salespeople

How Sales Management in Pro Sports Can Catch Up to Corporate America

kirk_wakefield 2018, About S3, Integrity, S3, Sales Management, Sales Training, The S3 Program, Tickets , , , , , , , , , , , , , 2 Comments

Why do parents, teachers, politicians, managers and salespeople continue bad practices? Four reasons and the ways we express them are:

  1. We do what was done to us and assume it was best practice.
    • “Look at me, I turned out OK didn’t I?”
  2. We lack the depth and breadth of relevant education to recognize bad practices.
    • “See, you can succeed with any background!”
  3. We judge outcomes based on the exception rather than the rule.
    • “Look at her, she started here and is now vice-president!”
  4. We lack the courage to meet the demands of reality.
    • “I know this isn’t working, but I can’t change what I’m doing now.”

Sports sales recruiters often ask applicants, “Why do you want this job?” The wrong answer is, “I just love sports.” The irony is when it comes to pay, work hours and benefits, they literally bank on the applicant’s love for sports to compensate for, well, real compensation.

How Do We Know the Sports Sales Management Model is Broken?

Sales 101

First, consider some basic 101 principles of sales management. These quotes are directly from a leading sales textbook 1

  1. To attract and keep the best talent compensation must be uniform within the company and in line with what competitors’ salespeople receive.
  2. Salespeople who perceive the system as unfair may give up or leave.
  3. A constantly changing system may lead [salespeople] to constantly change their activities but never make any [more] money.
  4. Companies that do not emphasize service or do not anticipate long-term customer relationships typically rely heavily on commission plans.
  5. Salespeople working primarily on commission have little company loyalty and certainly are less willing to perform activities that do not directly lead to sales.

Inside sales reps in sports do not receive compensation in line with what they can get anywhere else. Top salespeople often see the system as unfair (given effort & reward) and leave as soon as a client sees how good they are (and offers multiples of current pay). Teams frequently “play with the lights” changing compensation systems in ways that rarely favor the rep by making the rep more money. The shift toward service-only reps leaves inside sales reps relying heavily upon commission and sacrificing customer welfare and service. As a result, few have loyalty and are certainly unwilling to do non-sales related activities.

Turnover

Second, consider the effects and costs of turnover. Average sales turnover across industries annually hovers around 25%. 2 Typical sports sales practice is to recruit a new class of inside salespeople every 4-6 months, suggesting something closer to the average turnover among car salespeople (~70-75%). 3 Some are promoted (internally or externally), but most leave the industry voluntarily or involuntarily.

Costs of turnover are estimated between $75,000 to $200,000 per salesperson4, taking into account recruiting, training, and lost sales. You can calculate yours here. The NBA estimates third-year reps generate 3.4 times the revenue as first-year reps. Unfortunately, relatively few get to the third year.

If I fail over half of my students each year, you wouldn’t say I’m a good teacher. In our program, we can’t blame the students. We recruited them. The same is true for teams. If annual turnover is anything much more than the non-sports corporate average (25%), at some point we must have the courage to start looking at the system and grasp the reality.

Training

Most sports sales managers are interested in training. The problem is the low proportion of these with any professional training in personnel management, compensation structure, leadership, and other sales management responsibilities. Many make great effort to learn to compensate for the lack of formal training (i.e., business management-related degrees). A few have had professional selling courses. A few have MBAs. Most were selected on the basis of being great salespeople, rather than management skills–which are two quite different things.

Sales students not taking the sports route are often hired by companies like Oracle, IBM and other major corporations who offer starting pay closer to $100,000 than $30,000, even while spending months in training before ever making a sale. We don’t expect teams to be on par with Oracle. But, $10-$20 an hour and first year commissions won’t attract the best talent among graduates who just spent tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars getting an education and accruing student loans.5

A New Model

Sales executives and managers (in sports) routinely bring in motivational sales speakers and hold weekly pep talks. Why? Because the nature of the role and associated benefits of the job aren’t intrinsically motivating on their own merits.

One of our partners, Spurs Sports & Entertainment, decided to do something about it with the support of leadership, including Frank Miceli and Tim Salier. Lindsay Beale, Director of Business Development at SS&E, walks us through the four steps they undertook.

Step 1: Look at the hard truth

We studied our sales work force and realized we were recruiting talent, investing resources into their professional training and development and they were leaving our organizations for other local corporations in sales roles.  We thought we had the hiring and recruiting figured out. We found individuals who really wanted to sell. For years we felt our compensation was competitive to other sports organizations. This helped with recruiting, but when you hire talented salespeople, they have opportunities outside of the sports & entertainment business.

Corporations look for talented salespeople from reputable organizations. They use aggressive recruiters, signing bonuses, high base salaries and competitive compensation packages to attract them.  We realized we couldn’t compete with them–specifically with our representatives with under 3 years of tenure.

We worked with finance and HR to evaluate our current sales structure to establish a plan to address our top concern of retention.  Through our research it was also clear compensation wasn’t the only place sports sales are behind the corporate sales world.  We are currently in the process of addressing sales retention by reviewing three areas: compensation, sales enablement and culture.

Step 2: Create competitive compensation

Teams may think their compensation is competitive with other teams, but that is the wrong comparison point if the goal is to retain talented salespeople. We restructured in four ways.

  1. Supplement commission in the first few years with a higher base salary to provide stability while the sales representatives build their books of business. [Among S3 partners moving in this direction, this ranges from $30,000 up to $42,000 for base pay.]
  2. Restructure commission to reward all sales revenue. We realized our commission structure heavily rewarded products that more tenured representatives were selling but weren’t incentivizing newer representatives.
  3. Provide a strong upside for top sales representatives, with clear rewards and recognition for high achievement.
  4. Hire sales representatives at a full time, full benefits position. No seasonal positions.

Step 3: Give them the tools

We established a Sales Enablement strategy applying digital tools, analytics and strategic processes to allow our sales team to excel in their jobs.

  1. Utilize data and analytics.
    • Lead Scoring
    • Appending data to sales leads to target individuals for specific campaigns
      • Examples: Outer markets for weekend plans or high net worth individuals for premium events.
  2. Invest in technology to improve sales efficiency.
    • Conversica, artificial intelligent sales assistant
    • Zip Whip, texting platform
    • ZoomInfo, business to business prospecting tool
    • Linked-In Sales Navigator
  3. Train and develop adaptive selling skills.
    • SS&EU: Classes are offered during work hours, are hands-on, and cover a variety of topics. They are facilitated live by in-house experts to encourage the cultivation of ideas and relationships across departments. SSEU is supported at the highest level of the organization and every executive teaches a different course.
    • Internal and external sales trainers
    • On the job sales training

Step 4: Create a people first culture. Really.

  • Provide a clear path for internal promotions.
  • Recognize each seller has an individual selling style. Coach, develop and set metrics to fit each representative.
  • Promote work life balance for everyone.
    • Eliminate the following phrases from management vocabulary:
      • Grind.
      • First one in, last one out.
      • Outwork everyone else.
    • Focus on quality of work and their commitment to the sales process, goals and team.
      • Commitment (you want) vs. Compliance (you must)
  • Allow flexible hours that still meet business needs.
  • Increase self-empowerment. Encourage reps to make their own decisions on how to manage time and activities to reach goals rather than micromanage to the numbers.
    • Coach reps to improve each day and strive for stretch goals they set for themselves.

Conclusion

We believe the S3 program can recruit more and better talent to the major the more teams buy into the new model aimed at development and retention. Just because teams can recruit people to fill each sales class with low wages and benefits doesn’t make it the right thing to do–either for the candidate or the team’s welfare. Basic sales management principles show us how we can do better.

Some teams are taking the lead. Since word has gotten out, others have reached out to say they are following suit. Do you want to join them? Are you in?

  1. Selling: Building Partnerships, 2014, Castleberry & Tanner, New York: McGraw-Hill. Quotes straight from the book are in italics. ↩
  2. https://www.ringdna.com/blog/work-to-retain-sales-reps. ↩
  3. https://www.wardsauto.com/dealer/maxdigital-out-stem-74-turnover-rate-among-dealer-salespeople. ↩
  4. Sales Management: Analysis & Decision Making, 2012 Ingram et al., London: Sharpe. ↩
  5. Even if it isn’t a private school (average ~$35k/year), public school still costs at least $10k/year for tuition/fees alone. ↩

Sales Management: Why Process Trumps Talent

kirk_wakefield 2014, Lead, Sales Management, Sell, Tickets , , , , , , , , 0 Comment
Sales Management: Why Process Trumps Talent
by Flavil Hampsten – June 2014

Which matters more: Process or Talent? That’s an easy one.  Process always trumps talent.

Before you get upset and start defending how talented your staff is and that you couldn’t generate the numbers that you do without them, imagine how much more productive they would be if you gave them leads that close at four times the normal rate?  Or if you have sales events for them that routinely lead to $100,000 days?

I’m not going to completely define what process should be in place, but I will say that as a sales manager, process always trumps talent. Here is why.

#1 Talented Individuals Are Simply Not Enough

Sales managers need to hit a departmental goal.  There needs to be method to maximize revenue from each individual on the team.  Therefore, a process should be devised to assist everyone in order for the department to achieve goal.

I’ve never spoken to a sales manager who claims to have all A+ sales talent on staff.  Most have a mix of A+, A, B, and C sellers.  However, most have an A+ revenue budget to achieve.  Having a great process can bump the level of each seller and give the department a better chance to achieve goal.

#2 Talent Comes and Goes, Process Stays Forever

[dropshadowbox align=”right” effect=”lifted-both” width=”250px” height=”” background_color=”#ffffff” border_width=”1″ border_color=”#dddddd” ]Brent StehlikHaving the right process in place has been an important element to the success of the teams I have managed throughout my career. The hiring process, sales process, lead-gen process….even convincing sales people to fall in love with the process of becoming great. They might not believe it right now, and I don’t think I did when I started my first job in sports, but process and persistence almost always trumps talent. ~Brent Stehlik, EVP/CRO Cleveland Browns[/dropshadowbox]With the ambitious nature of today’s sales executives, the average life of a sales executive is approximately two years.  With no guarantee to keep top talent, the only method to ensure that you keep results is to have a process that maximizes each opportunity, regardless of which salesperson in assigned to it.

Why only two years? Generally speaking, the A+ sellers are the ones who can leave first, simply because other teams recruit them away with money and titles.  Most times, sales managers hands are bound with budgets and departmental structure making it difficult to match the offer and the salesperson leaves.  However, the departmental goal does not change.  If a superior process is in place, the current salespeople will continue to deliver at a high rate, a new top salesperson will emerge, and the new salesperson will generate top numbers quicker.

#3 Talent Pool is More Like a Talent Puddle

Hard fact, but with the amount of positions to fill, the low pay, and extremely long hours in sports, it’s nearly impossible to hire all A+ sales talent.  Therefore, by default, to keep your positions full you must hire a mix of talent levels in order to achieve sales results.  A process is the only way to make this happen.

Even if you have one of the best recruiting and inside sales programs in sports there will be times where positions are empty or when talent is lagging.  As a sales manager, you owe it to your company and your career to protect yourself from these times.  The most foolproof way to do this is to engineer and implement a superior process that maximizes revenue regardless.

With work and deliberate practice talent can be created.  However, superior talent cannot be created without hard work and deliberate practice while in a superior process.  More importantly to a sales manager, you cannot have a successful sales department without a process to make everyone better.  The talented individuals are simply not enough; you need to create and train talent to optimize performance.

Want more on good processes? Read Flavil’s, No More Cold Calls

Cover photo courtesy of Rosemary Demirkok

Making Connections: Contact Puts the Ball in Play

kirk_wakefield 2014, Experiences, Luxury Suites & Premium Tickets, Sell, Sponsorships, Tickets , , , , , , , , 0 Comment
Making Connections: Contact Puts the Ball in Play
by Carson Heady – May 2014

How to sell: Put the ball in play

Fundamental to any activity or sport is to put the ball in play. This necessitates action on the part of the participant(s) and begins with how and when we make contact.

On the field, it is about formulating strategy, addressing the ball, following through and studying results to adjust for future shots. Business and sales are no different; prospecting and approaching connections to build relationships must be handled with the same finesse.

As with all facets of sales, the quality of each leg of the process determines quantities of successes. Fashioning the optimum game plan for narrowing our search for prospects, garnering attention in the proper way, reaching out with maximum effectiveness and showing why you or your product is supremely relevant inches you closer to your goal line. Like charging down the field, each possession’s objective is to manage plays effectively enough to get as close to that end zone as possible. We will not reach it every time, but the more masterfully we operate each play and possession, the better our chances.

Three things you must do to win

[dropshadowbox align=”right” effect=”lifted-both” width=”350px” height=”” background_color=”#ffffff” border_width=”1″ border_color=”#dddddd” ]Bart Elfrink“Networking is what landed my most prominent directing roles. As a filmmaker, networking is of utmost importance and it is truly all about who you know when it comes to securing interviews. Diversifying the groups I was networking with rather than just one core group made all the difference; taking initiative, starting conversations – you never know where they will lead and deals are made over conversation, coffee and meals.” Bart Elfrink, Director & Cinematographer[/dropshadowbox]From looking to land a job to attempting to market a product or service, it is vital to:

  1. make authentic connections,
  2. showcase unique attributes, and
  3. improve their lives.

Ultimately, you want to prove that your target audience would be better off with what you have than what they have now or have to choose from.

Examine your playing field:

  1. What experience or attributes are being sought in the arena you wish to conquer?
  2. What do you or does your product offer that ensures you are uniquely qualified to fill a gap?

These are the strengths you highlight as you grab attention and carry on throughout the selling process. Learning your audience’s needs through analysis and questions is step one; showcasing how you fill the gap best is the rest. Realize that you and your product are up against considerable odds; this does not rule out victory, but means you must work smart and understand this contact sport.

How to connect

[dropshadowbox align=”right” effect=”lifted-both” width=”350px” height=”” background_color=”#ffffff” border_width=”1″ border_color=”#dddddd” ]laura.wiley“If you don’t put yourself out there, you will never know your fullest potential. Network and connect with everyone (and I do mean everyone) you know as will often be surprised to find what opportunities lie within the those you are closest too as well as farthest away. Connect and engage, talk and share, give and get – it is how trusting and long-term business relationships and strategic partnerships grow.” Laura Wiley, Principal/CMO of Marketing Lift[/dropshadowbox]Connecting today has a different feel with the prominence of social media and ability to quickly pinpoint your target decision maker; with a simple search we can locate VP’s and CEO’s and attempt to make contact. That said, anyone can make contact, so you must ensure your contact counts. Utilization of sites like LinkedIn grant you access to all the movers and shakers across every industry:

  1. Build your network strategically by casting a wide enough net of individuals who could serve as decision makers or point you in the right direction.
  2. Aim high, specifically in small-to-mid-sized businesses where a CEO will be more apt to accept your overtures.
  3. Do it with distinctive, classy flair. Don’t use the generic LinkedIn request.
  4. Never pin all your hopes on just one person for a job or sales decision. Formulate multiple plays across all pertinent companies and industries so you are prepared for whatever obstacles you encounter.

How to approach

Approach requires just as much thought. Using your own conversational style, the approach might go something like this: “Mr./Mrs. X – It is my hope this note finds you well. With your expertise in _____ and our mutual interests, I believe you would be an excellent person with whom to share ideas and learn from. I would be honored to be part of your network.”

Whether by LinkedIn or email, supplanting the generic, average introduction will get your note noticed where others land in the penalty box of the virtual trash can. From there, timely follow up within a matter of days thanking them for the connection and requesting advice on the industry to gain access to them will have far more success than pushing a product or asking for a job up front.

Casting a wide net also means:

  1. researching local networking events,
  2. utilizing your existing network to meet new prospects (i.e, referrals), and
  3. leaving no stone unturned as you put your best quality foot forward in meeting and greeting new contacts with whom to form mutually beneficial relationships.

Like any part of the game, prospecting and connecting determine how far the ball carries, and are integral in your quest to circle the bases.

Cover photo courtesy of Tate Nations.

 

Three Steps to Creating an Effective Entry-Level Sales Contest

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Three Steps to Creating an Effective Entry-Level Sales Contest
by Brian Norman – August 2013

“If you don’t know where you’re going, any road will take you there.”

Think about a sales contest you have conducted (or participated in) that was missing something. Perhaps it did not have a specific purpose, was unorganized, anticlimactic, or even ineffective?  Rather than using a generic model, create a personalized strategy that will help your team accomplish its goals. 

Step 1: Set Specific Objectives

The first step in designing an effective sales contest is to determine the ultimate objective.  Goals for entry-level sales staffs can vary; therefore it’s imperative to set specific objectives for your sales contest.  Write down, in detail, what you hope to accomplish and how you will measure your success.

Questions that need to be answered include:

[dropshadowbox align=”right” effect=”lifted-both” width=”250px” height=”” background_color=”#ffffff” border_width=”1″ border_color=”#dddddd” ]

Jake Reynolds
Jake Reynolds

“An effective sales contest, done the right way, can produce big results for your team.

The preparation leading up to it, the execution throughout and the post contest assessment are all vital in maximizing the results from your contest. In order to get the desired outcome when building the sales contest, it’s important that it’s designed to help accomplish a specific agenda, create a fun and competitive environment, engage your employees and drive big revenue.”wizards_alt_logo_hand [/dropshadowbox]Are you basing the contest solely on revenue production?

  • Are you trying to increase departmental revenue by 10%, 25%, 50%?
  • Is there a specific team revenue goal you’d like to reach?
  • Historically, what was produced during this period of the sales cycle?

Are you focused strictly on moving inventory – regardless of revenue?

  • Is there specific inventory you’re focused on selling (club seats, VIP seating, etc.)?

Are you also focusing on increased call volume, on-site appointments, or other “hustle” metrics?

  • If so, do all of these metrics directly contribute to your ultimate goal?
  • Are these metrics readily accessible throughout the day to encourage/drive individuals?

Step 2: Design the Program

Establish each of these for every sales contest.

Team, Individual, or Both?

Recognize when it’s most effective to use a team-based contest versus an individual-based contest. 

  • A team contest will help drive departmental unity.  In theory, every member of your team will work together to accomplish the goal to receive some type of incentive.  In reality, be aware of free-loaders who don’t contribute and seek the same incentive as the rest of their team.  To address this, set personal “minimum qualifiers” to motivate everyone on the team to participate.
  • Is your sales group full of competitive, result-driven employees?  If so, an individual-based contest may be the best route for your team.   Create and facilitate a program that will bring out the competitive nature of your sales team as they compete against one another.
  • Sales contests can also tie in both team and individual aspects that will build team unity while rewarding top performers.  Focus on dynamics that will motivate the team as a whole, while also pushing individual performance within the contest.  An overall team incentive can be supplemented by smaller prizes throughout the contest to key performers. 

Theme

In order to keep your team engaged throughout your sales contest, it’s crucial to design your sales contest around an exciting and entertaining theme.  Whether you use current events (Olympic Games, March Madness, Draft Lottery), movies (Fight Club) or board games (Monopoly, Scrabble) to model the contest, it should be creative, fun, and most of all, engaging!

Time frame

The length of the sales contest is one of the most important pieces of the design.  If your contest is too short, it may not give your sales team the proper time to accomplish the set objectives.  If your contest is too long, your objective will lack urgency and it can grow stale.  Refer to previous sales/hustle metrics to determine the appropriate timeframe to accomplish your objectives.

Incentives

What will truly motivate your team to increase their performance?  Simply ask them!  By [dropshadowbox align=”right” effect=”lifted-both” width=”250px” height=”” background_color=”#ffffff” border_width=”1″ border_color=”#dddddd” ]

Eric Platte
Eric Platte

“After running plenty of sales contests that produced different results, the underlying factor that motivates everyone is free and simple: recognition.

For example, the 2013 Final Four was in Atlanta so we capitalized with a sales contest. The winning member received two tickets to the tournament, assorted gift cards, in addition to a trophy and picture that we sent to the NBA league office and our executive team. After the hundreds of dollars we spent on the prizes, the winner was most proud of the email we sent to the league and the executive team with his picture!”hawks_50t [/dropshadowbox]asking your sales team what incentives they desire most, you’re accomplishing two things:

First, and most obvious, you’re able to put together a list of incentives they desire.  Send out an email asking your team to present you with three items (under your set budget) that they would love to have.  Whether its cash, gift cards, concert tickets, autographed memorabilia, or other prizes, you’re sure to get authentic feedback.  (Best answer to date: C.R.E.A.M: Cash rules everything around me!)

Secondly, and just as important, you’re empowering your employees with the task of helping design their very own sales contest.  This leads to increased buy-in and appreciation from your team.  Further, you are presented with ideas you never would have thought of yourself.

Step 3: Review, Recap, Revise

What could have been done better?

  • Was the contest too long? Too short?
  • Was your sales team engaged? What could you have added to make it more engaging?
  • Did the original rules work throughout, or did you have to adjust them at some point? Why?
  • Did the incentives actually motivate your sales team, or were they simply a nice reward?
  • How close did you come to accomplishing your goals? Were the goals too easy? Too hard?

Analyzing Metrics

Simply put, did the contest accomplish your set objectives?  Compare your team’s performance during the contest against previous data to measure the true impact.  Record your results as they compare to historical metrics and save for future referral.

Finally, measure your team’s output over the weeks and months following your contest to gain additional insight into the contest’s level of effectiveness.

  • How much revenue was produced compared to last month?
  • How much revenue was produced compared to the same time in the selling cycle last year?
  • What percentage of sales was from the targeted inventory?
  • How does outbound call volume compare to the average call volume for the last week? Month?

The essential elements of successful sales leadership: Staying ahead of the curve

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The essential elements of successful sales leadership: Staying ahead of the curve
by Carson Heady – July 2013

Two governing principles

Two governing principles drive sales management success: people and process. The right personnel following the right procedures equal success. The numbers will be there. In Vegas the house always wins because it knows and plays the odds. In the same way, we fail when we don’t play the percentages of tried and true methods. Many managers find inexplicable (for them) failure because of this very reason:

[dropshadowbox align=”center” effect=”lifted-both” width=”750px” height=”” background_color=”#ffffff” border_width=”1″ border_color=”#dddddd” ]

Sales Management Failure

Trying to follow a process with the wrong people OR failing to provide the right process to the right people.[/dropshadowbox]

Managers get too caught up chasing numbers, telling the team they need more of [place your metric here] without showing them how. Reps fizzle out for that very reason.

Two vital steps for new leaders

Relationships

The vital first step of your process as sales leader is building the relationships. No team respects someone who shows up and starts barking orders. Why should they? This manager has not established trust, gained respect and earned the right to lead. The manager title is one thing. But two-way communication fosters a winning team. Building relationships  involves:

  • rolling up your sleeves,
  • getting in the trenches,
  • learning from front line employees what actually transpires and needs improvement, and
  • seeing through their eyes what works and what doesn’t.

There is no better way to diagnose the business. You cannot introduce changes to processes without taking these first steps. 

martin_coco_90x135Martin Coco, Director of Ticket Sales and Marketing for the St. Louis Cardinals, shares, “Two of the most important things we need to do as managers is to establish relationship and legitimacy with our staff.” With the Cardinals in particular, Martin says, “It helps that all of our manager-level staff have been promoted internally. They have done the job of the individuals they now lead.”

Although teams can’t always promote from within, Coco points out that it helps when you can. Managers have instant legitimacy with the group they are leading, as Coco points out, because they can say, “I’ve been in your shoes, and I know what challenges you are facing.”

Focus

Once relationships are built, don’t focus on selling more. Focus on what prevents sales. Gain trust by eliminating obstacles to selling.

[dropshadowbox align=”center” effect=”lifted-both” width=”600px” height=”” background_color=”#ffffff” border_width=”1″ border_color=”#fffffff” ]When obstacles are removed there is nothing left to do but sell.[/dropshadowbox]

Sell your team on why process tweaks are beneficial; they fear change just like a customer does.

Understand the sales food chain: your relationship with your team is akin to the rep relationship with a customer.  You must

  • ask questions,
  • learn their existing processes,
  • gain trust,
  • expose gaps they may not have even known about, and
  • convince them to change based on need.

Make the fear of status quo outweigh the fear of change. Reps can make their choices. Either way, they get outside of their comfort zones. Your ability to move them away from comfortable ways of failing or maintaining mediocrity determines your success.

Staying ahead of the curve

trouble with the curveNone of us wants to have trouble with the curve. The key to hitting curve balls is watching the release point to identify the pitch. Then you can adjust the swing. So everyone on the team keeps their eyes on the ball, you must do three things with sales reps so that they can see what’s coming:

  1. Document: where we’ve been, where we are, where we’re going and what steps we are taking to get there.
  2. Hold accountable: did they take the steps to get there? If not, why not?
  3. Recognize: pay with money, pay with promotion, pay with attention.

Strive for personal stretch goals bigger than the commitments you must meet for your organization. Term organization goals as minimum expectations. Then even barely falling short of your stretch goals means you stay ahead of the curve.

Practice? We talkin’ about practice?

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Practice? We talkin’ about practice?
by Bob Hamer – March 2013

“We talkin’ about practice, man.” ~Allen Iverson, May 7, 2002,

Allen Iverson, 37, was out of the NBA before the time he reached 34. Kobe Bryant (34) spends his off-season making 2000 shots a day. With a rebounder and one ball Kobe can make 500 shots an hour.1

Former NFL Coach Jon Gruden said it best, “You never stay the same. You either get better or you get worse.”

The greatest athletes in the world spend hours in practice, working on perfecting their craft. Whether the driving range, the baseball diamond, the field or the gym, one thing is for sure: If you want to be the best, you have to put in the practice time to get there. If you aren’t getting better, you’re getting worse. Why should it be different for those of us in sales?

Training

Every sport has a specific skill set required to play. There may be different styles and techniques, but there are specific skills required. In basketball there’s shooting. There may be 150 different ways to shoot a basketball, but no one can dispute that shooting is a skill required to play the game. Someone first needs to show you HOW to shoot. We call that training: Where to place your hands, how to set your feet, when and where to release the ball. After someone shows you how to do it, you practice on your own until you learn how to make shots. The more practice, the better the results.

Different styles are used in sales, but just like shooting a basketball, some skills all salespeople must have in order to play the game. These include:

  • Getting a prospect meeting,
  • Customizing a pitch to meet needs,
  • Presenting the proposal,
  • Asking for the sale, and
  • Getting a referral

Think of yourself as a sales athlete. Where do you need practice? How can you get better?

Barriers to Improvement

What’s ironic is we work in sports, so close to all of these athletes, and we watch them practice day after day. Yet some sales athletes don’t practice their own skills. Why?

Five barriers prevent us from practicing our skills, getting better, and achieving greater results.

1)      Entitlement – Because we’re out of the “training department” we think it’s OK to stop (we feel we’re above that).

2)      Complacency – We achieve some success early, get comfortable, and don’t see the need.

3)      Perception – Fear of our bosses or peers seeing us struggle and thinking differently about us.

4)      Self-UNawareness – We aren’t aware of skills holding us back and don’t know what to practice.

5)      Pleasure v. Pain – Practice isn’t always fun and we prefer activities such as contests or real calls.

Breaking down the wall

How do you break down these barriers?

1)      Attitude – It’s starts with you making a commitment to practicing your skills. Be intentional. When will you start?

2)      Have fun – Find other people who like to practice and make fun games out of it. Role Play “Fight club” for prizes.

3)      Be Vulnerable – Leave the title and sales numbers at the door. Be humble enough to admit you aren’t perfect and have room to grow.

4)      Stay Hungry – Don’t think you’ve “arrived.”Keep extending goals so you push to be the best.

5)      Get a coach/mentor – It’s tough to evaluate yourself in the game. Find someone you trust and ask them to help. Observation is the best way to identify gaps and create future practice material.

If Tiger Woods and Michael Jordan stopped practicing after their first championship, got comfortable with success and rested on laurels, we wouldn’t talk about them as two of the greatest athletes of all time. Make a commitment to practicing. If you do, years in the future we will be talking about you as one of the stars in the business of sports.

 

 

 

S3 Board Member Spotlight: Kris Katseanes, FC Dallas

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S3 Board Member Spotlight: Kris Katseanes, FC Dallas
by Travis Martin – January 2013

Kris Katseanes, Vice President of Ticket Sales and Service for FC Dallas, has been an invaluable member of the S3 Advisory Board. Because of Kris’ leadership and willingness to mentor the careers of young people entering the profession, Baylor’s S3 program annually places interns and new employees with FC Dallas.

Kris Katseanes
Kris Katseanes

Each fall semester Katseanes visits the Baylor campus to interview S3 students for internships the following summer. For most juniors this is the first real interview with a team. Katseanes helps calm the tension as students walk into the one-on-one interviews. As with other on-campus interviews with board members, students meet with the S3 Program Director, Dr. Darryl Lehnus, to help learn for the next interview.

All the students who meet with Mr. Katseanes quickly learn about his opinion of the value of hard work. His strong work ethic was instilled in him since he was a boy. Growing up on a potato farm, hard work was the only way to go when your day starts at 4:00 am.

One demonstration of this kind of dedication came one afternoon when Katseanes found inefficiencies in the team’s database. Salespeople were wasting time and it was clear the system needed organizing. Since the team did not have a specific person assigned to the database, Katseanes took it upon himself to work from 7:00 pm that night to 7:00 am to clean up the leads in the system. This not only helped them gain more sales, but gained admiration around the office for making everyone’s life easier.

Along with integrity and networking, work ethic represents part of the Baylor S3 W-I-N acronym instilled in students. Katseanes believes we reap what we sow and luck finds people who work hard. For young professionals, the best way to improve your career is to volunteer for anything and everything. This puts you ahead of the person next to you and gets you noticed by the right people.

“But, you have to be careful,” Katseanes says. “I see young professionals always looking to the next step so much that they can’t be content with the current. The grass isn’t always greener on the other side, so find a place where you can be happy.”

Vice President of Marketing, Communications & Strategic Planning FC Dallas
Kelly Weller

“He’s fair, creative, solution and result oriented,” said Kelly Weller, Vice President of Marketing, Communications & Strategic Planning with FC Dallas. “Everyone has a chance to succeed with him.  They are given all the tools, resources and time to perform their best to not only hit their individual goals, but to help achieve the overall objectives of the company.  He’s one of a kind in my book!”

Katseanes loves working with the S3 program because of the leadership the program offers to its students. At FC Dallas, Katseanes has developed a leadership development program that helps employees set written goals with measurable results and deadlines. Katseanes enjoys working with the the S3 professors and S3 graduates, because the emphasis is on preparing to enter a career and not just get a job.

How to manage the new generation of sellers

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How to manage the new generation of sellers
by Murray Cohn – January 2013 

Part 1

“I want it all. I want it now.”

On a recent team visit I met an entry level ticket seller who’d been there two months.   He said, “Murray, I am ready to manage my own staff. I know everything I need to learn about ticket sales.” Laughing, I looked at him and said, “I have been doing this for 25 years and I still learn every day.” I added, “Plus, to make that statement, it might help if you were first on the sales board instead of eighth out of twelve.” Read more

The five powers of permission

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The five powers of permission
by Dan Rockwell – January 2013

Old style leaders are about giving permission to supplicants. Their followers seek permission. It’s an “I/you” rather than “we” dynamic. Leaders have power and followers must ask.[dropshadowbox align=”right” effect=”lifted-both” width=”300px” height=”” background_color=”#ffffff” border_width=”1″ border_color=”#dddddd” ]”Asking softens a tough request so the other person hears it. Asking signals you want help. Using a ‘we’ approach builds momentum within a sales team.”

Night Train VeeckNight Train Veeck
Group Sales Executive
Chicago White Sox

 

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I/you leadership is disengaging and dis-empowering.

Successful leaders do more than give permission, they get it. Permission answers the question, “Is it ok with you if we talk about something?”

Five Powers of Permission:

1.     “May I …” builds trust.

2.    “Would it be ok if …” shares power.

3.    “Do you mind if …” equalizes social status.

4.    “Could we discuss…” prevents stagnation. Permission moves the agenda forward when topics are awkward.

5.    “Is it ok with you, if…” engages.

Permission opens doors, protects relationships, and prevents stagnation.

Ask permission to:

1.    Bring up uncomfortable topics. Set a date for the conversation.

2.    Explore progress.

3.    Correct. “May I …”

4.    Challenge.

5.    Give feedback.

6.    Say what you see. “Is it ok if I share something I see …”

Four responses to NO:

When permission isn’t granted? Ask:

1.    How business-critical is the topic?

2.    Is there a deeper issue to address?

3.    Can you let it go?

4.    Must you address it, regardless?

When topics are mission critical, say, “We need to talk about this soon.”

Just a courtesy:

Isn’t asking permission just social courtesy? Yes, sometimes it is. But, social courtesies smooth and protect. Perhaps you prefer to be discourteous and abrasive?

Four reasons leaders don’t ask permission:

1.    Arrogance. It’s too humbling to ask and too easy to tell.

2.    Fear of seeming weak.

3.    Fear of losing power.

4.    Authoritarian rather than relational leadership styles.

Discussion with your sales team

“Managers seen as always being negative aren’t followed,” explains Gregg Bennett, Director, Center for Sport Management Research and Education at Texas A&M University.  “In general, people want to be around positive individuals in everyday life and the work environment.”

Gregg Bennett
Gregg Bennett
  • What does permission-leadership look like in your world?
  • What are the pros and cons of permission-leadership?

 

Special thanks to Chris Radley for the cover photo.

 

How to change behaviors of salespeople

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by Dan Rockwell – January 2013

As manager, your job is bringing out the best in others by the way you interact with them. Well timed, well executed conversations change people’s lives. Poorly timed, unprepared conversations damage the individual salesperson and the team who interacts with him or her.

First: Determine and affirm aspirations and goals.

Never have conversations about an individual’s life, strengths, weaknesses, or potential until you understand their hopes and dreams.

People open their hearts to people who understand their hearts.

Second: Explore strengths and weaknesses in the context of aspirations.

[dropshadowbox align=”right” effect=”lifted-both” width=”250px” height=”” background_color=”#ffffff” border_width=”1″ border_color=”#dddddd” ]Top Three Takeaways

  1. Well timed, well executed conversations change people’s lives.
  2. If people see you as being too critical it’s because you press on the negatives and don’t express the positives.
  3. Craft strategies with them not for them.

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Ask:

What strengths propel you toward fulfilling your dream? What weaknesses hinder progress?
Which strengths are most useful to taking the next step?
Which weaknesses are most detrimental to forward movement?

Third:  Address negatives without being a downer.

If you’re addressing weaknesses, try two questions at once. “What behaviors and qualities will enhance your progress and what qualities and behaviors will hinder your success?” Always address negatives in the context of positives.

If people see you as being too critical it’s because you press on the negatives and don’t express the positives.

Affirm strengths by explaining practical benefit and positive potential. Address weakness by exploring how they hinder aspirations.

Use positive qualities as foundations to discuss behaviors that need improvement. For example, if you’re having conversations with a goal oriented person. Open the “you need improvement” part of the conversation by asking, “A goal oriented person may walk on others, how might that be true of you?”

Jay Miller

Fourth: Craft strategies with them not for them.

After they identify strengths and weaknesses, craft strategies that better move them forward with them. You may feel you know the best answer but they must find their own. Embrace their journey.

Fifth: Focus more on positives than negatives.

If you bring something up that creates frustration or anger, pull back. But, know that anger indicates it matters. Touch the topic at another time. They just aren’t ready to deal with it yet.

Discuss with your sales team

Jay Miller, Executive Vice President for the Texas Rangers, says, “People buy from people they like and trust. The way I show salespeople how that works is take them with me on sales calls. Then the salesperson is open to listening and wants to learn. That’s when I have the chance to have the kinds of conversations to change people’s lives, to really help them. Now  they like and trust me—and they’ll buy what I’m saying to them.”

If  managers only criticize, will anybody be buying what they’re selling?

How do you have conversations that move people forward?

What types of conversations haven’t worked for you in the past?