By Marshall Lager

They’re set in their ways, stubbornly independent, and resistant to change. But your staff doesn’t have to be your toughest sale.

Salespeople as a breed are resistant to change, especially when the change affects how they do their jobs. They don’t get very far in their field without knowing how to work a prospect, stay in touch until closing the sale (or getting a definite “no”), and track their numbers against projections. Over time, they develop their own ways of doing things that fit best with their individual personalities and goals. Whatever else it may be, it’s effective — if it weren’t, the salesperson would wash out.

CRM and other integrated business tools often represent a new way of selling, and therein lies the problem. Salespeople — especially commissioned ones — feed themselves on their ability to translate their way of doing things into revenue for their employers and themselves. How do you ask people to change something so central not just to their livelihoods, but to their lives?

In an effort to give you insight into how to have a better 2011, Voss Graham felt it would be great to get you thinking about four success mindsets that can drive your personal and business success during 2011. Your ability to win more b2b sales will depend upon your complete understanding of these four mindset principals.

By Kevin Fogarty: The Ladders
Where do you draw the line between networking to share best practices and fishing for a better offer from a competitor?

When is it networking, and when is it cheating?

If you’re employed and not looking for a job, the most likely way to get a job offer from a competitor is by networking with peers at other companies and leaders in your industry.

It’s done at conferences, formal meetings and casual lunches and gatherings. Most employers consider it good career development and a way for employees to stay connected to the latest processes in the industry. But where do you draw the line between networking to share best practices and fishing for a better offer from a competitor?

The line probably rests on your intentions, said Clark Christensen, a senior-level executive in Coca-Cola Financial Management. Clark is a dedicated networker who advanced from consulting, auditing and accounting roles at Deloitte to Coca-Cola, Miller Zell, Global Link Logistics and PS Energy Group before landing back at Coca-Cola.

“You have to stay connected and keep your name out there and let people know what you’re about,” he said. But, if you’re truly networking to stay connected, you’re not out there asking for jobs, Clark said.
Instead, you’re asking peers what problems they’re facing and doing what you can to help, offering your expertise as a speaker or perhaps acting as a go-between to link contacts for their mutual benefit.
 
Not only do you end up being owed a lot of favors, you find out a lot more about the business environment in which you operate than you would relying only on contacts within your own company, he said.

Clark belongs to several industry organizations and attends regular meetings to stay current and keep his name in circulation among peers. He also tries to have lunch with a new contact two to three times per week.

It also helps you and your company when it comes time to hire, he said. That same network is likely a good source of candidates and beats sifting through a stack of resumes, he said.

But don’t waste the company’s time or your family’s, Christiansen warned. “You can burn up a lot of time doing this at the expense of your family and employer … A vigilant reading of the tea leaves at home and work is your guide to striking the right balance.”

If you are not following a sales process, you are not in control. Consider this – a sales results process that is as simple as ABC. Bob Urichuck shares his ABC’s of a successful sales process.

Dan Waldschmidt asks: Ever walk out of a sales meeting with that worried half-frown and sick feeling in your gut?

That sense that something is missing.

That you lost your selling mojo.

It’s so difficult too, because your whole being is screaming out at you to get your mojo back.  In that moment, there’s nothing more important that you being back in control of your destiny.

Back in control of the world seemingly crashing down around you.

And you’re sitting there half wondering what caused it in the first place.  What did you do to get yourself in that position?  And how can you get your sales mojo back as soon as possible?

Well, having mojo is a lot like not being born a genius.

What are people making in sales? How big a salary should I ask for? What kind of commissions can I expect? This guide from SalesHQ will give you the inside scoop on what careers are paying.

Group interviews are relatively easy if you work well in a team and are able to make your ideas heard in a crowd. However, they can be challenging if you have a quieter personality and prefer to keep to yourself.

Regardless of how you feel about group interviews, there’s no reason you should treat them any different, in most respects, than a standard, one-on-one interview. The same basic principles apply: Research the company, arrive on time, dress appropriately, practice answering common interview questions, and remember to follow up after the interview.

Follow the rest of these tips from Hamsa Ramesha of SalesHQ ….

Bill Caskey was reading an excellent book by Tim Sanders called, Love is the Killer App. In it he talks about the value that you bring people, personally and professionally.

For so long we’ve been talking about “communicating value.” Caskey still believes that in professional sales it is the “difference maker” between the elite sellers and the amateurs.

In “Love,” Sanders says that knowledge is value. This ties in perfectly with our belief that to be a high achieving sales professional you have to be a “go-to resource” for your prospect community. You can’t just be a hand looking for an order all the time (even though monthly and quarterly quotas dictate that behavior).

This week’s guest author Howard Highsmith, CMC is the Founder & Chairman of B2B Institute.  A Certified Management Consultant; Howard helps organizations operating in complex sales environments achieve their revenue goals.

Note:  This post is the first in a three-part series about three principles that are imperatives to organizations’ becoming Best-in-Class.  We start with Organizational Excellence and the critical role that business acumen plays through individual sales initiatives and accountability leading to goal attainment.  The second part; Managing To Goal is a defined methodology and business model for managing a revenue generation strategy and the last part of the series is; Governance, a time-driven process for proving the model and being held accountable for results.  
Building a Best-in-Class Organization for Solution and Value Added Providers

Intro:  An important paradigm shift has been taking place for the past several years from the feel good, ‘New Normal Era’ to the ‘On Demand Era.’  As the name implies buyers in this on demand era are aggressively demanding delivery of product and/or service at a high level of excellence from its providers and… at no surprise, delivered at very competitive pricing.  For solution and value added provider organizations operating in the higher cost of sales end of the complex sales process this new era is putting significant pressure on revenue generation strategies and in particular, with regard to new business development activity. 

Accountability for generating revenue by frontline sales efforts from existing clients and new business development has never been more important.  In this context, organizations must take extra care to clearly define frontline sales roles, duties, goals and objectives and utilize assessment tools in the selection process.
Here’s a current reality relative to revenue generation:

77% of sales reps in Best-in-Class organizations achieved their annual quota,
compared to 38% for Industry Average and 26% for laggard companies.
Study conducted in October 2010 by the Aberdeen Group:

Business Acumen – Let’s face facts; it simply isn’t enough anymore to just work harder, you must also work smarter if you are to consistently achieve your corporate revenue and personal earnings goals.  What are the qualities of a best-in-class person?  Of the almost two hundred sales people that have worked for me over my career, I have observed the following:  “In every size organization there are a few sales persons who pay unrelenting attention to their personal sales activity and their sales pipeline and more.”  What is the benefit of this unrelenting attention?  These people consistently outperform their colleagues.  Why is this so?  Fundamentally, it is because these people invest part of their time to fully understand what their corporate and personal benchmarks are.  They don’t need nor want to be micro-managed to achieve results, they want management to encourage and support their efforts.  What are their benchmarks?  This answer will vary a bit; in most cases these people know what their monthly and annual revenue goals are and exactly where they stand against their goals year-to-date.  They are constantly evaluating their next steps with each individual opportunity against a defined sales map.  They are not stopped by obstacles; they find a way around them.  They know with relative accuracy the total amount of revenue opportunities that should be (or needs to be) in their pipeline at any given time.  And finally, they know with reasonable accuracy when near term revenue opportunities will close – and more. 

I have had the pure pleasure to work with a select group of these best-in-class people as their advocate to deliver real value to the customer, generate revenue for the corporation and maximize individual earnings.  This process isn’t rocket science; it is Business Acumen at work and… at its best!

Business Acumen Reference:  Originating within corporate learning and development circles, Business Acumen is a concept pertaining to a person’s knowledge and ability to make profitable business decisions.  Despite a lack of consensus on an exact definition, Business Acumen is often closely linked with the fields of behavioral economics and financial literacy.  Additionally, Business Acumen has emerged as a vehicle for improving financial performance and leadership development.  Consequently, several different types of strategies have developed around improving business acumen.  Source: From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Never Give Up!
Where are you in this continuum?  How well do you pay attention to your numbers?  As you read this – could you say what your corporate revenue goal is and where you stand year-to-date?  Do you have personal benchmarks?  It is important to recognize the process of moving from a laggard or industry average status to become best-in-class is not some light switch you just turn on; it takes an investment in time, hard work, persistence and working smart.  In summary; this process involves adopting a Deliberate Practice Regimen.

Good Luck and Good Selling.