Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/53564
42 • FEBRUARY 2012 • WORLD FENCE NEWS The biggest sales inhibitor is the same now as it was for the past decade. Many salespeople know what to do, but are not willing to do what they know. How many times does a salesper- son say he or she knows they should prospect from 8 a.m. to 10 a.m. four days a week but yet they don't? Just like any other profession, there are always excuses for why we don't do something we know we should. This does not mean the excuses are not real, but many times the ex- cuses can be overcome or removed. How many times has an obstacle or ex- cuse gotten in your way of picking up a signed contract or a customer pay- ment? Knowledge is powerless without action: Boost your sales today! BY NATHAN JAMAIL Action is power: Knowledge is powerless without action. Selling is a skill, and just like any skill it takes practice and, most important, discipline and commitment to be successful. Continued learning by reading books, attending training and practice sessions are all very important, but a salesperson must put that knowledge to work before there will be any re- sults. Many times, a sales manager or salesperson knows what to say, but the difference between the top sales rep and the bottom sales rep most often is the execution of the knowledge. Accountability ensures action: Sales managers always expect their sales reps to hold themselves ac- countable, but most of the time that is not the case. If it were the case, there would be very little need for sales managers. To increase sales, you must hold people accountable for executing the activities needed to be successful. Many managers struggle with this be- cause they don't like conflict. Conflict can be good or bad, it simply depends on the reason for the conflict. For example, if the conflict is to make a person better or more success- ful, then not only is it good, it is help- ful. (It's all in the approach.) Usually when we look back to people who affected us in our past, and choose the person who affected us most, it ends up being the person who would not accept anything less than the best we could offer. At the time, we might have thought they were just being mean or hard on us, but in retrospect we under- stand they were working hard to make us better people. A goal of any sales leader should be to expect and accept nothing less than a person's best. Just like in life, in sales you will get exactly what you are willing to accept. How to hold your team accountable: Every person on a team should have expectations and not just a job description; rather, a list of perform- ance expectations that will ensure the saleperson's success. Have each sales- person complete an activity plan of what actions they are going to take and how they are going to execute them. As a sales manager, you need to conduct weekly or bi-weekly one-on- one sessions with each sales rep to make sure he or she is executing the plan. Then, you need to take action based on the salesperson's results. If he over-achieved, recognize and At Western Tube & Conduit customer satisfaction and quality are the first order of business. Our Fencepost and Fencerail production is ISO-9001:2008 certified - and our products are manufactured to meet all the applicable state, federal, industrial and regulatory specifications and requirements. While we regularly stock standardized products and sizes, we are happy to provide custom dimensions as well. All our Fence products are galvanized with high purity zinc. We use high frequency welding (ERW) to turn the highest quality strip steel into tubing, and then a continuous hot-galvanizing process to zinc-coat the products smoothly and evenly. A zinc-rich interior organic coating, a chromate conversion coating, and a clear exterior organic coating provide the complete finish package that gives them superior protection against the elements and long life as a result. Gal-Z serves customers looking for shaped Fence tubing as well as corrosion-protected mechanical tubing. It can be purchased in squares and in rectangles, and it provides excellent environmental durability while also fulfilling the need for strength and weldability. praise him, but if he didn't reach his goal, hold him accountable by taking action and help him understand how to execute the plan and why. Too many managers try to mange the sales result and not the activity. If you manage the sales results, your ability to correct a bad month of sales has passed – you can only respond to the results. But, if you manage the activities, you can correct them and therefore af- fect the sales results prior to having a bad month. The difference is that a manager who manages activity will spend more time coaching the salesperson, while the manager who manages the sales re- sults will spend more time training the replacements. The business is out there – are you willing to take it? The difference from today and three years ago is now salespeople have a new excuse: "the economy." (Although is this really a new excuse?) There is no doubt that the economy is weaker than the past, but many contin ued on pa g e 46