you carry them for another 6-9 months, have your reputation damaged with a couple of key prospects and business partners and further disenfranchise the rest of the sales team. Plus … the board tells you, “We told you so!”

If this sounds familiar, you’re not alone. Two out of three companies say they have blown it big time when it comes to getting key hires right. Hiring is an inexact activity. You win some and you lose some. But those who improve their odds tackled the challenge head on and didn’t leave it all up to guesswork and luck.

To find out more about what you can do to avoid the Yankee Doodle Danger join me in Dublin on the 17 -18th of April for a hands-on, realistic workshop about how to hire and keep smart, sharp sales talent. To find out what it’s all about click here.

Image source: © AOshlick – Fotolia.com

Filed under: Hiring | 1 Comment »

Earlier in the week I delivered a webinar for Sales and Marketing Management magazine entitled, “How to Run a Planning Session to Win a Critical Sales Opportunity.” Before I started ESR I worked as a backstage coach helping companies win very competitive, big ticket sales opportunities.  So I know a lot about that subject.  S&MM was looking for me to contribute to their executive series of webinars, so I chose that subject. (You may know that I write the regular sales training column for the magazine. If you haven’t read the latest issue, here is Dancing Lessons.)

Although in numbers of industries, the direct/outside selling model is rapidly being transformed to inside and reseller approaches to market, in fact, there are plenty of big deals out there and the competition within them is ruthless. Pursuing these deals without a process is malpractice, in our view.

Of course critical and big as they apply to deals are relative. A large, critical make/break the quarter deal for a $5 million company may be (only) $300k. For a Fortune 50 it could be $100 million.  But however big your company is, you get to decide what’s a critical win and what isn’t.

Just to be clear, there are three processes in play here:

1. First is the sales process. (Pre-determined steps, actions, gates, activities, tactics, etc., to win a deal.)
2. Then there is an opportunity management process. (Determining the specific sales objective, strategies, tactics, qualification criteria, customer information, etc.)
3. Finally there is a deal review process. (Taking a salesperson through validating their plan and their approach.)

Depending on which sales training company you’re speaking with, those terms may be different.

Here are some of the critical components of a sales opportunity planning session:

• Assessing and priortizing information that has been gathered by the sales person.
• Determining what additional information is required, by when, and from whom in the customer’s company that information should come.
• Engaging in the discipline of planning through working the plan. In other words, the value isn’t in the physical manifestion of the sales plan. It’s in the effort, thought, and collaboration behind building that plan.
• Collaboration among sales rep, manager, other team members, and outside consultants, where appropriate. (In certain situations I used to work on contingency.)
• Formulation of objectives, strategies, and tactics based on information, analysis, and logic—not guesswork.
• Measuring the progress of the opportunity since the last session.
• Assess risks and rewards for continuing to pursue.

I had the opportunity to use a series of screenshots taken from The TAS Group’s Dealmaker sales process automation software (with permission, of course) to demonstrate best practices in qualification.

I provided a series of diagnostic questions that would likely compel the salesrep to need to get more information from the customer.

If you’d like to view the recording or download the slides visit SMMConnect’s site here.

Finally, join me on April 4, 2013, when I’ll be presenting “How to Interview Sales Candidates Without Getting Sold“.)

Filed under: Big Wins, Competition, Inside Sales, Opportunity Management, Research, Sales Training Companies | No Comments »

One sales performance improvement company that has enjoyed decades of success is The Complex Sale. Had they merely rested on the industry-leading content developed years ago, they certainly wouldn’t be where they are today. On the contrary, they’ve invested, and adapted to the challenges present today in not only complex, but also more transactional selling environments.

I had the opportunity to engage with David Stargel, President and COO of The Complex Sale, on this interview. For those of you who “knew them back when…” and haven’t kept up, this will be eye-opening for you.

Here is the interview:

Dave Stein: David,  it looks like you have had a lot going on the last couple of years at The Complex Sale.  Tell me a little about where you have been focusing? Read more »

Filed under: Big Wins, Book Recommendation, Presentations, Sales Training Companies | 1 Comment »

The issue of CRM adoption seems to come up a lot these days. After all these years, many companies are still having a substantial challenge getting their sales forces to align and comply with corporate CRM policies and procedures.

I’ve written a lot about sales process automation tools like Dealmaker, White Springs, and Revegy, and the significant value they provide to the sales rep.

But there are other approaches companies are taking to get their sales reps to focus on CRM compliance as well as other important things like skills development. One of those approaches is gamification. (Here is a recent article about it by a Gartner Analyst.) Read more »

Filed under: CRM, Interview, Leadership, Marketing, Measurement, Sales Enablement | 8 Comments »

During the past few weeks I’ve fielded queries from several clients regarding our view on salesreps working from home.

More salesreps are telecommuting now than even a few years ago.  But working from home isn’t for every salesrep or every company.  It could mean the difference between your home-office reps making their numbers or not. Read more »

Filed under: Hiring, Sales Enablement | 3 Comments »