Sales Training

The students POV on interviews for internships & careers

kirk_wakefield 2021, Analytics, Learn, Recruiting, Research, S3, Sales Management, Sales Training, Sponsorships, Tickets , , , , , , , , , , 0 Comment
The students POV on interviews for internships & careers

After the first round of the Baylor S3 Pro Day of virtual recruiting with 30 interviewers, 54 of the students rated each of the interviewers, selected their favorite two interviewers, and commented on one that didn’t go as well as hoped. After the second round of S3 Pro Days on March 5 (click here for more info), we will distribute information to interviewers (who also get the chance to rate the students on their interviewing skills). The S3 Best Interviewer Awards for S3 Sales and S3 Analytics will be announced for the S3 Awards Banquet on April 14.

These evaluations are much like teaching evaluations. We certainly prefer students enjoy the experience. Admittedly, sometimes learning experiences can cause user discomfort. So, good on you as professor or recruiter if you can do both: Supply enjoyable learning experiences that serve the welfare of all parties for both the short and long term. To that end, we offer 45 comments about what students liked best about interviewers, which thankfully outweigh the 24 comments on areas of improvement. Learn as you will from these.

Student POV

Interviews for Sports Sales & Analytics Internships & Careers

45 Areas of Excellence

1.       Intentionally listened and asked good questions.
2.       Asked very thoughtful questions and really answered my questions well.
3.       Most enthusiastic and didn’t make it feel like there was a power difference between him and me.
4.       Most willing to show me things like what they do in Tableau.
5.       Just fun to talk to.
6.       Really easy going and easy to talk to.
7.       They stood out above the rest for their openness while discussing their roles and the company culture at their respective teams. They came across as completely genuine, giving me their unfiltered opinions on their workplace instead of telling me any kind of pitch.
8.       Made me feel instantly comfortable during both conversations I had.
9.       Super genuine and friendly; They were not intimidating at all and very helpful in explaining their role and answering my questions.
10.   Very easy to talk to and did a great job answering any questions I had. I very much enjoyed talking and felt at ease and was disappointed when our time was up.
11.   Asked unique and challenging questions that kept me on my toes.
12.   Was genuine and kind while also getting down to business without any unnecessary conversation.
13.   Very personable and made a hectic time feel relaxed, calm and helpful. Made the conversation feel mutually beneficial which was great. Super informative and helpful.
14.   We had a really great conversation about just life. We shared a lot of similarities; was informational, and I got to walk through my resume.
15.   Took an interest in me beyond my job qualifications and wanted to get to know me better on a personal level. They made me feel like they wanted to speak with me and told me I could reach out any time in the future.
16.   Asked great questions and directed good conversation! Awesome at engaging and made me feel really comfortable.
17.   I was able to see how well they enjoyed not only working in their field but with each other too.  I also felt relaxed in the interview and it was one of the ones that I actually had fun being interviewed.
18.   They were the two most enthusiastic people I talked to.  I made really good connections with both of them. They also were very interested in making it clear that if I were hired that they would invest in my career to the fullest extent.
19.   Was very specific and had the 30 min interview laid out in sections of what to accomplish. I got to do a mock phone sale and a 45sec pitch.
20.   Genuine and engaging during our talk.
21.   Very open to answer any and all questions and truly share passion for the job and role as a manger. Provided an open and transparent look at goals for those new to the organization and what managers seek to get out of them.
22.   They made the conversations really smooth and easy and showed a genuine interest in me.
23.   Was very open and had great energy. Seemed very invested in our interview and even joked around a little bit. Overall a great interview and I was incredibly impressed with the organization.
24.   They gave great insights on what their companies did and gave in-depth analysis of the field of analytics, especially CRM and BI. Also, they made the effort to personally connect with me.
25.   Asked challenging questions and, in the interview, pushed me to do better. Charismatic and has good leadership.
26.   It felt like they were actually interested in getting to know me.
27.   They had amazing humor and personality and seemed really interested in talking to me! They acknowledge all of what I said and asked follow-up questions accordingly. They made the speed dating a lot of fun because it may have been an interview, but it seemed more like catching up with an old friend!
28.   Seemed very interested throughout our entire call and even asked for a second interview to better our connection in order to be a future reference for myself.
29.   Discussed the many ways they took care of employees during the ongoing pandemic, both with their mental health and with their paychecks. Detailed how the team handles the social issues that have become as prevalent as ever in recent times.
30.   Open, friendly, and honest. Made me feel more comfortable.
31.   Extremely genuine and excited to hear about why I want to get into sports. They asked very good questions and went into detail when answering questions that I asked about their organizations. Both came across as wanting to help me in my journey in any way they could.
32.   Very interested in me and my future goals, very engaging.
33.   Super high energy and gave me an awesome description of time with the team. Super helpful and seemed genuinely interested in my career growth.
34.   Asked questions about my personality and we were able to chat and have a great conversation!
35.   Gave me a whole lot of advice on how I could answer interview questions better. Offered to connect me with other people within the organization, which was awesome.
36.   Truly took the time to know me and understand what I was looking for in a future job opportunity.
37.   Very encouraging.
38.   Let us know that no matter what happens they were here to help us. Even if that means we go for a decision and it does not include their organization. That is admirable.
39.   Took the time to know me knowing that I am only a sophomore yet was intrigued when looking at my LinkedIn profile. So kind and just wanting to help.
40.   Extremely kind, was prepared with knowledge about me, insightful answers to my questions, willing to help, relatable.
41.   Very interested in what I had to say and gave me great advice.
42.   Very kind and helpful.
43.   Gave great advice, flowing conversation, tremendous insight into job and analytics in sports. Willing to help.
44.   Seemed very genuine in wanting to get to know us. Gave me some valuable advice and perspective.
45.   We had a fantastic conversation about the importance of mental health in the workplace (and in general) and the emphasis put on it.

24 Areas of Improvement

1.       Really didn’t have much of an interview experience. It was too casual.
2.       Questions were very vanilla. Couldn’t get a good read off them.
3.       Didn’t really seem like they wanted to be there.
4.       Wasn’t easy to talk to.
5.       I sort of felt like I had to lead the conversation, where with the other recruiters, they were the ones guiding it.
6.       Seemed not to take our 10-minute call seriously. Never made eye contact and was constantly looking around the room. Gave cookie-cutter monologue and nothing more.
7.       Asked very structured concrete questions. I heard from others that they kept people over time and shorted others. Didn’t appear open.
8.       Informational but it was very cold. It wasn’t a natural conversation like the rest of my 10 min talks.
9.       Rapid fire questions, less conversational interview (granted, we only had 10 minutes).
10.   Asked a lot of questions that didn’t pertain to anything important and also not related to S3 or internships.
11.   Did not feel a connection with the organization or interviewer specifically.  Nothing against, is a great person.  I just did not find myself enjoying the interview or the chemistry.
12.   A stand-in for my interview didn’t seem too ecstatic to be there. Seemed very dry.
13.   Not very engaging and didn’t show a lot of emotion.
14.   Had one short interview where I was asked very off-topic and slightly offensive questions.
15.   I was confused on the style of the interview. Seemed harsh.
16.   Seemed very distracted; like the focus was elsewhere from the start. It threw me off a little bit and it felt like we never really got into the interview at all.
17.   Didn’t have a lot of emotion and didn’t seem that interested in talking to me. It felt like more they were just doing this to put a check mark on their calendar.
18.   Felt more like an actual interview and less of a conversation. It was intense, which is fine, but I enjoyed some other conversations more since they were more chilled.
19.   Conversation was not engaging and was not very interested in me or what I was saying.
20.   Didn’t really seem very interested in being at the event. Wasn’t super open about time with organization, which made the interview pretty difficult to stay engaged with.
21.   Not all that open to talking much about the organization and the conversation was hard to get through.
22.   Impersonal and mechanical conversation. Improved in the second round of interviews but felt like they were checking boxes rather than trying to make a connection or be a resource.
23.   Typing the entire time.
24.   It was so awkward; I was given short answers to questions that I asked.

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. ↩

Does Grit Lead to High Performance in Sales?

kirk_wakefield 2017, Learn, Research, Sales Training, Sell , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Does Grit Lead to High Performance in Sales?
by Kirk Wakefield – June 2017

What is Grit?

Angela Duckworth made an industry out of her own passion and perseverance toward a long-term goal–her definition of grit–and measuring it in others.

Controlling for other factors (SAT scores, IQ, self-control, and the Big 5 personality traits), she and her colleague’s research[ref]Duckworth, Peterson, Matthews & Kelly (2007), “Grit: Perseverance and Passion for Long-Term Goals,” Journal of Personality & Social Psychology.[/ref] found the grit items (click here to see if you have grit) to be good predictors of performance among spelling bee contestants, Ivy league students and West Point cadets. Gritty children work harder and longer, performing better in national spelling bees. Gritter students attain higher levels of education among those of the same age, but grit does appear to increase as we get older.[ref]Duckworth &  Quinn (2009), “Development and Validation of the Short Grit Scale,” Journal of Personality Assessment.[/ref]Gritty cadets are more likely to complete training. Those with more grit experience fewer lifetime career changes.

The question is: Is grit a good predictor of sales performance in professional sports? In particular, accounting for popular DISC behavioral measures and factors under sales management’s control, does measuring grit offer potential help in recruiting and retention of salespeople?

The Study

Data were collected from 307 salespeople (89% < 4 years experience; 67% males; 98% with at least college degrees) and 34 managers from 18 professional teams in MLB, NBA, MLS, NFL, and NHL. Respondents provided demographics and completed measures of:

  1. DISC behavioral profile
  2. Grit
  3. Impression management (to account for social desirability bias)
  4. Adaptive selling skills
  5. Extent of sales training provided by the organization
  6. Confidence in selling skills
  7. Job satisfaction
  8. Sales performance relative to others in department (dollar sales, new packages, major accounts, exceeding targets, helping supervisor & dept hit goals)
  9. Selling effort relative to others in the department (hours, effort, contacts made)

Different from other studies, we collected sales performance and effort evaluations on exactly the same items (#8 & #9) from the direct supervisors of each sales representative. Each sales manager examined current sales performance (in dollars), rank ordered those in the department, and then completed the performance evaluations for the first quarter of the 2017 year. In total, we were able to match 288 responses (i.e., inside sales and account executives) with supervisor evaluations. [ref] We conducted a second study among sales staff (N = 144) across the entire East Coast Hockey League with similar results. [/ref]

The Results of Grit

The types of achievements studied by Duckworth each culminated in an event (i.e., completing college, West Point, or a Spelling Bee). A sales career is a series of continuous competitions, where standings update daily, and the conclusion uncertain. Does grit directly predict performance?

Among salespeople in professional sports, grit indirectly influences sales performance in two important ways:

  1. Grittier salespeople give relatively more effort than other salespeople, including hours spent selling and the total number of contacts made. In turn, effort (work ethic) drives performance in this data.
  2. Grittier salespeople are more satisfied with their jobs, which means lower turnover. Satisfied salespeople give more effort, which leads to higher performance.

Bottom line: Hire gritty salespeople. Use the grit scales as one input in recruiting. Mean grit score among cadets (3.75) and our study (3.82) would be a good baseline.

Grit scores at the highest levels may be a function of impression management, saying what we want to hear. But, either way, people who say they have more grit are evaluated by their managers as giving more effort. In a battery of measures, grit scores offer insight. [ref]If potential reps willingly admit having little grit (i.e., scores low on the grit scale), you should believe them.[/ref]

The Effects of DISC Behavioral Styles

This study largely confirms what we found before regarding DISC behavioral styles among salespeople, with some additional insights. Salespeople with more dominant behavioral styles (High D’s) perform better than those with low dominance traits.  Why? The data shows:

  1. High D’s are more likely to be confident in their sales skills.
  2. High confidence in selling skills is a strong predictor of performance.
  3. High D’s are more likely to use adaptive/consultative selling.
  4. High C’s are less likely to use adaptive/consultative selling.

Bottom line: Use DISC behavioral profiles for recruitment and development. But, be careful: Some high SCs (low D) can be very competitive and have the ability to focus on goals. Confidence in selling skills is a much stronger predictor of performance than DISC behavioral styles. The good news is good sales training builds confidence.[ref] In other words, good salespeople are born, but you can also raise them.[/ref]

The Effect of Sales Training

Effective sales training helps salespeople know how to: (Average grade across all teams.) [ref] For measures, see: Sujan, Weitz, and Kumar (1994), “Learning Orientation, Working Smart and Effective Selling,” Journal of Marketing. [/ref]

  1. Interact with customers (92)
  2. Provide appropriate service levels (88)
  3. Behave with customers (92)
  4. Handle objections (89)
  5. Handle unusual problems/situations (80)
  6. Deal with criticism (85)
  7. Present specific team strengths (86)
  8. Highlight specific benefits (91)

[dropshadowbox align = right width = 40%] Adaptive selling skills (disagree/agree; *reverse scored):

  1. Each customer requires a unique approach.
  2. When I feel that my sales approach is not working, I can easily change to another approach.
  3. I like to experiment with different sales approaches.
  4. I am very flexible in the selling approach I use.
  5. I feel that most buyers can be dealt with in pretty much the same manner.*
  6. I don’t change my approach from one customer to another. *
  7. I use a set sales approach. *
  8. I find it difficult to change my presentation style to certain buyers.*[/dropshadowbox]

Overall, reps positively rated sales training. But, being good is not good enough. The more profound effects on sales confidence are at the highest levels: We found training needs to be excellent (90+) to help reps exude confidence. The data also shows effective sales training increases goal clarity and adaptive selling skills. The latter has a huge (statistically speaking) effect on sales confidence.

Bottom line: Focus sales training on adaptive selling skills, particularly in dealing with difficult situations with critical customers. Include the adaptive selling skills scale to your recruiting toolbox.

Do Salespeople Deceive Themselves?

In a word, yes. Nearly 70% of the sales reps rated themselves higher on the very same questions we asked managers about each one. Some by a lot.  In fact, on a scale ranging from -5 (much worse than others in the department) to +5 (much better than others in the department), 55% of reps rated themselves one point higher than their managers did on all items. About one-third rated themselves two whole points or higher than their managers did.

What does this matter? The strongest effect on sales performance and sales effort by far is the margin between self-evaluation and manager evaluation. Sales confidence, DISC profiles and effort all significantly help predict the manager’s performance evaluation. None come close to the effects of being in touch with reality. Those with perceptions closest to (furthest from) their managers are the best (worst) performers.

Bottom line: If one-third of reps are clueless about their performances and more than one half widely overestimate relative performance, how well are we communicating? Given industry turnover issues, we expect more intentional and consistent one-on-one professional development and career goal setting meetings would reduce the deception gap and improve performance.

Conclusion

Grit does not have a direct effect on sales performance, but does help predict effort and job satisfaction. Effort leads to performance. Satisfaction leads to low turnover.

DISC behavioral styles offer guidance in knowing who will succeed. However, since sales confidence improves with experience and training in adaptive selling, DISC profiles should be only one factor considered in hiring.

Our view is that the DISC is better suited to teach adaptive selling and to get people in the right seats on the bus. Further, the DISC scales exhibit poor psychometric dimensions–which we are refining. If your organization would like to participate in the next round of studies with improved DISC scales, grit measures, and our impression management scales (AKA BS Meter), please contact us here.

How Managers Can Use this Research

Based on conference calls to review the research with participants, some offered comments on action plans.

Shawn McIntosh
Brett Zalaski

Brett Zalaski, Vice President Ticket Sales & Service, and Shawn McIntosh, Senior Manager of Inside Sales, Houston Dynamo

As someone who believes in continued learning and training, we loved seeing that confidence was so closely linked to a rep’s job satisfaction.

Markets change and the people we sell to are constantly evolving.  As sales managers it is critical to continue to focus on adaptive selling skills in order to keep our reps confident and happier.

Kris Dolen
Mark Johnson

Kris Dolen, Sales Manager, and Mark Johnson, Guest & Member Relations Manager, Tampa Bay Buccaneers

This research is extremely insight. We are excited to do more digging into the research and the works of Angela Duckworth. Our two biggest takeaways:

  1. Great questions to use for 1-on-1’s with each member of our team are to ask: “On a 1-10 scale, where 1 is the worst and 10 is the best,
    1. Where do you think you stand among your peers?
    2. Where do think your peers would rank you?
    3. Based on my score for you of (X), what do you need to do to get from where you are to where you want to be?”
  2. Understanding the DISC profiles:
    1. Will help me become more self-aware of the different styles among team members.
    2. Will help with Situational Leadership of my team, which is a great way to train & build confidence.
Rob Erwin

Rob Erwin, Director of Ticket Sales, Dallas Mavericks

This study gave our management some new concepts to consider with regards to recruiting and retaining a best in class staff.  I intend to apply more questions during the interview process to discover the candidate’s measure of grit.  I hope this will in turn help better predict their effort once they move past the honeymoon portion of their hiring.  Separately, given the statistics on reps deceiving themselves, I will continue to evaluate how we can clearly communicate with our staff regarding their individual performances.

Geno Fata

Geno Fata, Manager of Inside Sales, Arizona Diamondbacks

After reading “Grit” by Angela Duckworth last year, I’ve been increasingly curious as to how grit applies in a sports sales setting.  My hunch was “grittier” sales reps would be more likely to succeed over their less gritty peers.  It is valuable to know that in a sports sales setting, grit heavily influences both effort and job satisfaction, as those are two crucial indicators of success in our program.

We plan to use takeaways from this study in a few different ways – evaluating grit both in candidates and our current sales reps by administering the Grit Scale, and supplementing it with a few supporting questions that will either reinforce their Grit Score, or call it into question.

The study is also a great reminder of the importance of quality and on-going training, and regular perception vs. reality exercises between sales reps & managers – making sure our reps perceptions of their performances are on par with our evaluations of them.

An Internship Model for Sports Sales, Marketing, CRM & Analytics

kirk_wakefield 2017, About S3, Careers, CRM, Learn, Personal Development, Relate, S3, Sales Training, Sponsorships, The S3 Program, Tickets , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
An Internship Model for Sports Sales, Marketing, CRM & Analytics
by Kirk Wakefield – January 2017

After arranging & supervising hundreds of sports internships for the last dozen or so years, Dr. Darryl Lehnus and I devised a system that works well for us.

Ideally, partners provide the internship with the same objective of developing and evaluating talent in view of future employment there or elsewhere. Our partners see intern successes as their successes, as it reflects on their abilities to train, motivate, and model excellent performance.

Among others, the Pittsburgh Pirates B.U.C.S Academy and the New York Mets are ahead of the game in organizing internships and recruiting to careers. While many teams and companies provide summer internships, the Houston Texans (sponsorships) and Houston Astros (CRM) provide 9-12 month postgraduate internships specifically for our graduates to gain more in-depth training before launching careers.

Our best-in-class partnerships do five things:

  1. Budget for internships.
  2. Show up every year to interview.
  3. Provide awards or incentives. (Examples: See StubHub & MLBAM.)
  4. Serve as mentors.
  5. Initiate follow-up with interviews to (a) hire or (b) refer for hiring.

Five Not-So-Easy Steps

From a process standpoint, partners follow these five steps. We’ll explain each in turn.

  1. Prepare students for careers.
  2. Determine parameters & responsibilities.
  3. Define, communicate and evaluate on criteria that predict success.
  4. Hold students responsible.
  5. Review insights & follow-through with students.

Prepare students for careers

Ask employers what they want. Continue to ask.

Too many prepare students for sports marketing or sports management jobs. The only problem is no entry level positions exist for “sports marketer” or “sports manager.” Entry level positions do exist in ticket sales, sponsorship sales & service/fulfillment, CRM, and analytics. Design coursework and programs accordingly.

Business schools have courses in professional selling, database management, statistics and predictive modeling, and data visualization (Excel, Tableau, etc.). Take advantage of these courses in planning curriculum requirements. When employers see you take them seriously, they’ll line up for your students.

Determine Parameters & Responsibilities

Once employers agree, we send them a link to an online form to identify the supervisor, time frame (start, finish, hours per week, pay or course credit), and responsibilities. Most likely you’ve already discussed this, but best to not be surprised at the end of the term that the internship didn’t include a vital part of what they needed to experience.

After selecting the type of internship, the employer completes the appropriate section for what the intern will do. Our forms are below.

Define, communicate and evaluate criteria for success

Every year the National Association of Colleges & Employers (NACE) publish a list of attributes most desired of new hires. These could differ among some, but odds are they are the same. With a little adaptation, we use these for midterm and final evaluations by the intern’s direct supervisor.

Responses on the primary criteria (below) are shared with the intern in a meeting with the academic advisor. We also ask about punctuality, attitude, performance, and overall grade from the direct supervisor of the internship at the employer. The entire form may be downloaded here.

Sports Internship Evaluation Criteria

Specific to our own preparation and values, we ask students to be 2nd milers. When asked to do something (walk a mile), go above and beyond expectations (go the second mile). Supervisors rate the intern accordingly (below).

Hold students responsible

Students should perform well in the internship. We expect that.

We also expect them to reflect on what they learn. Keeping a daily or weekly journal is recommended.At the end of the term, students must submit the S3 Internship Report Form (click to download) regarding a weekly log of hours, assignments, volunteering, accomplishments, application of class material, issues (problems or challenges & resolutions), culture, behavioral adaptation, recommendations, and net promoter score rating for the internship.

Review insights & follow-through with students

Meet with each student to get his or her take on the evaluation provided in Step 3. Usually there are no surprises. Employers do a good job of picking up on areas for improvement that you’ve likely noticed in class. So, it’s nice to have someone else see it and say it.

Generally, these are great times to encourage students in careers. On occasion, you can use these to give appropriate kicks in the pants. We’ve seen these have fairly drastic effects on capable students who needed to get with the program. On occasion, you find some who need to find another program. The wide world of sports, perhaps the same as other industries (but we think more so),demands a high level of commitment. We help students by holding them to a high standard.

Conclusion

Providing good internship experiences takes effort on the part of the academic advisor, student, and employer. But, working together, internships are the foundation for successful careers. No class, book or assignment can substitute for on-the-job reality training.

The very best part of what we do is to see students succeed in their careers.

Feel free to borrow, steal, or adapt any or all of the attached materials! If you’ve found other things that work well, please let us know!

2015 Baylor S3 Board Meeting in Pictures

kirk_wakefield 2015, Lead, Learn, Networking, S3, Sales Training , , , , , , , , , 0 Comment
2015 Baylor S3 Board Meeting in Pictures
by Kirk Wakefield – October 2015

The 2015 Sports Sponsorship & Sales (S3) Board Meeting was held October 20-21 along the banks of the Brazos in beautiful Waco, Texas. With over 80 executives and managers attending and over 40 managers interviewing S3 juniors and seniors for internships and positions, it marked the 12th year of continuous growth for the program. The S3 program admits up to 38 highly qualified students into its junior class each year to focus on sports sales, CRM & sales analytics. In 2015, 97% of graduating seniors were placed in industry positions.

2015 S3 Board Meeting Attendees

First Last Organization First Last Organization First Last Organization
Alan Aldwell Pittsburgh Pirates George Killebrew Dallas Mavs Bryan Apgar Website Alive
Spencer Ambrosius LA FC Kenny Koperda Minnesota Timberwolves Jody Bell Pizza Hut
Deno Anagnost Tampa Bay Bucs Andre Luck Houston Astros Derek Blake La Quinta Inns & Suites
Lindsay Beale San Antonio Spurs Clark McCormack Dallas Mavericks Larry Brantley The Company of Others
Derek Beeman Houston Texans Matt McInnis FC Dallas John Burnett Consulting
Brandon Bittel AEG/LA Kings Shawn McIntosh Houston Dynamo Brooks Byers Sports Desk Media
Joe Clark San Antonio Spurs Eric McKenzie San Diego Padres Laura Cade La Quinta Inns & Suites
Matt Clark San Diego Padres Nick McNeil Pittsburgh Pirates Lynda Carrier-Metz Pizza Hut
Murray Cohn NBA Drew Mitchell Texas Legends Tory Castillo Jack Morton Agency
Elliott Crichfield Denver Nuggets Jayson Morgan Dallas Cowboys Travis Dillon The Marketing Arm
Hayley DiNaso Minnesota Timberwolves Brian Norman Philadelphia 76ers Eric Fernandez Sports Desk Media
Justin Dunn Columbus Blue Jackets Pat O’Connor MiLB Tom Fletcher IMG
Jeff Eldersveld Columbus Blue Jackets Sean O’Connor Charlotte Hornets Bill Guertin 800 Pound Gorilla
Rob Erwin Dallas Mavs Sarah Proctor Philadelphia 76ers Jon Heidtke Fox Sports Southwest
Chelsea Fenstermacher Philadelphis 76ers Mitch Ried Cleveland Cavs Hunter Klop General Motors
Shannon Fischer Houston Rockets Jay Riola Orlando Magic Jose Lozano The Company of Others
Makinzie Foos Memphis Grizzlies Joe Schiavi Detroit Pistons Ryan Luckey AT&T
Sean Foster Houston Dynamo Andrew Sidney Houston Rockets Dan Migala PCG
Travis Gafford Dallas Stars Steve Timms Houston Golf Assoc. Bill Moseley AT&T
Mitch Gall Air Force Academy Jake Vernon Minnesota Timberwolves Jay Ory IMG
Brian George IMG-Baylor Andrew Vitale Memphis Grizzlies Tom Parsons Time Warner Cable Business
Stephen Gray Austin Spurs Adam Vogel NY Mets David Peart Root Sports
Greg Grissom Houston Texans Wil Walters Minnesota Timberwolves Katie Scallan Gulf States Toyota
Flavil Hampsten San Jose Sharks Lauren Ward Houston Rockets Jake Shockley State Farm
Leslie Horn Dallas Stars Heidi Weingartner Dallas Cowboys Bill Spicer Consulting
Anthony Horton San Antonio Spurs Jake Winowich Houston Astros Tami Walker Phillips 66
Tyler Howell Portland Trail Blazers Tommy Wright Houston Golf Assoc.
Chase Jolesch Baylor Athletics Tickets Justin Wynter Austin Spurs
Chase Kanaly Houston Astros Rob Zuer Denver Nuggets

2015 S3 Awards

Hunter Klop, District Sales Manager, presented the Chevrolet 2015 awards for outstanding service to the S3 program. Heidi Weingartner, Chief HR Officer of the Dallas Cowboys, received the Chevrolet Award for Outstanding Team Board Member. Kelly Roddy, President of Schlotzsky’s, was recognized as the Chevrolet Outstanding Corporate Board Member. The Chevrolet Award for Outstanding S3 Alumnus went to Brian George (S3 ’07), General Manager of IMG/Baylor. The Chevrolet Outstanding S3 Report Writer Award went to Andre Luck, Manager of Inside Sales at the Houston Astros, for his article, “5 Characteristics of the Best Salespeople.”

S3 Board in Pictures

Tami T. Walker
Tami T. Walker

The Phillips 66 S3 Banquet was held at the Hilton in Waco, Texas. Special thanks to Tami T. Walker, Phillips 66, for helping us enjoy the evening with fine food & festivities! Pat O’Conner, President & CEO of MiLB, was guest speaker, hosted by Dan Migala (see cover photo).

 

 

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The board meeting was held at the new Paul L. Foster Campus for Innovation and Business on the Baylor campus. Drew Mitchell (S3 ’06), CRO of the Texas Legends, led a panel discussion on “Branding you: Making yourself stand out in the business of sports,” with Tami T. Walker (BU ’86), Phillips 66; Derek Blake (BU ’86), La Quinta Inns & Suites and Greg Grissom (BU ’94), Houston Texans. Murray Cohn, the NBA’s Vice President Team Ticket Sales, led a group of All-Star Managers to guide S3 majors to position themselves with positivity, work ethic, coachability, honesty & integrity and remembering that good is the enemy of great.

nba panel

Dan Migala led a panel discussion on “The Art of the Deal: Emerging Trends in Structuring Partnerships,” with panelists Jose Lozano (BU ’93), The Company, Brian George (S3 ’07), and Ryan Luckey, AT&T.  Bryan Apgar (S3 ’08), Website Alive, moderated a panel on “Selling in the Social Space,” with Joe Schaivi, Palace Sports, Mitch Ried, Cleveland Cavaliers, Andrew Vitale (S3 ’14), Memphis Grizzlies, and Brooks Byers (S3 ’14), Sports Desk Media.  You can find these and many more in the slideshow below!

We look forward to next year’s board meeting on October 11 & 12, 2016. For more information, contact Dr. Darryl Lehnus or Dr. Kirk Wakefield.

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Making CRM training tolerable: The 10 Commandments

kirk_wakefield 2015, CRM, Relate, Sales Management, Sales Training, Sell, Tickets , , , , , , , 0 Comment
Making CRM training tolerable: The 10 Commandments
by Chris Zeppenfeld – May 2015

One of my favorite sales reps said this to me coming out of a CRM training session a few years ago.  I think it’s the best analogy I’ve ever heard about CRM training.

“Going to CRM training is like going to the dentist….no one really looks forward to going, but when you are done, you’re usually glad you went.”

Let’s face it, CRM training isn’t sexy.   Click here, do that, fill this fill field in, make sure you do that first, blah blah blah.   However, user training (and user adoption) is the most critical element of CRM implementation.  Here are 10 axioms to follow as you set up your user training for CRM.

1. Thou shalt not have 5 hour marathon training sessions.
I’ve probably conducted somewhere between 2,000-3,000 software trainings in my life.   If there’s one thing I’ve learned, it’s that you can’t possibly hold a sales rep’s attention for longer than 45-60 minutes.  Maybe less.  An Indiana University study says that the average attention span of students is actually around 15-20 minutes.  Yikes! Make this a hardline rule right now:  Training sessions cannot be longer than 60 minutes.  The moment you hit 60 minutes…close up and stop training. Trust me, they’ve already stopped listening.

2. Thou shalt not cram all of the CRM training into 1-2 days.
We have a “CRM Boot Camp” that stretches across 10 (yes, 10!) days.    Why so long?  Repetition!   Repetition is the key in software user training.  I’d much rather have 10 shorter training sessions over a span of two weeks than to try to cram 2 marathon training sessions over a day or two. I purposely want my reps to go through the training, then go do something else not CRM related (aka forget about things)….and then come back the next day and see what they recall.   Remember, your reps need to know how to use CRM properly every day…not just this one time.   You’ll get much better rep recall when they run repetitive “sprint” sessions rather than “marathons.”

3. Thou shall not have “all staff” training sessions.
This one is brutal.  I cringe when I hear a VP/President instruct the CRM Manager to “grab everyone in a conference room and go through the whole CRM thing.”  Think back to the last time you had an all-staff meeting. How many people were fiddling with smartphones not paying attention to the speaker?  I did a quick survey with my own staff last time we had a non-CRM related all-staff meeting: 78% of my reps admitted playing with smartphones during a portion of the meeting. When the classroom size gets too large, it’s extremely challenging to make sure everyone is following along with you.

4. Thou shalt not intermingle departments.
There are two parts to training sessions: “This is HOW you do it.” and “This is WHY you are doing it.”  The first deals with compliance.   The second deals with buy-in and understanding.   How much you decide to dive in on the second part is the key.   With newbie Inside Sales reps, it’s often best to focus on the “click here, do this” part. They are still trying to comprehend the sales scripts they just spent 7 hours learning in role-playing. So, it might be information overload to start going into the intricacies of 1:N relationships in CRM.   My goal is to get newbie sales reps to do X correctly. For more experienced reps in Premium Sales, however, give them insight into why a certain form or process is being done the way it is.  Get buy-in and understanding from senior sales reps who have a far greater influence on the sales staff.  Sure, it might be “easier” on you to shove all of the departments into one training session.  However, the way you’re going to teach a “compliance” session is going to be much different than teaching an “understanding” session.

5. Thou shalt not have the CRM Manager move the mouse.
Think back to your teenage days learning how to drive a car.   Did you learn more from the passenger or driver’s seat?  Reps will learn far better if they are the ones behind the wheel. There is no prize in showing how quickly YOU can navigate CRM. It only matters how well they can navigate CRM. Have reps login as themselves on training PCs to mimic “real” experience in CRM. They see their My To Do List, their leads, their dashboards, etc.  Even in a group setting with multiple reps, always have the rep move the mouse on the screen. If they don’t do it, they won’t remember it.

6. Thou shalt make sure the rep’s boss is in the first few training sessions.
Nothing undermines CRM  quite like when the rep’s boss doesn’t show up for the first training session.   The typical dialogue between the rep and sales manager usually goes something like this, “Go see (insert CRM Guru here), s/he will run you through that CRM stuff.”   Remember, the reps report to Sales Managers, not CRM Managers.   When sales managers don’t show up for CRM training at least early on, it undermines the importance of CRM in their jobs. A special note to sales managers who don’t show:

[dropshadowbox align=”center” effect=”lifted-both” width=”450px” height=”” background_color=”#ffffff” border_width=”1″ border_color=”#dddddd” ]What you are telling the rep is that while you say CRM training is “important,” it’s apparently not important enough for you to stay in this room and make sure the rep is paying attention.[/dropshadowbox]

7. Thou shalt not worry about anything else in CRM other than completing a phone call on the first day.
Everything the reps do in CRM falls into two buckets:  1) things they do about 100 times a day   2) things they do maybe once a day.  Guess which singular activity they do 100 times a day….phone calls!   The most important thing the reps have to do (correctly) in CRM is completing the phone call screen the way you want them to do it.  Don’t worry about anything else in CRM until you are 100% satisfied that they can complete a phone call correctly without you standing over them to monitor it.  Sometimes, you might get reps that will try to skip forward (how do I search this?  where do I go to do that?). Tell these over-achievers that you are purposely putting blinders on them and you’ll get to that training later in boot camp.

8. Thou shalt tailor the training to the type of rep in the room.
Especially when you are doing new sales reps onboarding with CRM, you tend to encounter three very different types of reps. It’s important that you identify which types of reps you have in your training room.

  1. “Soldiers” are the majority of your sales reps.   Soldiers come in with a “tell me what to click on, and I’ll do it” type attitude towards CRM.
  2. “Old Guard” are the minority of your sales reps.  Old Guards tend to be skeptical that what you are about to show them in CRM is going to be better than their “tried and true” methods.
  3. “Questioners” are the rarest of your sales reps.  Questioners want to know WHY something is the way that it is in CRM – and may not comply until they are satisfied with your explanation.

The people you should most be concerned with are the Questioners.   They are often the most influential about CRM to their sales rep brethren (positively or negatively). For more on this, check out my past S3 article that explains this in greater detail.

9. Thou shalt have mini-training sessions periodically with each department if you roll out a new feature.
Let’s say you roll out a new feature that can help them in CRM.   Maybe it’s a new view that organizes info better for them.   Maybe it’s a new process you’ve built in CRM that allows them to make appointments quicker.   Quick!   Grab the reps and huddle them together.   These mini-sessions don’t need to be elaborately planned.   It can be impromptu at their desks – or even better in a nearby conference room.   Your sales reps and managers might actually welcome it…it gives them a quick 10-15 minute breather from making calls.  I recommend doing these mini-sessions twice a month to refresh them on cool features they may have forgotten about and/or teach them new features that can help them do their job better.

10. Thou shalt make sure everyone can see the screen and read the text.
I know this one sounds really obvious, but you’d be surprised how many times this gets overlooked.   CRM from a UI perspective has a ton of small icons, menus, and fonts.  Even if you have a decent sized display for your CRM trainings (projector, large TV screen, etc.), it might still be difficult to read the text in CRM.   Remember, your software training deals with more than just icon and shape recognition….much of your training will involve the rep reading text and making an appropriate user interaction in CRM.  As you read this article now, take 10 steps back from your monitor/screen.   Can you still read this text?  If you can’t read the text, then your reps are too far away in your training room.

Making CRM What Your Sales Staff Wants

kirk_wakefield 2015, CRM, Learn, Relate, Sales Training , , , , , , , , 0 Comment
Making CRM What Your Sales Staff Wants
by Brooke Gaddie – March 2015

Get to know your staff

No two sales staffs are going to be exactly the same. No two reps on your staff may be the same. In order to achieve the level of acceptance that you want, you have to make the system do what they want. That means getting to know your salespeople.

My job is to make sure that 60 reps across three franchises in both sales and service utilize CRM. Roughly four months into our CRM implementation I would by no means say that we have it all figured out, but we’ve made some huge strides.

Get help. Get Ready.

[dropshadowbox align=”right” effect=”lifted-both” width=”300px” height=”” background_color=”#ffffff” border_width=”1″ border_color=”#dddddd” ]Excel can sometimes be the frenemy of CRM. It provides a great blueprint on what is important to the rep (if a sales rep is going to take the time to make an excel sheet, it must be pretty important stuff for them to track). However, Excel is that safe, familiar security blanket that reps coming running back to at the first moment of indecision or doubt with CRM. If you can convince the reps that organizing in CRM is better than their own Excel sheet, you’ve won. ~Chris Zeppenfeld, Charlotte Hornets[/dropshadowbox]We are fortunate to work with some extremely smart people at KORE Software to help make our system the best it can be. They offer a sounding board to bounce off ideas to see if what one rep wants is feasible and will help others achieve goals. We talk frequently with the Charlotte Hornets (Chris Zeppenfeld) and Utah Jazz (Adam Grow),  who have plenty of experience and offer great ideas.

If you’re just starting to implement a new CRM solution, don’t expect to be done when launch day arrives. We spent months thoroughly preparing and thought we were in pretty good shape, but since Day 1 have adapted almost daily to tweak things to work the way the reps want. Some days it is as simple as adding a box for favorite player. Other days it’s sitting down with a rep to figure out how to put everything they once had in Excel in CRM.

Train, Train, Train Again

If I have learned anything in the last four months it is this:

You can’t tell a room full of people something one time and expect them to remember it.

Train, train often, train one topic at a time. When we began training we did it in each department’s weekly meeting. That can quickly turn into a conversation with one person about one really weird situation while the rest of the room tunes out. What does work?

  1. Pick one topic.
  2. Go to the area where that teams sits.
  3. Walk them through what they need to do.
  4. Explain how it helps reach their goals.
  5. Send a follow-up email with the links to screenshots for reference.

While this takes more time on the front end, it gets results. The reps retain the information much better. Once we began these 30 minute sessions in the department’s area, reps started to buy-in and become more productive.

Conclusion

Changing the way someone operates is never going to be easy. It will take work; a lot of work. But when you find the way to train and motivate employees to do something that helps them reach their goals, we all enjoy the outcome. The thing to remember is that not everyone, or maybe anyone, will want to look at something the same way or to complete the task the same way. You have to learn and adapt with them.

Cover photo courtesy of Andrzej.

 

Sales Training: The Four Benefits of Waiting

kirk_wakefield 2015, Careers, Lead, Personal Development, Sales Management, Sales Training, Sell, Work ethic , , , , , , , , 0 Comment
Sales Training: The Four Benefits of Waiting

Ketchup

by Tom Parsons – January 2015

Heinz had a commercial with a slogan when I was young, “The best things come to those that wait.” The guy whose friends ditched him because he was waiting on the ketchup to come out of the bottle ended up on a date while the others twiddled their thumbs.

In many years in the the advertising sales business, I have learned the truth of this saying. No doubt, many of us with the benefit of hindsight have found value in waiting. Besides asking us not to wear some of the things we wore, here are 4 truths about waiting we would say if we could go back to give a talk to our former selves.

Waiting builds STRENGTH

The good news for most of us is that life isn’t hard at all times. While we wait for a break, the level of strength goes up during difficult times as we work through struggles. When you have a bad sales month, if you are ambitious, the acumen rises as you increase self-discipline. When you have a baby and are tired, your mind will try to convince you that you have been up all night changing diapers and feeding for 18 years. Your strength will build if you can fight off these kind of lies. Waiting for good things makes you strong in the process.

Waiting offers PERSPECTIVE

[dropshadowbox align=”right” effect=”lifted-both” width=”250px” height=”” background_color=”#ffffff” border_width=”1″ border_color=”#dddddd” ]It’s only through the exercise of patience that we truly understand and appreciate the full value of the payoff at the end.

~ Bill Guertin, 800PoundGorilla  [/dropshadowbox]How many times in your life did you want something badly only to move on to a different passion or interest while you waited for it? There are going to be more times like this. While you wait you can determine whether your commitment is deep. Your managers will do this with you from time to time. They’ll want both of you to come to a realization that something mattered to you. Allow the wait to offer perspective both inwardly and outwardly.

Waiting deepens DETERMINATION

Once you gain the perspective that the thing you are waiting for actually matters very deeply to you, the drive and determination to get it becomes a juggernaut. When it’s you against the world and achievement is your only option, you’ll likely perform above your usual potential. Coaches tell me that talent doesn’t separate top athletes from the rest–it’s the depth of determination.

Waiting stores ENERGY

Before Jesus ascended into heaven, he made several promises and indications to his disciples about His future plans. While waiting for the go-ahead, Peter decided to go back to the family business of fishing. Many of you are just itching to get out there and sell something or improve the value of a sales team. You may even know exactly where you are going and just can’t wait to get there. Let this time be one of refreshing yourself for the tasks to come. Enjoy the last of this season before taking on the world.

A final word…

Weaved into each point is attitude. Waiting will only frustrate you if you allow your attitude to be influenced by petty problems. Your attitude must be at a high level if you are going to use waiting to your advantage.

 

Cover photo courtesy of Philip at HalifaxLight.

The Six D’s of Destruction: How to Recognize and Avoid Sales Burnout

kirk_wakefield 2014, Lead, Learn, Sales Management, Sales Training, Sell, Tickets , , , , , , , , , , 0 Comment
The Six D’s of Destruction: How to Recognize and Avoid Sales Burnout
by Kris Katseanes – May 2014

What happened to all the excitement?

We all seek to hire highly competent, highly energized, hard-working individuals who invest everything they have in the effort of growing a career in sports.  We strive to find individuals who have excelled in life, and are eager to translate that pattern of success to the sales floor for our team.

Yet, some of these same individuals have come to me after a few months on the job and share something like this, “This is the hardest thing I’ve ever done.  I’ve always succeeded in everything I’ve done, but this is really difficult and I don’t know if it’s for me.”  What changed with this person over just a few months? What happened to the person who was so confident (borderline arrogant), excited beyond measure, determined, and capable/willing to take on the world?

Recognizing destructive emotional patterns

Assuming that we set a proper expectation and are managing well, the easy answer then becomes that they are burned out by the long hours, the monotony of the calling and solicitation exercises, or the feeling of being enamored with ‘working in sports’ has faded.  I believe that there is definitely a little of each of those sentiments sprinkled in throughout.  But, I also believe that a negative emotional pattern in our human nature is most often the culprit.  This negative emotional pattern was something I came across recently.  An ecclesiastical leader by the name of Kevin Pearson coined it the “Destructive D’s.”  His application was a bit different, but the core principles apply to what we do every day.

1. Doubt. Doubt is defined as a lack of confidence in self and/or ability. Doubt starts to creep in.  Anyone who has been on a sports sales floor is going to experience this.  There is too much rejection involved in what we do for it not to ever be a factor.  The key is recognizing that it grows and leads to…

2. Discouragement.  Discouragement arises from missing expectations or goals.  The goals and numbers we ask for are always on the stretched side as that’s the world we live in.  The red flag we need to watch for is if missing goals or numbers causes discouragement, resulting in the sales representative:

  •  lowering expectations,
  • decreasing effort, or
  • displaying a weakening desire to stay in the job/industry.

Someone who becomes discouraged at a high level, then experiences….

3. Distraction. The sales rep that gets to this point begins to lose focus on two things:

  • what s/he needs to be effective &
  • the ultimate goal of succeeding in the sports industry.

They also lose focus of why we want to be excellent, succeed, and move up the management ladder: The opportunity to influence this industry and to help others in their careers.

One important thing to note is that both discouragement and distraction can become habits.  We should be looking for these traits in the hiring process as much as possible, and also be very mindful of those tendencies early on in a sales representative’s efforts. Whether habitual or circumstantial, distracted sales reps then begin losing their…

4. Diligence. The distracted sales representative gravitates toward time wasting activities and excuses to avoid the extra effort needed to become successful.   The biggest concern is if  this spreads or affects the productivity and attitudes of other reps.  This is where a rep starts to bring others on your team down with them. Obviously, not doing one’s job results in….

5. Disappointment. The sales rep without diligence will miss goals and expectations, ultimately leading to disappointing performance and reviews. While not surprising to supervisors, the end result for reps at this stage if often…

6. Disbelief. The emotional disappointment grows to the level that they actually start believing that they can’t do the job, or that it’s too hard and too demanding.  The sales rep that only months before had the world by the horns, now has internalized the emotions to the point they can no longer do what is asked.

Solution: Catch it early

The key as managers is to understand that the first “Destructive D” will happen to everyone.

Coaching, encouraging, and training to ensure we curb the second and third from setting in is absolutely critical.  Once it reaches the fourth level of losing diligence it is very difficult to restore what you once had. A new setting or a new role may help, but chances are the behavioral pattern is too far down the road and ingrained in the mindset/routine of that sales representative. 

In thinking about all of the successful sales industry leaders I know well, they all have in common the ability to recognize and squash “Destructive D” number one before it progresses further.   We should work as managers to recognize doubt and discouragement and find ways to foster courage and confidence among newer sales representatives. Part of that training can simply be to show reps this article (or explain the 6 D’s to them) and give them the freedom to ask for help when they believe they may be experiencing any destructive symptoms.

One of the best cures is really preventative: We must recognize the early symptoms to mitigate turnover and increase team chemistry and production.

 

Cover photo courtesy of Molair. 

 

 

Dealing with frustration in sales

kirk_wakefield 2013, Integrity, Lead, Learn, Sales Management, Sales Training , , , , , , 0 Comment
Dealing with frustration in sales
by Dan Rockwell – August 2013

The way you deal with today’s frustration reflects the leader or the salesperson you’ll become tomorrow.

Frustration is an alarm clock; a spotlight pointing: a match burned too long.

Frustration is a gift that says pay attention.

Don’t get frustrated with frustration. Frustration is feedback on decisions and relationships.

Frustration’s goal

The singular message of frustration is change.

  1. Usually it’s you.
  2. Sometimes it’s others.
  3. Perhaps it’s processes and procedures.

Repeated frustration

Frustrations that return want attention like neglected children.

Ignoring frustration makes frustration mad.

Successful people choose responses. The weak react.

Choose

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

Ben Milsom
Ben Milsom

“Frustration, like nerves, can either benefit or tear down. I tell our salespeople that the only person frustration hurts is yourself–it’s all internal, not external. The opportunity is still there to find out what others need or want and to find solutions.”tampa_bay_buccaneers[/dropshadowbox]Choose who to be:

  1. Welcoming. Open up don’t close down. “Come in, let’s talk.”
  2. Calm. Cool down don’t heat up. Nothing says confidence more than calmness during frustration.
  3. Able. Assume a do-something posture.

Bonus: Optimistic. Express optimism while acknowledging realities.

Choose what to do:

  1. Acknowledge don’t ignore. “That’s frustrating,” is better than, “It’s not that bad.”
  2. Run toward not away. Deal with it now or you’ll deal with it later. Curiosity coupled with courage expands leadership and productivity.
  3. Stay focused not distracted. Frustrations that distract from the big picture grow larger than they are.

Bonus: Involve others. Don’t act alone. “What can ‘we’ do,” is better than, “What can ‘I’ do.”

Three warnings

  1. Frustration in one area tends to bleed into others.
  2. Don’t let short-term frustrations make long-term decisions.
  3. Frustration’s biggest danger is its ability to create imbalance.

Rudyard Kipling wrote:

If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;
…
Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it …

How do you deal with frustration?