salespodder: sales blog with musings and tips from inside sales

The regular gag of lament among sales trainers is to often mock Sales Management’s widely held view that the best form of ‘team bonding’ is to take the reps out for a slap-up beano.

If you’re in a team where this logic prevails, then perhaps you can take a leaf out of the legend that is Arsene Wenger’s book.  Although his Arsenal are not my footie side, they’ve been the one outfit I’ve always tried to watch since he took over.  Everybody I know, including several useful players I’ve had the privilege to line up alongside, feels the same.  And the amazement is usually how he manages to get such brilliant performance out of significantly younger and cheaper resource than the other big clubs.

One reason is his focus on the team ethic.  Today’s press all carry reports of a single sheet of paper that summarised a recent team meeting.  It somehow fell into a random hack’s grubby paws.  It is fascinating.  Here’s the most detailed report.

There are two summary points, followed by the 14 bullets below.  The selling question is twofold; which of these when applied could benefit your team, and how can you apply them?

Our team becomes stronger by:

* Displaying a positive attitude on and off the pitch

* Everyone making the right decisions for the team

* Have an unshakeable belief that we can achieve our target

* Believe in the strength of the team

* Always want more - always give more

* Focus on our communication

* Be demanding with yourself

* Be fresh and well prepared to win

* Focus on being mentally stronger and always keep going until the end

* When we play away from home, believe in our identity and play the football we love to play at home

* Stick together

* Stay grounded and humble as a player and a person

* Show the desire to win in all that you do

* Enjoy and contribute to all that is special about being in a team - don’t take it for granted

So much has been written about how Team GB made Britain Great again at the Beijing Games, the past few days have enabled glorious reflection whenever I fancied a break here in London.  After recounting the manifold (and largely unexpected) successes, broadsheets have wondered how it was all so miraculously done.

Two strands stand out for me.  And they are two things that we’ve never had before.  Sure, Olympic competitors have had the drive to awake at 5am each day to swim for hours alone, like double-Gold winner Rebecca Adlington.  I’m old enough to remember how middle-distance titans Coe and Ovett, hardly on speaking terms at the time, were spurred on by the thought of what the other was doing to such an extent that Christmas Day was simply nothing other than a normal training day.  Gold medallists have always displayed a winning mentality, whether it be Linford Christie’s knowledge of having to run 101 metres to win, or Daley Thompson’s desire to “crush” his opponents.  But two strands build on mere individual dedication.  And they are a pair that sales people can similarly tap into.

Attention To Detail

The stories of the cyclists’ regimen are rapidly becoming the stuff of legend.  No wonder that many other sports are gravitating towards spending time at their Manchester base.  They famously re-created their Chinese Village quarters and climatic conditions.  Then there’s the Kayak ‘Paddle Project’, where they assessed all sorts of material and shape combinations within the rules to arrive at the best form of propulsion.  Consequently, next time I kick-off a solution-selling cycle, I’m minded to mention Team GB’s success, and suggest we follow an Olympian process to uncover all the needs and remedies.  How could a prospect turn that plan down?

Around The Edges

The other strand that appeals to my selling focus, is how all the things seemingly only remotely connected to competing are examined.  Sir Clive Woodward (now involved with the 2012 delivery) talks of improving 100 things by 1% each.  ‘Distraction Control’ is a new phrase I’ve picked up to allow all energy to go into winning, rather than allow some to get diverted onto ultimately fruitless paths.  Also, a key reason for the cycling dominance is their team-bond.  Rebecaa Romero didn’t feel part of the team until she’d won her Gold.  A touch extreme perhaps, but what a fantastic culture to develop if each of your sales team members didn’t feel they belonged until surpassing 100%.  And there was also the fact that Team GB riders and support staff couldn’t work out why they were the only country who all stayed en masse to cheer on every single athlete in each race.  Again, what an amazing culture to foster.

In short, current cycling supremo Dave Brailsford considers winning a process, rather than an end in itself, and this is something we sellers can readily adopt.  We all have the bsaic I guess, ie: a quota, and may well have targets within this, eg: profit split, account growth, new acquisitions.  Yet how many of us break this down further?  Here’s just a few off-the-wall ideas for starters:

• getting 10 prospects to talk to my ‘best’ client
• arranging a dozen meetings with people only affected by my solution indirectly or downstream
• asking my five largest client’s Head of Sales what their biggest issue is right now and relating that to our solution
• working out how to increase my funnel by 10% each quarter
• creating forums with 3 of my prospect’s suppliers/customers that would see an impact from my solution

It did occur to me that cycling’s domination by Team GB appeared out of character, bizarre even.  And I’ve just learnt why.  The Beeb give an excellent narrative of how the nation emerged to take over the sport through a decade of effort.  It’s a lesson for anyone trying to break away from apparent random sales success, or turnaround performance from the lack of it.  Whether sales individual or team leader, there are some marvellous insights into how to create sustainable results. 

I particularly liked the strive to avoid “alpinism”.  A great turn of phrase to mean that each accomplishment must leave behind a trail and ropes, so that the system/methods can be followed and improved upon (from the delicious example of Chris Boardman’s terrific, yet one-off, 1992 Barcelona Gold).

Here’s the heart of the vibe, as explained by the initial protagonist, Peter Keen, downbeat after a seemingly superb 2000 Sydney Olympic medal haul…

“We had some good results but we couldn’t really argue there was a system in place or that we had developed a culture.

In fact, it wasn’t until late 2001 that the penny dropped. I needed to clear out riders and coaches who weren’t obsessed with winning.

It was a very hard thing to do and a lot of people found the process incredibly emotional. It was our year zero.”

As aspirant pedal-medal eyes around the world looked enviously on the emerging British achievements, current team boss, Dave Brailsford, gave further insight.  Three parts of the plan stand out. 

Firstly, he visited Beijing an incredible nine times before the games.  One purpose was to build friendships with those due to organise everything.  This helped him get first dibs on which ‘pen’ Team GB would get (the team space inside the velodrome).  He was determined to grab the best one.  Awesome preparation to “leave no stone unturned”.

Secondly, he doesn’t talk about medal-targets.  The team don’t set them.  Instead, they set process targets.  This is a real game-changing idea for sales teams.  You know you want to win Gold, yet the end isn’t the focus.  It’s how you strive to get there that requires management and focus.

Finally, on the eve of the event, he held a team meeting.  He must have needed a large room, as the GB team have many more support staff than anyone else.  He asked the question, “is there anything we could have done over the past four years which we have not?”  Everyone said ‘no’, so the call was “let’s go racing”.

The time-stealer that is rolling TV news served me up a preview of the women’s golf open from Sunningdale.  Not in the remotest bit interested, my ears alerted when hearing that England World Cup winning coach Clive Woodward was overseeing the path of a promising 20-year old from near Derby, Melissa Reid.

Sir Clive knows a thing or two about getting the elite to perform.  His current job is doing just this for Olympic competitors.  But let’s not forget the shambles that was his kiwi Lion’s tour.  And what about his legacy at Southampton FC?  Anyway, he should acknowledge his experience on what does, and does not, precipitate success.

He has always been an advocate of surrounding (some used to say suffocating) his charges with legions of experts.   Along with Clive and her Manager, Team Melissa feature this dirty dozen, the first five being Doctors:

1. Health
2. Nutrition
3. Visual performance
4. Physiology
5. Kinesiology
6. Fitness
7. Performance movement
8. Motor skills
9. Performance analysis
10. Performing under pressure
11. Golf swing
12. Performance director

Melissa is all for it.  She’s been quoted approvingly, “Everyone out here is talented, so to get ahead you have to have an edge, to be different. Clive’s idea is that if you put together a team of experts around an athlete they can use their talent to greatest advantage. Talent is not enough.”

In the clip I saw, she talked of her most important discovery being one of dedication.  She was unaware of the sheer scale of the permanent level of hard work required on her part to become a champion.  A level of commitment that pretty much everyone else in life shies away from.

And I thought of how true this is for sales people.  And more so yet for sales teams.  I talk to hundreds of external sales people each year.  Having had a quick sift through my files, I believe that less than one in ten on-the-roaders engage in anything to improve their results beyond speaking to colleagues.  Whether listening to “tapes” in the car or studying a book on sales, the excuses I’ve heard for not doing so include “they’re all too American”, “I haven’t the time” and even “I don’t have to bother with that”.

It would be a simple addition to the next sales meeting get-together to hold a plenary.  Get someone holding the marker pen, and have the rest shout out ideas for the selling equivalent of Melissa’s dozen experts.  Then you can make a plan for getting them to have consistent, long-term dealings with the team.

If you’re a rep ploughing your lonely furrow, then who do you want to tap into?  Make your own list, approach them and make your plan.

During the gripping Wimbledon final yesterday, 4-time semi-finalist Tim Henman commentating made a fascinating observation when Nadal, so strong throughout, began to wobble when failing to cross the finsh line, twice over, surrendering chances uncharacteristically meekly to not win in three-straight then four.

He shared his experience of sports psychologists.  He’d heard them say “you can only stay in the present”.  The elaboration suggested that if you dwell on a blunder, no matter whether mildly irritating or truly disastrous, you won’t break free and ultimate success will prove elusive.

I myself have tried to heed such creed, especially after a phone call may have gone pear-shaped.  And although tough, I feel that it does work.

And it clearly did for Nadal, eventually.

More footballing woes.  In 2006 England got lumbered with incompetent, Graham Taylor Mark 2, Steve McLaren.  How things could have been different though.  We almost landed Brazilian World Cup winner, then Portugal boss and now Chelsea-bound ‘Big Phil’ Scolari.  The man credited with making Arsenal such a business operation to be envied, David Dein, shared in yesterday’s Guardian (read in the delightful ‘Coffee @ Brick Lane’) fascinating insight from his close involvement with England’s ultimately unsuccessful approach to Scolari:

“My experience of doing deals in football is, if you want somebody, you never leave the scene until you have the guy signed up. Never let the guy leave the room. Once you do, somebody else will come in, the price will go up. When you are eyeballing somebody you have to keep that going, camp there, until you finish the deal. If you think you have a chance you put the lid on the bottle.”

“For some reason there was a gap of time given for him to make a decision, which was fatal. At that stage the Portugal prime minister got involved. Scolari’s kids at school got mentally attacked - ‘Your dad’s going to betray Portugal’. In the end the heat got so [high]. There was a gap in time where he went off the worm.”

How many times have you left a meeting spending the commission in your head, only to later lose out?  This is a great example of making sure you (to use footie parlance) ‘finish’.

As reps, we often experience the two competing forces of motivation.  One school says, it’s many incremental improvements that progress you.  The other, claims you only score big by thinking big and dreaming high is the true way.  Here’s a sporting example of how the small improvement theory can fail, picked up from The Times. 

In 1991 Greg Searle won Bronze at the rowing world championships.  Just after, his relatively new coach sat him down for a motivational chat. “He told us that he’d worked out that, as we’d won bronze this time, we could get a silver medal next time.” Searle said it was one of the most deflating things he could have said; Searle and his teammates needed a manager who believed in their potential and recognised their need to be challenged.

A later coach brought a different perspective.  When the world champions beat Searle by 11 seconds, he told him that he was within touching distance and could go on to become the best in the world. He did; Barcelona 1992 coxed pairs Olympic Gold.

England’s latest footballing messiah has a worse hand than the one Eriksson threw down the drain; no world-class ‘traditional’ centre forward, little flank prowess, players picked on ill-deserved reputation, too few youngsters coming through, goalkeeping worries, Rooney depriving Gerrard and Cole space.  To mention just a handful.  So how will he mould us into world-beaters?

According to his latest musings, any successful team must be “together” and “a strong group” with “spirit”.

Sounds straightforward, yet I’ve seen at close quarters many, many salesforces at their quarterly booze-ups, often masquerading as sales team meetings.  And looking back, the ones ahead of the game have always tended to be those that are ‘together’ and share a healthy common ’spirit’.  Now, the tricky thing to identify, is how to engender such an environment…

Roger Milla helped light up Italia 90.  He was the perfect antidote to the defensive footie and cheating Latinos that had plagued much of the preceeding tournaments.  Possibly in his early-fifties even back then, as Westerners like to think can only happen in Africa, the Cameroon President made the national team coach take him to football’s World Cup.  On Saturday I was reminded of all this on the way to a barbie, reading a Euro2008 broadsheet preview mag, and lamenting the fact that we’d somehow contrived to outdo the taylor of 94, and plummetted to new depths through our mclaren.

Alright, so he claimed he was actually ‘only’ 38, but that still made Roger old enough to be the father of most of the rest of the squad.  He recounts how when he joined up with his team-mates, he was greeted by “collective rejection”.  He knew he was in for a rough ride.  So how did he transform from local pariah to global saviour?

Well, when I read this, I instantly thought of how tricky it is to be entertained by a prospect that has (perhaps several) suppliers already in place, and therefore way above you in the pecking order.  When performing the occasional ‘account management’ duties for products with clear competitors, I always revelled in subtly discussing the tangible cash costs and headaches of switching suppliers, and how all that inevitable downtime, re-training, mistakes and process-changes caused costs to balloon, and careers to slide.

Roger’s masterstoke was to speak out at a squad meeting.  He made his intentions plain.  He was there “not to take a place, but to win one“.  He set out to work hard and get selected on merit.  The result was game-changing appearances off the bench, a superb goal against England and that impressive waggle to celebrate with the corner flag…. if only Nigeria hadn’t fallen asleep in the last couple of minutes against Italy four years later, then maybe he’d have paved the way for the first African World Champions.

Anyone following the remarkable world of ‘arrers’ will be aware that they’ve had in their midst for the past twenty years their own ‘Don’, ‘Tiger’ & ‘Daley’.  The player that always takes the major title when push comes to shove.  Phil ‘The Power’ Taylor though, suffered a recent slump.  No World Final appearance and shoddy league showings.

After getting back to something approaching his old dominating form, I saw an interview with him asking how he’d reversed the decline.  He explained that he’d forgotten how much work he needed to be putting in to stay at the top.  He had to go back to “living like a monk”, putting aside everything else for a regime of “dedication”.  He even quoted grainy black-and-white footie legend Stanley Matthews, who when asked why he went out running at 5am answered it was because his “opposition wasn’t”.

With the annual Snooker-fest completed recently, this also reminded me of their greatest ever talent saying similar words each time he falls of the rails and scrabbles back to the top.

I’ve a brand new product to sell at present, and I’m currently facing up to the fact, that the only way it’s going to be a success, is by following this self-same formula to make it happen.