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The Burning Platform
Was it me?
Everyone else was getting amazing results.
I was stuck!
I was in my first role as a Sales Manager. It hadn't started well.
I felt like a lost child at every meeting.
Everyone had success stories, but when it was my turn ... writer's block!
"I got nuthin'!"
My colleague’s stories seemed a little too good to be true, but our manager was lapping them up!
"Bill, you should try Brad's strategy!" (See the Postscript below)
The Turnaround
I drove back to the country office in a funk!
I had learned about locus of control and self-efficacy.
If it was to be it is up to me!
Now was the time to apply it. And quickly.
I headed into the office the next day with only one thought in mind: two heads are better than one.
I grabbed my Assistant Manager, closed the office door, and we went to work brainstorming ideas.
By lunchtime, we’d had the semblance of a plan.
It seemed blindingly obvious in hindsight!
The Plan
1. We redefined our expectations.
We were a sales organisation. So one of the expectations was: as soon as you know a customer cannot afford the deal, shut the interview down. We wouldn't spend time with prospects who couldn’t meet the requirements.
We knew which products had the greater margins. Sell those, forget the rest. (Much to my Manager’s displeasure, until I showed her our profitability results!)
2. Everyone in their place!
Another blinding flash of the obvious.
Sales people in sales roles. Admin people in admin roles. Who’d have thought?
It sounds easy, but the culture was "but I've been in this roles for years!" Entitlement was a bad look!
We put up with the acrimony and it wasn't easy.
Eventually, the demands to "speak to with manager" dissipated.
3. The clean out!
Personal knick knacks, paraphernalia, you name it, our interview offices had it. But not sales forms!
Time for a spring clean!
Every office became an interview office and only an interview office. Not “Home Sweet Home!”
4. Everything in its place!
No more wasting time looking for a form or other information. Everything was in the office — as it should be.
5. Authority to proceed.
Sales people would often play “good cop, bad cop” when it came to the final decision — even when they knew the outcome.
It went like this: "I would love to approve the deal but my big bad sales manager said No!"
No more. The sales person delivered the message. This built resilience and confidence. All of a sudden our team had an edge! It was amazing!
6. Qualify, Qualify, Qualify!
This came later but it was game changing!
The sales team—now focused solely on closing deals—weren’t happy when an unqualified lead made it to an appointment.
“It wrecks my strike rate!”, a once very lackadaisical sales person told me!
“Ok! What do you want to do?”
The solution surprised us:
“Drop a sales person! And get them to qualify prospects. Before they get to us, they have to get through them!”
You mean … less sales people would produce more sales?
And that’s when “every interview became a sale!”
And future sales!
We'd provide a plan to help the applicant meet the criteria in the next 6–12 months. When they came back and met the requirements, the sale was automatic.
The Outcome
Sales went through the roof.
Twelve months of month-on-month growth.
I didn’t gloat at our monthly meetings. I delivered the stats in the same deadpan way I always had. Yet, I did enjoy how my manager's eyes ever so subtly widened as she realised the results.
These sales records lasted for about six years. Yes, I kept tabs. I was pretty proud of what we had achieved.
The Lessons (for any industry or individual)
Get an ally. Work with someone as passionate as you on creating solutions.
Be crystal clear on your expectations! With your team and with yourself!
Ensure you have the resources you need.
Share authority and accountability with the right people.
Be meticulous about who you have on the team and what they do.
Define success, this includes the qualification part. Don’t entertain “tire kickers”.
Be ruthless with your processes. Do not allow any to waste your time.
The Postscript
I later spoke with Brad about his “strategy”. It turned out all the hoopla and effort and marketing, that I was supposed to copy, ended with one sale! 😮
A strike rate of 0.167%.
🙏 Thank you for reading.
I worked in the corporate world for 45 years, 27 in management and leadership roles.
I worked in industries from Finance to Entertainment, Consulting to Government. I’ve managed local business units, contact centres and organisations with international locations.
If you’d like guidance or have questions about developing a new personal “script", team engagement, business improvement or people development, please let me know.
I love these lessons!