The news is overflowing with stories of failing businesses. A nearly 100-year-old company has decided to close its doors. The current owners, fourth-generation brothers, blame the economy. However, their great grandfather survived the crash of 29 and the Great Depression. Their grandfather survived ups and downs of the post-war era. And dad survived the craziness of the 60s. But, they decide to give up.
There is no question that todays economic times are tough. But why quit now? It may be that business during the last eight to 10 years was just too easy. For business owners who arent ready to throw in the towel, its not too late to make necessary changes that will lead to recession survival, and perhaps growth.
When times get tough, the first place to seek answers is within the sales team. When looking at the sales force, start at the management level. Begin by asking yourself three questions, and then consider the methodology behind them.
Question #1: Is the Sales Manager managing the sales force aggressively?
Having an aggressive sales manager is important because aggressive, smart leadership motivates and inspires salespeople in tough times. If your sales manager has not been recognized as a really aggressive personality, who manages every element related to the sales force, how can your business survive in this tough environment? He or she must be willing to fight for your business, if you expect the salespeople to do the same.
The first step to aggressive management is to itemize what needs to be managed; this can be done in a variety of ways. Planning sales calls and travel are a good starting point. Salespeople need to be highly organized before, during and after the sales call. In a tough economy, there is a real premium on efficiency.
Whether you have your own people or reps, your sales manager must direct the way your field salespeople work with customers; every face-to-face opportunity must be as effective as possible. In most cases, call reports are more fiction than fact. The key is to get your salespeople to create a Call Guide to organize, drive and support their sales efforts.
A Call Guide is a tool that the salesperson should use unfailingly when contacting each customer. It shows the customers basic contact information, and has space for the salesperson to write down specific goals for the sales call. It is used for taking notes during the call, and concludes with writing down what the next steps should be; what follow up is needed?
The Call Guide should be reviewed before each sales call is made, completed during the call, and used at all times to organize and develop the relationship with the customer.
Question #2: Is the Sales Manager working with a well-developed sales and marketing plan to drive his teams efforts into crash mode?
Moving into crash mode is the first step to surviving the recession, and the key here is to identify ways to find and close business quickly and effectively. Organization is critical. When you are in crash mode, every detail must be spelled out in writing; therefore, a written marketing and sales plan is vital. Without a well-conceived and well-supported plan, sales force members are working with one hand tied behind their backs. And remember, effective marketing eliminates excuses by salespeople.
The sales manager should create a book for every territory. The salespeople cannot be left to do it on their own. The sales manager must proactively drive the development of individual customer plans to achieve the sales goals. Salespeople have to be trained to use their sales tools.
Are your sales tools really the best they can be? Have you looked objectively at the image your materials present to current and prospective customers? Does your company stand out above the competition? Do you really know? When was the last time you did an objective study of your company and brand awareness?
Benchmark now for future growth and success. We have been through very prosperous, high-growth times. In good times, it is too easy to overestimate the strength of our marketing, sales planning and programs. Now, times are much tougher and marketing and sales success is much more difficult to come by.
Top management and in-the-trenches marketing and sales management need benchmarks. However, most small and mid-size companies cannot afford big, sophisticated, expensive studies. The good news is that these big, expensive and slow-to-obtain studies are useless, and simple, fast, benchmark analysis is available.
A simple survey conducted by your own sales force can reveal vital information. But even better, a survey done by professional interviewers, by phone or in person, will reveal even more.
Get your information from the people who count. In most businesses the number of customers who actually make a difference is very small. If you have 20 sales territories, there are probably fewer than 20 customers in each territory who contribute the bulk of that territorys sales. Why not survey the top five in each territory? You will be surprised how much you learn and how fast.
Question #3: Would you bet your life on your Sales Manager? (You are!)
The sales manager is often times your point person for recession survival, so its important you trust him or her with your life – and your income. Now is the time to review the sales managers performance, in writing and in depth. This is not an exercise tied to a compensation review. In fact, compensation should not be a part of this review at all.
This review is about your companys future. In times like these, the company is carried on the backs of the sales personnel. The person who manages, drives and controls the producers must be up to the task. The best way to assure that he or she is with you through thick and thin is to analyze skills, organization and results, now and every 30 days from now on.
With the sales manager, youll need to rate the performance of every salesperson and map out how to get more from them. Identify and analyze key accounts. Discuss your annual marketing and sales plan – is it on track or adrift? Implement tactics for increasing the business, and judge how theyre working.
This may sound like micro-management, and to be honest, it is. Salespeople hate paperwork. Sales-people hate accountability. Salespeople hate to be criticized. Salespeople hate to be managed. Micro-management is the only way to guarantee your companys success.
To succeed you have to manage, manage, manage!
If you are a leader of your company, the Rx to survive the recession is to get yourself into the middle of the sales and marketing situation now, and stay there.