Sales Success Requires Solid Planning

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In a complex sale, a good tactical plan is only as good as the strategy that led up to it.  The difference between strategy and tactics in sales is important—tactics refers to the techniques you use when you’re actually face to face with a prospect or customer in a meeting.  It includes the things you learned in “Selling 101” including questioning skills, understanding buying influences, presentation skills and so on.

The strategy for a sales meeting includes a series of less recognized processes that you use to position yourself with the customer before the sales call even begins.  Strategy is a prerequisite to tactical success.  You can only succeed in sales today if you know what you’re doing and why and you’ve created a methodology or process to support your efforts. 

One of my favorite books on this subject was Strategic Selling by Miller & Heiman. It was first published in 1985, and was the foundation for the training I received selling for a Fortune 100 company.  The book was updated and published again in 2005 by the title The New Strategic Selling.  If you can’t answer the question, “why are you successful?” then you may want to consider investing the time and energy to understand and document your strategy for sales success. 

Planning is an Unnatural Process; it’s Much More Fun to do Something

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This statement was made by Sir John Harvey, a British Actor-Manager born in the 1800’s yet it resonates with most of us today! "I am always happy and fulfilled after I’ve done my planning but it is true that I’m generally more interested in doing things….I have to force myself to plan.  It takes a concerted effort and a commitment to the process for me to spend consistent time planning."

The key I’ve found is to create a plan—for your planning.  Even as a ‘solo-prenuer’ I have recognized that I need a written plans (as opposed to keeping it in my head), in order to stay focused and measure my progress.  How about you—have you spent time planning for next year? I don’t mean the budget, but the other stuff?  

Employee Engagement is Key to Profitability

In a global study of over 88,000 employees, it was determined that barely 21% (1 in 5) are engaged in their jobs.  Employee engagement is a measurable degree of an employee’s positive (or negative), emotional attachment to their job, colleagues and organization.  An employee’s level of engagement profoundly influences their willingness to learn and perform at work. 

The percentage of employees in the study that were fully disengaged was 8% and the remaining 71% were partially engaged or partially disengaged.  In other words, they are on the fence about the organization and their role within it.

Why should you care?  Research shows that companies with higher levels of engagement experience 50% higher sales, 38% higher productivity and 27% higher profits. According to the Gallup organization, disengaged employees cost the U.S. over $300 billion each year in lost productivity.  Any way you slice it, the time and money spent to improve employee engagement delivers on the investment. 

The Goal of Business Planning is Behavior Change

Many people think of business planning as a high level exercise that sets the direction for your business—which it does. But the real goal of business planning is to change behavior in your organization. 

Not all business planning changes behavior—but business planning with on-going plan review, scorecards, and progress reports ties personal performance to business outcomes.  Consistent communication and discussion of expectations is the primary method for changing behaviors in an organization. Ironically, employees frequently don’t know what is expected of them in their roles.  The entire process starts with the planning process which identifies desired outcomes and defines expectations.  

Effective Sales Training Requires On-going Coaching & Training

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According to research between 85% and 90% of sales training has no lasting impact after 120 days. At the same time, companies are spending billions of dollars on sales training each year. That's billions of dollars being wasted on limited sales performance impact and only short-term boosts in sales at best.

The key to lasting results from any training is an organized and consistent program for reinforcing the learning and practicing the new skill.  If you question the need for that on-going investment of time and resources, think about the last time you learned a new skill.  Imagine learning to golf or play the piano without on-going instruction, correction and practice.  Improving skills and competency in a professional area without that follow-up support is a feel good but ineffective exercise.