I'm paraphrasing the title from John Wooden, but it is so true what he said, "never mistake activity for achievement". I wrote results because I couldn't remember the phrase exactly but I live by that quote because I saw it first hand in my own work, and that of my peers. No matter how hard you work in sales, it doesn't mean anything if you don't make sales. It is a numbers based business and no one pays you for your hard work; they pay you for your results.
A company I was advising, was obsessed with activity. They had everyone logging onto saleforce or salefunk, whatever you want to call it. I prefer the later. People were logging in so that the managers could "monitor" their activity. My first question was "why?" Why monitor activity when you aren't getting results? Reps can have a flurry of activity but if they are 60% to goal then what is the point in harassing them about their activity? They're showing the activity you idiots, they're just not producing any sales! Find a solution to them making a sale and don't focus on what they enter into a stupid database. I abhor this kind of micro managing because it doesn't focus on the problem. In fact, instead of a bunch of sales people you now have a team of data entry people who are too busy logging in calls to have time to make a sale. Identify the problem, which is "why are my reps not selling", and resolve it. Please don't just throw a bunch of calls at a board and hope some sales come out of it. That's not managing, that's gambling...with their career and yours.
My first stint as a sales manager, I had a new rep, Chris, who "was born to sell", as one manager put it. He had come from selling yellow page advertising, which is a difficult sale to make. And next to impossible to make nowadays, when you consider that no one under 50 uses the yellow pages. But this guy had great character, he could build good rapport, and people liked him. I did several "ride alongs" with him, and each time we would stop at this hot dog stand for lunch, this one car dealership, and this large grocery store chain. Every time we would go in and socialize with the decision maker but a sale never came out of those visits. After the third ride along we had a chat.
"Chris. Every time I ride with you, we do bunch of cold calling on accounts, you have 2 new appointments, and we always call back on the hot dog place, the BMW dealer, and the grocery store. Why do you keep going back? And more importantly why do you keep spending money at some of those places? "
"I go back because they're people I signed up at the yellow pages and I know there going to sign...eventually. And I spend money so they know I'm not just there to make a sale."
"So what are you their friend? They know why your there Chris. You're a salesman! What are you doing at the hot dog stand besides keeping them open and gaining weight? It's a small account."
"Heh why can't I be their friend too. You said the best business relationships are personal."
"Well that's true, but you don't even have a business relationship with them. So far you're the customer and not them. They're selling to you. You need to switch that around or stop going there. You're gonna get fat eating all those chili dogs. Not to mention I have to ride with you the rest of the day, Mr. Gassy."
" Yeah sorry. Those hot dogs do give me gas. But I just KNOW they're going to buy. They did before, it's just a matter of time before they cave in."
"Do you go to those three places every week?"
"Yeah sometimes twice a week. Why?"
"Stop going there before you own a BMW, are overweight, and your house is filled with groceries."
"I like those accounts. They're good people."
"First of all they aren't accounts, and secondly you're the one buying from them. You're confusing activity with results. How many call backs do you do per week?"
"About 20 per week. I think, maybe more some weeks."
"Any sales yet?"
"Not yet. But they'll come around. I'm sure of it."
"They haven't yet, and we get paid on new business only. So what do you think you should do?"
" Not call back so much?"
" Bingo. I'm not saying give up but I am saying focus your activity where you're going to make a sale. Some of those accounts might flip, but some might be a dead end. Pick the most promising ones, drop the rest, and move on."
"How many call backs a week should I do then?"
"5 at the most. Maybe you alternate them on different weeks, but don't keep going back to the same places expecting them to sign. If they haven't signed with us by now, they're probably not going to."
"You got it. I'll try it. I better do something before I get fired...right? "
He was looking for me to pat him on the back and say something to console him, but I just said, "Chris, I'm sorry to say WE get paid for results. Not because we're good guys."
I think that shook him up a little bit, but he started focusing on other accounts and he started making sales. So many sales, that he became a member of the President's Club. All it took was a little "tweak" to his activity and pointing him the right direction and he was off and running. Previously he was working, and working hard, but not working smart. I would rather work smart and make sales then work hard and be out of a job. Remember sales reps and managers are paid for results, not for our activity.
Have a great day selling!
-M
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