Leadership – Change Ahead

Team,

We have had a lot of changes since last year.

There is the worst Global Pandemic in over 100 years, Toilet Paper Shortages, Grocery Limits, Failed Businesses, Economic Collapse, Stock Market Volatility, Riots in the Streets, Curfews, Quarantines, and the Highest Unemployment since the Great Depression.

We are on our 3rd CEO since December. It has only been six months.

Our President has resigned.

We have an entirely new Executive Team bringing in their tribe and with-it significant change.

We have new tools, processes, metrics to live by and requirements.

We are forecasting weekly and sometimes more often.

Everyday there is something new.

We are a new Team this year. A Team of highly skilled, highly trained Professional Sales Experts.

We are an Elite Team with High Expectations and high quotas to match.

We are an Outside Field Sales Organization. The expectation is that we make things happen and go the extra mile.

We do not wait, we do not accept mediocrity.

We strive for excellence. We expect results because we take action to drive them.

More changes are coming.

Change is constant.

Nevertheless, we must FOCUS!

The Compound effect is our way to success. (From the Book: “The Compound Effect” by Darren Hardy)

Doing the right things over and over will reward us with results.

The right things are listed below and are expectations.

Expected Behaviors:

Ability to Listen.

Ability to follow Directions.

Ability to be Coachable.

Have a Positive Attitude.

Take action and execute.

Be creative to win.

Ability to contact Key Decision Makers at the C-Level.

Ability to accurately forecast.

Ability to CLOSE.

Ability to Execute with strong Prospecting, Discovery, Hyper-Qualifying, Presenting, Negotiating, and Closing Skills.

Closing: ASK for the order! Pick up the phone to close the deal. Don’t rely on email. Track the PO like a shadow at every step. Do not rely on the channel to do your job. The customer not responding is not a valid excuse. Who else have you called? What else have you done to close the deal? Call the CIO, CFO or other Executives. Ask one of our Executives to engage the customer if needed. Do not lose alone.

Building Pipeline: Prospect every day. Use email, phone, any tool available to help build pipeline daily.

Training: Be an active participant in trainings. Ask questions, learn, understand.

Self-Improvement: Actively read, train to get better at sales skills. Read all of our product datasheets to understand our solutions.

Helping Teammates: Be there for your peers, help each other build pipeline, close deals, strategize to grow the deal.

One Thing: What is the ONE THING you can do to increase sales? (From the book: “The One Thing” by Gary Keller & Jay Papasan)

Work with our Business Unit, BU counterparts, Distribution, Resellers, internal and external resources to help build and close deals.

Be Adaptable, success depends on it.

When the going gets tough, the tough get going! (Wrestling Coach)

Doing the right things will not only ensure that you survive change but it will help you to THRIVE!

Jerry Lang

 
 

Story of two Sales Reps: Alpha and Bravo

Story of two Sales Reps: Alpha and Bravo

Alpha focuses on helping the customer see the value of the product or solution and discounts only a small standard amount on the most expensive options or offers no discount at all.

Alpha sees a long-term relationship.

Alpha’s customer standardizes on the higher more expensive option.

Bravo focuses on discounting the product or solution trying to get the customer to purchase on price alone and discounts heavily on the least expensive options.

Bravo only sees a one-time sale or short-term relationship.

Bravo’s customer standardizes on the lower cost option.

Let us do some math:

The cost for the product from Alpha is: $864 or 134% more than the product that Bravo leads with. Alpha sells value and collaborates with the customer to understand pain points and helps the customer solve business challenges while becoming a Trusted Advisor.

The cost for the product from Bravo is: $369 or 134% less than the product that Alpha leads with. Now, Bravo sells strictly on price and heavily discounts the product they lead with by 40%. Bravo is 174% lower than Alpha’s price to the customer. Bravo does not understand the value proposition or selling value and is afraid of losing a sale if they position a higher priced product.

This scenario plays out the entire sales year.

At the end of the year, the results look like this.

Alpha exceeded their quota of $1,800,000 by selling 2,100 licenses and made President’s Club and was rewarded.

Alpha won a nice trip to a tropical island and received recognition, accolades, and prizes.

Bravo, on the other hand did not hit their quota. Bravo also sold 2,100 licenses but for only $469,940.

In some organizations, Bravo’s performance was deemed unacceptable and they were put on a 90-day performance period with strict guidelines.

Best case, Bravo improved performance.

But, many times, someone in Bravo’s position doesn’t know how to sell value or doesn’t want to and they don’t ask for help.

Bravo is replaced by someone who gets it and sells value.

The moral of the story is to ask yourself how you want to sell. Do you want to sell on a value proposition or on price?

Do you want to sell like Bravo or like Alpha? What behaviors will you utilize, and do you want to earn that trip to a Tropical Island?

Jerry Lang

Leadership – Plan To Close The Gap

Plan To Close The Gap

Team,

(The Only Easy Day Was Yesterday! “Krav Maga”)

Please put your name on a word doc with the date and save the doc as your name. These Gap Plans will be sent to our Leaders for review.

We have discussed Goal Setting and Territory Plans over the last four months and these should help to be a guide for the “Closing the Gap” plans.

Review your First Half % to quota. How will you close the Gap for H1? What % to H1 quota are you, work it backwards to determine how much you need to sell to hit it.

Example:

How much license did you sell in Quarter 1?

How much license did you sell so far in Q2?

How much more license will you sell in Q2? What is the total of these 3?

What is your H1 quota? Look at your quota letter to determine your individual metrics.

Subtract the closed total of Q1, Q2 and what else will close in Q2 from your H1 quota and that is your Gap.

 

Now for the planning to close the gap: Ideas below but feel free to come up with your own:

Pick 2 Term renewal accounts by name – who are they – Add additional licenses.

Pick 2 Term renewal accounts by name – who are they – Upsell Editions.

Pick 2 Term renewal accounts by name – who are they – Add Multi-Years.

Pick 2 Term renewal accounts by name – who are they – Increase YoY cost by 10%+.

Pick 2 Term renewal accounts by name – who are they – Add other products and solutions.

Pick 2 Term renewal accounts by name – who are they – Sales Plays Velocity, Mission Critical.

Pick 2 Term renewal accounts by name – who are they – Offer a Bundled Solution.

Pick 2 Term renewal accounts by name – who are they – Ask if there is end of quarter or end of year money.

Pick 2 Term renewal accounts by name – who are they – Ask if customer if they can finance a larger deal.

Pick 2 Term renewal accounts by name – who are they – Look for ways to proactively save the customer money.

Pick 2 Term renewal accounts by name – who are they – Look for ways to clean up license structure.

 

Now, in your territory, what campaigns are you running, or will you run? Provide specific measurable details.

For Database Management

For Performance Monitoring

For Cloud Based Performance Monitoring

For Application Management

For Data Migration and Disaster Recovery

For Data Analytics

For Tuning and Optimization with Artificial Intelligence

For Predictive Analytics

Pick a State, enter state name in CRM tool search box, email every contact a short 2 sentence intro to ask if they would like to add additional software licenses or take a look at new technologies. Implement a simple machine-like precision email focus. You should be able to copy/paste/send over 100 emails per day. Schedule a Discovery call with those that show interest.

Call 35+ prospects per day from customer base – same way as email strategy above.

Do a Mail Merge.

Work with other BU’s.

 

Additional targets:

Whitespace Report:

Trial & Freeware Download Report:

Territory Asset Report:

Closed Lost Opportunities Report:

Every booked deal in the last 5 years starting with the most recent wins and working backwards to add more licenses.

Perpetual maintenance to Term Subscription or Enterprise License Agreement for unlimited use (ELA), past audits for SaaS.

Sales is an all-season sport and we are going to need to work harder, longer and smarter to hit our individual and Team H1 Quotas.

Those that put the time, effort, and hard work in will see the rewards just like in sports…

Ask yourself:

How much time do you spend prospecting, calling/emailing customers every day? Is it enough?

How many customers do you reach every day? Is it enough?

How many hours do you work every day? Is it enough?

Do you wait because a customer is not getting back to you? Why do you wait? What can you do instead of hoping they’ll get back to you? (Hope isn’t a Strategy)

Can you turn up the clock speed, turn up the intensity, increase the sense of urgency, email/call the CIO? – Don’t be scared – they are people just like all of us… Have Confidence in yourself! Ask for help as needed to learn what to say and what to write.

 

Do not be a lone wolf, we are a team!

Ask for help and Adapt!

 

Jerry Lang