PROCESS THIS

Over the past several months I have been observing an interesting aspect of sales that I am now ready to share with you.

It started when I was working in the field with several reps last fall. The reps I worked with were broken into 3 groups. As you would expect the groups were; 1) consistently above quota, 2) consistently at quota, and 3) consistently below quota.

I made some detailed notes while in the field with these reps and after reviewing the notes I made an interesting discovery. The reps that were consistently above quota were more likely to NOT think about what they do every day. The reps consistently at quota may or may not think about what they do every day, and the reps consistently below quota were the ones that were most likely to think about what they do every day.

What do I mean by “Think about what they do every day”? I am talking about thinking about the sales process. When making a sales call following the process that leads to the greatest percent of success.

This discovery made me very curious, which lead me to question the reps that I rode with to find out what they were thinking and why. What I found was very interesting, the reps that were consistently above quota told me that they were too busy to focus on the details of the sale. The reps consistently at quota told me that they needed to focus on the process only to new prospects and the reps consistently below quota said they needed the process to help them generate more sales and maximize every stop.

For some reason, the answers I received didn’t make for a good business plan and I needed to dig deeper to get to the root of the reps thinking. I went back and asked some more questions. To the above quota group I asked if when they have a difficult month do they then fall back on the process to help them get back on track. EVERY rep said yes. They all agreed that the process helped them build their pipeline when their sales were on the decline.  The at quota reps gave me the same answer, when they were in fear of missing quota they fell back on the basics of the sales process to regain the momentum they needed. I had to ask the below quota a different question and asked them if when they reach or exceed quota do they stray from the process? As I expected from the answers of the other groups, most said they did get away from the process once they reached quota.

Many of you that have followed this blog for a while or those of you that I have worked with may already know the last question I asked all the groups... the simple question, WHY?

Every rep acknowledged the importance of having a solid sales process. They all agreed that the process was the best tool for helping them gain new prospects and break the ice with the prospects. They all also agreed that the more successful they became the less time they had to think about the process and to go through the “STEPS” of the sale.

I know that making sales and generating revenue and personal income is the most important thing to sales reps and their companies. However, having been a sales manager and having owned my own sales business, I also know that consistency is high on the list as well. Just like a sales rep needs to have a steady flow of business to maintain their income, a business needs a steady flow of sales reps making a steady flow of sales to be able to maintain their profitability as well.

Many of you know I have had both of my knees replaced. My surgeon is one of the busiest orthopedic surgeons in Atlanta. He schedules his surgeries back to back two days a week. I am sure that he has periods where he is busier than others, but do you think he ignores his process to save time? More importantly, do you think that the hospital would allow him to ignore their process to save time?

The process is there to assure consistency in the sale. The process is as important to the sales rep as it is the prospect or customer. The process, if used correctly, is the shortest distance between the introduction and close.

Lorin