Sales & Marketing
Battle-ready
Do you ensure that the members of your sales staff give you their all every day?
By Hal Becker
| May 2005
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Why do we complicate things that are so simple? Blocking and tackling is still blocking and tackling. To be good at anything requires a lot of practice and hard work.
But that is not how most salespeople see things. They don't want to practice; they simply want to show up for the game, strap on a helmet and go to battle with the other pros.
That's a recipe for disaster.
Consider the story of the Green Bay Packers. On Dec. 31, 1967, Vince Lombardi led his team onto Lambeau Field for its third consecutive NFC championship game. It was Lombardi's second shot at the Super Bowl, and across the field he faced a difficult opponent, the Dallas Cowboys.
The temperature was cold, about 12 degrees below zero, and the field was frozen solid. With seconds left in the fourth quarter, the Cowboys led Lombardi's Packers 17-14. Do you think for one second that Lombardi let his players think about the conditions rather than about their one last chance to win?
Of course not. Instead, Lombardi did what he always did -- made his team suck it up and play to win. He was tough, and his team knew it. He always expected them to give him their best -- on every play.
Lombardi's discipline was legendary. That, along with his motto -- "Winning is not a sometime thing. You don't win once in a while. You don't do things right once in a while You do them right all the time." -- earned him a place among the best leaders in history.
Your philosophy for success should be no different from Lombardi's when you consider your sales team -- the managers and salespeople -- and why they often fail to do what it takes for your company to win.
The job of your sales managers is to train their staff and bring their players to a higher level of performance. The more field time they have -- being on the playing field or in the field to observe the salespeople -- rather than simply standing on the sidelines watching the players practice or play the game, the better they know the strengths and weaknesses of their staff.
The lesson is simple, even for a Fortune 100 company -- don't just stay in the office and tell your players to come by after the game to let the coach know if they won or lost.
So why do salespeople typically fail when it comes to game prep?
There are three usual suspects, any of which can damage your company's ability to close deals.
First, do all the members of your sales staff like their jobs and the company? If not, encourage them to quit or let them go. Salespeople, like football players, need to buy into the team program and the leader's vision in order to be successful.
Second, have you trained your sales staff properly to make enough calls each day to have the numbers work? Regardless of how many times you've heard it, it's worth repeating -- the more calls you make, the greater the number of orders you receive. Do you think Louis Gerstner's sales staff at IBM is trained to sit by the phone and wait for prospective customers to call?
Finally, have you educated your staff to ask enough questions to find out the wants and needs of prospective customers? Like blocking and tackling, this is a skill that requires practice all the time.
You, as coach, are ultimately responsible for instilling a culture of good work habits among your sales managers and their staff. Those habits are only noticed on the field of play. That's why it is your job to observe your players and keep them focused on giving you their best every day on every play. Your company's future success depends upon it.
As for the Packers on that bitterly cold day, quarterback Bart Starr ran the old quarterback sneak across the goal line to give Lombardi and his team the win. They went on to defeat the Oakland Raiders in Super Bowl II.
Is your sales team ready to deliver the same type of win for your company?
Hal Becker is a nationally known speaker on sales and customer service. He is the author of two best selling books, "Can I have 5 minutes of your time?" and "Lip Service." He can be reached at www.halbecker.com.
