During the past two weeks I have been in Miami, Phoenix and this weekend I have been speaking in San Antonio. We have met with Sales Leaders from around the world, lead workshops, presented keynotes and developed new long term relationships with our client base. It’s been a great few weeks. I have also noticed an uptick in my own prospects and business opportunities. Have you? Based upon my conversations almost every sales leader is optimistic and pipelines are filling. Are you ready to participate in the recovery?
During the past 13 years I have been consulting, writing and speaking on the fact that sales management is the lynch-pin that drives successful organizations; sales leadership sets the tone, the culture and drives the organization to greater levels of revenues and profitability. And now, during the past six months the topic of participating in the economic recovery and the impact of great sales management on the organization has been a critical and hot topic. The topics of surviving or working in a challenging economic time are over. “Economic recovery?”.. Yes, just reading the USA Today, on Monday January 24th, the quotes are all over the paper:
- Are you more or less optimistic than you were 3 months ago about the economic outlook this year? 91% of 46 Economists answered YES.
- Over the next 12 months, which will have the greatest positive impact on the economy? 48% said BUSINESS, 45% the consumer
- The US economy is expected to grow at an annual rate between 3.2% to 3.4%, that is up from October forecast of 2.5% to 3.3%
- They expect employers to add 200,000 jobs a month-more than double last year’s rate.
- The DOW is over 11,961 at the time of this blog
What is the role or action points for sales manager’s in a recovering economy? I listed a few steps to focus on:
1) Build your Hiring Plan; Sales Managers should know today when they expect to add new salespeople for the next 18 months. Based upon your revenue goals for the next 24 months you should have a plan set defining what months you will need hire new sales talent to achieve those new higher sales targets. If your next hire date is March, then your recruiting plan must in effect now, is it June? October? Make sure you also plan on members your current team could leave or be fired also.
2) Get aggressive on increasing your individual salesperson strategy sessions, winning now is critical to build momentum. Schedule special sales team sessions or hold a small group of salesperson discussions weekly to strategize each sales opportunity.
3) Increase the culture building and building belief in your offerings and your organization. If you want an article I published on that topic send me an email. [email protected] Your sales team needs to believe and feel the change in economic conditions, you want to create their desire to participate in the recovery. “Take advantage of the opportunity of a lifetime, during the life time of the opportunity”.
4) Retool your sales compensation to ensure it is in alignment with your corporate objectives or if you have already rolled out 2011 compensation plans, create an aggressive sales contest or special incentives to win Net-New clients or upgrade existing clients or hit higher levels of revenues/margin. Drive the sense of urgency to win.
5) Sales management must now focus, as always, but more importantly now on “Brilliant Execution”. If you and your team are 2 steps ahead of your competition during the next 4 months your summer and fall business opportunities will accelerate. Focus on increased levels of sales management planning i.e. sales training, one on one coaching and managing the number of calls per month per salesperson and even schedule weekly telephone blitz days to find those businesses that need your solutions to participate in their own recovery.
Sales leaders are the key to success, you can make the difference and NOW is the time to take advantage of opportunity and participate in the economic recovery.
What else do you think you should focus on to grow your business during the next 18 months? Let me know your thoughts….
Ken’s books: http://www.yoursalesmanagementguru.salesgravy.com
