Around this time of the year 94 % is concerning...

As a sales leader was lamenting about the performance of one of her sales representatives she looked at me and said, “You know, 94 % is a great mark on a chemistry test but not so great as a performance to plan”. I couldn’t help but nod in agreement — if only I had gotten ninety-four. As for being 94% to plan in October, I also had to agree. There is just so little time left in the year to make it up.

test-3653346__480.jpg

If you are in sales (or marketing for that matter) you will probably know what the sales leader was referring to; if you are not, I will try to offer a perspective that may help.

At the beginning of each year everyone in the sales organization is given an annual sales target* (also called a quota or sales plan) and performance is measured against how they do relative to the target (and usually compensated in some way). This annual target is usually divided into four quarters, with each quarter divided into three months; ultimately you end up with a sales target for each month that adds up to the annual target. In effect, each month is a performance benchmark that allows progress to be measured. As an example, if your actual sales in January was $100,000 and your target for January was $90,000 — you are 110% of target; if your actual sales after the first nine months is $940,000 and your target is $1,000,000, then you find yourself 94% of target (with a deficit of $60,000). That means, in October, you not only have to achieve your target for the final Quarter (October, November and December) but you also need to make up the $60,000 deficit to ensure achievement of your annual plan.

It should be pointed out that when you are looking at performance versus target you need to consider monthly performance for sure, but most importantly how you are tracking to your annual plan — some months will have you above target, and some months you will be under, but it is the aggregate by the end of the year that is important. Being significantly below target so late in the year makes the likelihood of being below target by the end of the year much greater, and this was part of the issue the Sales Leader was wrestling with.

At this time of the year, it is all about CONFIDENCE in being successful by year end — the clock is literally ticking. Behind the Sales Leader’s lament with a lead performance indicator of 94% was the concern that there was no “line of sight” to how the sales rep was going to make up the current deficit, or for that matter, an understanding of why there was a deficit in the first place.

And this is the real issue regarding the situation — a lack of understanding of the situation, why the deficit is occurring, what is being done to correct the situation, et cetera. The reality of sales is there will be times you miss your target (sometimes there are situation that happen that are beyond your control) but it becomes a real sin if there is not an understanding what is happening. I know for a fact the Sales Leader would be a lot less concerned if her sales representative had proactively addressed the reasons for being at 94 % of plan, what the situation was, what activities were being taken, what the new opportunities were to address the deficit, et cetera.

Without any of this, there is a very good reason to be concerned with 94%… sales is not a chemistry test after all.

iamgpe

*If you are leading (or part of a sales organization) that does not have an annual sales target you are pretty much guaranteed not to succeed over the long run.

The quirkiness that comes with business travel...

It’s a lot easier to simply say you are going to Boston for a business trip instead of Newton (which is a suburb of Boston) — it’s simply more recognizable and comes will less explanation; although disappointing all around when you clarify. I don’t travel as much as I used to but every so often I find myself heading to the airport with carry on luggage in tow. A recent trip had me going to visit a potential client, and with it, offered up an opportunity to explore all the trials and tribulations that come with such trips. In other words, it was an opportunity to deal with all the quirkiness that seems to inherently be part of business travel.

businessmen-3073637__480.jpg

As I look back on this, the first hint of the quirkiness yet to come occurred when I attempted to book my hotel room. When I went to reserve a room I was told the hotel was full but an alternative hotel had vacancies. This was particularly disappointing because the hotel I wanted to stay at was an easy five minute walk to my client — alas, I needed a place to sleep so I took the alternative. The idea of not having a convenient five-minute walk (and needing to rent a car) started to fester so I called the front desk of my preferred hotel to see if they could find me a room. I was informed that there were a number of rooms available and was passed onto “reservations”, and as you might guess, I was informed that the hotel was all booked up (but there was an alternative hotel available). After explaining I was told differently, I was again informed there were simply no rooms available. Spurred on by the idiocy of this, I hung up and called the front desk, explained what was happening, and eventually they took my reservation there and then. With that done, all I had to do was call and cancel the reservation for that alternative hotel. I was off the hamster wheel. (Persistence)

A 5:00 am start had me at the airport with lots of time to make my way from one side of customs and security to the other.

After a couple of attempts at the check-in kiosk, I was informed my identity couldn’t be verified and I needed to see an agent — twenty minutes later I handed my passport to an agent and explaining that the kiosk “doesn’t like me”. With boarding pass in hand, I was told that the reason for the uncooperative kiosk was because I hadn’t included a “Mr” when I booked my flight; as a result the kiosk removed a letter from my name to solve for the missing tile, but in doing so made my name unidentifiable. (Learning experience)

airplane-1938971_1280.jpg

Because of my boarding pass issue, I found myself one of the last people to get onto the plane and had to check my carry on — a little inconvenient because I would have to wait at the luggage carousel but none of this mattered because I was on the plane and we were on time. That was until we were informed the pilots had missed their “connecting flight” and new pilots would be here in about twenty minutes. (Patience)

It was a smooth flight.

Some other quirky highlights of my short trip — I could get onto the guest password, the network, but not my email (I would have to access emails at the hotel); I thought I had lost my wallet and was moments from making the dreaded call to cancel my credit cards when I finally found it (my new bag has many, many, places to put things); I lost my umbrella (I still have no idea how that happened or where it could be. And yes, I went back to the hotel to look for it.). (Adaptability)

It was a smooth flight back home after a productive couple of days (with only a slight delay).

It was nice to be back home — that was until I started to get a sore throat, a cough, and a fever. I’ve been under the weather all weekend, and you guessed it, the weather outside was beautiful. (Stoic)

iamgpe

Are you buying drills?

An old adage came up in conversation the other day,

“People don’t buy drills, they buy holes”

If you are in sales you may have heard this — it is a reminder that people purchase what they need and you work to satisfy that need. With this pity adage it is the hole the person paying for and the drill is just the way they get what they paid for.

drill-308522__480.png
  • Selling “drills” is product and not customer focused — people prefer you are focused on them.

  • Selling “drills” is a good indicator that you are inwardly focused — everything that you can’t control (and which impacts you) is happening out in the “big bad world”; it’s good to know what’s happening out there.

  • Selling “drills” is a good indicator you are not solution driven — people prefer solutions and not just to buy something. They really don’t like when they buy something that doesn’t satisfy their need.

  • Selling a “drill” is a feature, whereas a hole is a benefit — people buy benefits.

  • Selling “drills” is a transaction and not partnership oriented — people prefer to deal with trusted partners.

  • You are engaging with (and understanding) the customer when you ask why they need a hole — when you really know customer you can help focus in on what they need.

This literally applies to anyone trying to convince someone to purchase a drill, and if you consider it figuratively, it applies to almost everything else — the features of a fitness club, what are the benefits? The features of a political parties promises, what are the benefits? The skills of a person, what are the benefits?

And with benefits, comes value.

Getting into the weeds a little there is extrinsic value and there is intrinsic value. Extrinsic value is the generally accepted value that comes from the benefit, whereas intrinsic value reflects the benefits specific to the person. If we go back to the drill example, the benefit of making a hole is the extrinsic value, but unless a person needs a hole, he or she doesn’t care — it is only when a person needs a hole does it offer intrinsic value and the likelihood they would be interested in buying a drill.

It becomes an alignment of features to benefits to intrinsic value — and with it, an understanding of what is intrinsically of value to you.

And if you know that, you will never buy a drill you don’t need (figuratively speaking).

iamgpe