How do you deal with your sales team’s biggest weakness?

Walt Nordstron is a sales manager with Alltel.

“I run a retail operation for Alltel. We sell wireless phones and accessories.

My biggest challenge with my sales team is generally in execution. We think up this great plan…and we talk it up at the managers’ meeting…and talk about it when we meet with the front line. But the biggest challenge is to get the front line to execute the ideas we have designed.

For instance, when customers come in the door, the reps are supposed to greet them and shake hands. Then, if the customer is paying a bill, they are supposed to say, ‘I can do that for you,’ and then ask to see their phone. Then they are supposed to perform an update on the phone to make sure the program is up to date. As they do that, they are to take an accessory and plug it into the phone, demonstrate how it works, explain the benefits and hand the phone back to the customer.

Well, this is a new idea to most reps, and it takes some getting used to. If we tell the reps to do it and role-play in the back office and then let them go, nine out of 10 times they won’t do it because they are not comfortable with it.

What we do to overcome that reluctance is have the managers go on the floor after the role-play. We go ahead and do it and make sure the reps see it.

For example, our most popular faceplate is metallic red. So the manager asks the customer, ‘Did you bring your phone?’ Then he updates the program and while he is doing that, puts the red faceplate on it and hands it back to the customer. It really jazzes up the phone. When I do that, I get a sale five times out of 10. The reps give a jaw drop and say, ‘It really works. I’ve got to do that.’ They realize they will sell more accessories doing it that way.”

Todd Fassnacht is sales manager, general manager and purchaser for The Henry Bierce Company.

“We sell brick and masonry and hardware to build houses. We have two inside-counter sales guys and four outside salespeople. Overall, we have 50 employees.

With all my duties, my biggest challenge is not enough time to give to my salespeople. Their biggest weakness – not everybody’s but some – is not understanding that they have to take ownership of the situation, ownership of the problem, ownership of the fill-in-the blank.

My salespeople bring me so much unnecessary stuff that I get a glazed look in my eyes and say, ‘I don’t see what the problem is. You guys own it, you control it, do what you have to do. You don’t need to tell me this.’

The best solution I have found is an ongoing external training system. I teamed up with a guru two years ago, and it is the best thing I have ever done. He has become an integral part of our business. At first, it was just this guy and me, but we slowly pulled him outside and then inside, and now he teams up with the entire company.

He tells me how to push the ownership theme by presenting it in a positive light. He works with our outside salespeople. They are encouraged to call him for coaching anytime, and he meets with them for two hours of coaching once a week. He also comes inside two or three times per week for 15 minutes or up to an hour.

We call this program external sales training. Up to three or four years ago, I never had a lot of use for or saw merit in bringing inside somebody who was outside of what we do. Now I see the need for a fresh set of eyes. He comes in and says, ‘You guys are in your little world; let me tell you what reality is.’ That is really refreshing.

Of course, there are times when he is absolutely wrong – both his strengths and weaknesses come from the fact that he is not in our world.

I used to think that IBM and other big companies were dumping a large amount of money into outside training. Now I see the merit of that approach. I look at companies that don’t do it, and I think they are missing the boat. There needs to be training at every level – not only in sales but also for the guys at the loading dock.”

Dean Peterson is the sales manager for AAA Radio Group.

“We sell radio advertising. I have seven salespeople and one assistant on my team.

Activity levels are probably our biggest issue – making sure reps use their time to the best of their ability, seeing as many people and calling as many as they can.

They tend to get sidetracked a lot. As in other industries, we are constantly pushing for more and more from the sales staff. As they mature, they get into a comfort zone. We all do that to a certain degree. So I must continue to push them out of their comfort zone to see more and more people and to not become comfortable that they have enough business. I don’t want to hear that from them, because I don’t hear that from my bosses.

I try to do motivational reminders a lot. It is going back to basics and putting goals in front of them. For example, you need to be doing 10 cold calls a week, or you need to be following up with prospects that are not on the air right now. You need to become a resource and educate people. Salespeople know this sort of thing, but I try to remind them of it on a regular basis. As a manager, I have to track it and know that they are actually doing it.

We have a few special incentives – gift certificates and prizes I have collected over a month and save up for a contest period. Our team is compensated for performance; it is basically a commission position. Still, they can get to a point where they are comfortable. We have mostly single people, and they are paying their bills. I was driven more by money, and now that I am married and have a couple of kids, there is never enough.”

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James Middaugh is a sales manager with Imagistics International.

“We use to be a division of Pitney Bowes. We sell office equipment – the networked, multi-function devices that are replacing copiers and fax machines. Our average sale is probably $15,000 for the equipment and $2,000 per year for the maintenance agreement over 36 or 48 months. I manage 10 territory reps.

One of my biggest challenges currently is to have a daily plan for each rep – and it seems to be working. This borders on micromanagement, but it seems to be necessary.

We go to our list of companies with 25 to 50 employees – which we get from InfoUSA – and I tell them to pick 10 people they are going to see. If they do not have a plan, I will write one for them. They are supposed to show up in the morning and give me a copy of that day’s calendar. At the end of the day I review it and see how they did and provide some coaching. They have to have a plan and be disciplined.

In this business, you have to keep the pipeline full. We have two telephone prospecting sessions per week, Tuesday afternoon and Friday morning. From our lists, we call 25 to 30, and get a minimum of six appointments. That way, they have some firm appointments for the week.

To get to 10 a day, they have to fill in the rest. Say they have two firm appointments per day; that means they have to fill in eight more. We used to do cold calls for that; now they have a targeted list of places to go.

We also have a top-25 list of major accounts that I help them manage. I set up my ride days to help them with those calls, which can take up to a year to complete. The smaller accounts, which can be decided in 30 days, are our bread and butter.

I am trying to empower them to take ownership, not just of the sale but of everything that has to do with their customers. Say they have an issue with the invoices, or whatever. I push back and show them how to do it. The rep knows the details of the problem a lot better than I do; but it has been a challenge to get them to pick up the phone and call the billing rep.

Another challenge is getting them to qualify their opportunities so they don’t waste their time chasing something that will never come to fruition. They have to ask the right questions in the initial meeting with the prospect. In a lot of cases, they think they are qualified, but they are not. So I go on ride days with them to make sure they are asking the right questions. They are getting better with that one.

I spend two-and-a-half to three days a week on ride days. If I did not do that, I’d go crazy. I couldn’t stay inside all the time.”

Look for an extended Readers’ Forum at www.sellingpower.com/community where readers can include information, make comments, ask for input with problems/issues, and stay connected with sales managers across all industries.