Photo courtesy of Ottawa Business Journal

These days it is tough to talk about sales excellence without talking about the mobile computing technologies that are helping sales teams be successful. We recently caught up with tech entrepreneur, mobile industry expert, UNTETHER.TV host and author, Rob Woodbridge, to talk about the latest mobile technologies and how they are powering leading sales teams.

Peak: Mobile computing has become mainstream and some of us literally live in our devices, but how is mobile technology impacting the way businesses work?

Rob: There isn’t a piece of business today that isn’t being impacted – positively or negatively – because of the wide adoption and use of mobile. It obviously starts with real-time information that can be accessed in, er, real time. There are no longer a delays in business metrics, customer feedback and those that were built into the system that businesses used to have as an advantage over their customers – however slight it was. Real time means pricing, customer/peer reviews and product/service availability. The significance of real time is an erosion of brand loyalty with the mid-tier brands – customers have the power and they are flexing their muscle.

With this real-time access to anything the pitch and tone of sales needs to change dramatically. The world’s offerings are on display making almost everything – except the scarce things that are extracted or grown of the earth – a commodity. This puts emphasis on the way something is positioned (for example, the value of a product or the customer benefit of the service), deemphasizing the features. Sales changes from bells and whistles to driving tonnage, increasing basket size or creating deeper engagement with a customer.

Because of the way mobile intersects our day and empowers our decision-making process, the rules of engagement have been drastically altered. There are more ways to reach customers as a result but now the focus becomes about context. Context wraps a layer around sales that, if used properly, helps close deals.

Peak: CRM systems are now commonplace in sales organizations, and with such a high proportion of staff in the field, one might expect the sales function to be leading the charge in terms of adoption of new mobile technologies. Is this true? Is the salesforce behind or ahead of the curve vs the rest of the organization?

Rob: The virtual act of marrying a company’s CRM with mobile is the panacea for sales but it is really just the first steep step in integrating mobile into a business. It is one thing to have access to information on the go – contacts, documents, locations and business history for example – it is another thing altogether to use it to build business and close deals. The sales force has the most to gain from using the tools mobile brings and are often the first to adopt the physical technologies (hardware like laptops, smartphones and tablets) but not when it comes to adjusting the sales process based on the softer side of mobile (the analytics, data refinement and targeting).

Most of the emphasis these days is on marketing, customer engagement and retention – something that mobile is rapidly becoming very good at and something that most organizations understand. Bringing new sales techniques that incorporate a combination of social, local and mobile means a partial blend of the marketing and sales role – or at least a bigger awareness of how each terminate in the devices they, and their customers, carry.

Peak: What are some of the most exciting technologies you are seeing that can help the salesforce excel today?

Rob: Not to get all “touchy-feely” but tools that help in relationship discovery and development are in focus today. Web services like LinkedIn have already proven considerable value in the sales process and mobile is a natural extension to this. Mobile tools that add context to relationships and enable educated conversation are technologies that can really help in sales today. Think about using mobile as a contextual, location-aware, relationship management tool that brings these elements together with corporate and social knowledge – a strong base to build from.

Peak: What do you think the “untethered” salesforce will look like in 5 years?

Rob: 5 years is hard to predict when no one really saw the entire mobile and app revolution coming in the first place so take this in context to that. There will be two big shifts that happen to the sales force in the coming years. The first is the operationalization and mobilization of the right data to serve the right customer. This will lead to a more tailored, focused sales effort – think of it as 1 to 1 sales on a mass scale. The second broad trend is a deeper blurring of the sales and marketing responsibilities when it comes to relationship development and customer retention.

Most of the challenges ahead won’t be technology-related, they will be around our ability to modify human behaviour to adapt to the changing sales landscape brought on by the possibilities of mobile.

Exciting times indeed. Check out more of Rob’s insights at UNTETHER.tv

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Eliot Burdett

CEO at Peak Sales Recruiting

Before Peak, Eliot spent more than 20 years building and leading companies, where he took the lead in recruiting and managing high performance sales teams. He co-founded Ventrada Systems (mobile applications) and GlobalX (e-commerce software). He was also Vice President of Sales for PointShot Wireless.

Eliot received his B. Comm. from Carleton University and has been honored as a Top 40 Under 40 Award winner.

He co-authored Sales Recruiting 2.0, How to Find Top Performing Sales People, Fast and provides regular insights on sales team management and hiring on the Peak Sales Recruiting Blog.

Connect:

Latest posts by Eliot Burdett (see all)

• 20 Of Our Favorite Books About Sales Management and Sales Leadership – October 20, 2023
• How To Make Progress On Your Sales Goal Without A Sales Leader – September 15, 2021
• Augment Your Recruiting Strategy During “The Great Resignation” – July 26, 2021

Modern selling has made the sales people in movies like Tin Men, Glengarry Glenn Ross and Mad Men look dated, and a lot of people turn their nose up at sales reps that hobnob with customers like Herb Tarlek might have back in the day. But there is still that old saying that people buy from people and while the Internet has had an immense impact on selling in most sectors, there are still many sectors where relationships and face to face sales skills have an enormous impact.

Consider car sales, for instance. While more than 90% of car buyers research purchases online prior to visiting a dealer, the vast majority of buyers will interact with a sales person face to face prior to making a purchase. A study of automobile buyers by Maritz Research indicated that the top influencer on that purchase is the sales person at the dealer.  Keep-in-touch calls to customers and gifts for repeat customers are still pretty common, so perhaps the titles of the sales people have changed to consultants and customer advisors, but the tactics that work haven’t changed a lot over the years.

Another sector where the internet hasn’t entirely disrupted selling is high priced products and services. No one is going to buy an SAP project online with their credit card. Sales skills, account strategy, and developing relationships with executive stakeholders is absolutely critical. While the focus may be on business case and cost/benefit, many times it is not the solution with the best business case that is selected for a variety of reasons. Face to face selling plays a huge role and will for the foreseeable future.

Lets look at highly priced competitive sectors, particularly where businesses are selling to businesses. In these sectors, the relationship between the sales rep and the buyer(s) is one of the key differentiators, along with service. Golf tournaments, customer appreciation parties and other entertainment venues are still popular in these sectors.

These are just a few examples that show that while the profession of sales is evolving rapidly, it is still often about people buying from people.

To your success.

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• About
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Eliot Burdett

CEO at Peak Sales Recruiting

Before Peak, Eliot spent more than 20 years building and leading companies, where he took the lead in recruiting and managing high performance sales teams. He co-founded Ventrada Systems (mobile applications) and GlobalX (e-commerce software). He was also Vice President of Sales for PointShot Wireless.

Eliot received his B. Comm. from Carleton University and has been honored as a Top 40 Under 40 Award winner.

He co-authored Sales Recruiting 2.0, How to Find Top Performing Sales People, Fast and provides regular insights on sales team management and hiring on the Peak Sales Recruiting Blog.

Connect:

Latest posts by Eliot Burdett (see all)

• 20 Of Our Favorite Books About Sales Management and Sales Leadership – October 20, 2023
• How To Make Progress On Your Sales Goal Without A Sales Leader – September 15, 2021
• Augment Your Recruiting Strategy During “The Great Resignation” – July 26, 2021

Colleen Francis, Sales Expert, is Founder and President of Engage Selling Solutions. She has over 20 years of sales and management experience, and puts these skills to use by helping clients realize immediate results, achieve lasting success and permanently raise their bottom line. We sat down with her recently to talk about how to turn dysfunctional sales teams into high performance sales teams. Here is a summary of our interview.

Colleen, what do mean when you talk about sales team dysfunction?
Colleen: Dysfunction. The word comes up in conversation every day, usually in relation to crazy families, nutty reality show contestants, and all-around gossip. But what happens when the word dysfunction can be applied to your sales team? In particular, when a dysfunctional sales team is preventing you from getting the results your company needs to move forward, how do you identify the root cause of the problem, eliminate it, and transition from dysfunctional to high-impact? Dysfunction on your team may be inherited or may be something you’ve created inadvertently, but the important thing to understand is that it can be identified and fixed.

What are some of the signs of dysfunction?
Colleen: As we always hear, the first step to a solution is admitting you have a problem. Keep an eye out for some of these tell-tale signs within your sales team and your company at large that indicate you may face a problem.

1. 1. The Company Isn’t Focused on Sales. If product management, development, and engineering are the main focus at your company, and the CEO or head of sales has a background in finance, product management, or development—not sales and marketing—the company as a whole may not be sales-focused and that may trickle down to your team.
   2. The Team Isn’t Focusing on Numbers with Visible Reminders. Take a minute to look around. Are sales targets written on the walls, on whiteboards, tacked to cubicles? If not, there’s a lack of focus on those numbers for your team, and that’s a problem.
   3. The Sales Group Doesn’t Know Its Funnel or Projections. Ask your sales team and managers to define their funnel—ask them what they’re working on and what’s closing soon. Question them on their revenue forecasts and margins. If they can’t give you simple, concise answers, they’re not functioning smoothly. In fact, the topic of hitting targets, bonuses, and commissions should be frequently discussed within the team—if it’s not, they’re not focused on selling.
   4. There’s No Sense of Urgency. Get a feel for your sales team at the end of a month or quarter. Activity should be almost frenetic at this point—your team should be on the phones and selling. If reps are taking 90-minute lunches or doing a lot of chatting at the water cooler when hitting their targets is on the line, you’ve got a problem within the team.
   5. Your Sales Room is a High School Cafeteria. Of course, dysfunction comes in the most obvious of forms as well. Much like high school, gossip and rumors on the sales team can lead to nothing but trouble and means that the team is off focus. Playing the blame game is a problem as well: when your team is blaming shipping, support or finance for their losses, you need to root out why they’re not accountable.

Sometimes dysfunction isn’t really a harmful thing for your team—and the only way to know this is to be measuring your results. If your team is hitting its targets and acting legally, morally and ethically, does it necessarily matter if someone’s a bit quirky or has some strange work habits? Perhaps not. But in all other cases, it’s important to root out the source of the problem so your team can focus on its purpose: selling and results.

How does a sales leader go about eliminating dysfunction from the team?

Colleen: Once you have identified the signs of dysfunction on your sales team and determined that it’s a problem that’s inhibiting your ability to generate revenue, it’s important to take action to turn the situation around. This could range from simple steps like clearer communication or the tweaking of goals, to more drastic measures like eliminating problem staff members or making changes to your compensation plan. The following are steps you can take to mitigate dysfunction on the team.

1. 1. Focus on the Pipeline. Highly functional sales teams focus on the pipeline, build camaraderie and surge forward at month and quarter end. They’re extremely results-oriented and they focus their office work and activities on obtaining those results. If your sales team isn’t getting results, the first step you should take is to manage by walking around the floor. Make sure the room isn’t quiet and listen to the conversations going on to help you determine why your reps are not hitting their targets. Is it because the pipeline isn’t filled, or because they have poor closing skills? Dig deep: if the pipeline’s not full, decide what the root of the issue is. Consider whether the problem is willingness or ability. Are your reps being lazy or ineffective, or are they working with a bad product or problematic sales process? Whatever the issue is that’s preventing your reps from working with a full pipeline and closing deals, identify and eliminate it.
   2. Examine Individuals’ Behavior. It’s a cliché, but it’s true: one bad apple can spoil the whole bunch. In many cases, this issue can be one you inherit from a previous sales leader, but a problem employee still needs to be dealt with. Take a look at the individual members of your team and how they’re behaving in professional situations. Are the reps taking their jobs seriously, or are they playing games or enjoying themselves, possibly at the expense of the company’s reputation or relationship with the client? Signs that you’re going to have issues with a particular team member include a resistance to forecasts or measurements—often, they’ll claim they don’t have time to measure because they’re “too busy selling.” If a rep has a heavy reliance on a small number of accounts or they complain about changes to marketing, product or process, they may be part of the issue on your team. In some cases, these issues may be inherent to someone’s personality (as opposed to something you can solve by training and mentoring), and that may mean they’re not going to be a good fit for your team.
   3. Look at the Environment You’ve Developed. In large part, you can create your own dysfunction by putting the wrong compensation plan in place, fostering extreme competition, or leading by the stick, punishing or penalizing without ever rewarding. When it’s time to assess the health of your team, don’t forget to look inward to see what you could do better. In sales, compensation is king. As much as it can motivate employees, it can also create an extremely hostile environment when done poorly. Changing your compensation plan partway through the year or changing rules or territories unexpectedly can create this type of negative environment. It encourages your reps to fight, hoard deals, hide deals or game the system. In the end, your sales team will most likely behave the way you pay them to behave, so pay attention to your compensation plan and ensure you’re paying your employees for the habits and achievements you want to see.
   4. Hiring can make a difference to your team’s environment as well. Hire the right people for the type of sales your company makes. A rep who’s excellent at closing multimillion dollar deals with long sales cycle may fail on a team that needs monthly results with smaller revenues. Fit and skills are important, so keep your sales process in mind when hiring, and don’t get dazzled by impressive numbers that aren’t relevant to your specific business.

What are some of the strategies sales leaders can employ to take a team to a place of high impact ?

Colleen: Even if you’re able to get the dysfunction out of your sales team, it doesn’t mean you’ve necessarily created a high-impact team. There are some strategies that will help move your team in the right direction once you’ve solved for dysfunction.

1. 1. Create excitement around the pipeline: Develop leads at every stage and ensure your team is confident about the pipeline.
   2. Rally around a simple, single concept: Be focused and constant in reinforcing a single concept for a selling period (typically a quarter) so your team knows exactly what they should be aiming for.
   3. Protect your team: Make sure the entire company knows not to bother your team or create non-revenue-generating meetings or activities during the last week of the month or the last week of the quarter, respecting that killer sales time for your team. Rally the entire company around the fact that the sales team is generating revenue.
   4. Coach for opportunity, not discipline: Reward your team verbally or with an email when deals are won or saved, or when reps hit their quota. It’s as important to let the team know when they’re doing well as when things are wrong or need to be corrected. Make progress public within the team and the entire company, and celebrate both big successes and small victories.
   5. Create a two-phase coaching program: Sales VPs should meet with reps one-on-one for about 30 minutes each week to run through deal analysis and talk in confidence around their pipeline. To foster camaraderie, teams should also meet once a week to share ideas.
   6. Separate the manager from selling: If you have your own territory as a sales leader, you’re essentially competing against your reps. Pass off your accounts to your team and coach them on how to improve their performance.

Ridding your sales team of dysfunction can be a difficult process—but making it successful should be energizing and fun. By examining your practices, your people and yourself, you can develop a team that performs and generates revenue for your company.

Start improving your results today with Engage’s online Newsletter Sales Flash and a FREE 7 day intensive sales eCourse: www.EngagingIdeasOnline.com.

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• About
• Latest Posts

Connect:

Eliot Burdett

CEO at Peak Sales Recruiting

Before Peak, Eliot spent more than 20 years building and leading companies, where he took the lead in recruiting and managing high performance sales teams. He co-founded Ventrada Systems (mobile applications) and GlobalX (e-commerce software). He was also Vice President of Sales for PointShot Wireless.

Eliot received his B. Comm. from Carleton University and has been honored as a Top 40 Under 40 Award winner.

He co-authored Sales Recruiting 2.0, How to Find Top Performing Sales People, Fast and provides regular insights on sales team management and hiring on the Peak Sales Recruiting Blog.

Connect:

Latest posts by Eliot Burdett (see all)

• 20 Of Our Favorite Books About Sales Management and Sales Leadership – October 20, 2023
• How To Make Progress On Your Sales Goal Without A Sales Leader – September 15, 2021
• Augment Your Recruiting Strategy During “The Great Resignation” – July 26, 2021