Why Salespeople Fail

There are essentially a number of reasons why salespeople miss their quotas. Do you know what they are?

I've heard managers say "my salespeople aren't making enough calls" and "my salespeople make calls but they don't sell anything - I think they're just making friends with everyone of their prospects" and "my salespeople make calls but don't sell what I want them to sell" and all sorts of other things.

The truth of the matter is that most salespeople miss their quota for one reason:

MOST SALESPEOPLE FAIL TO PLAN.

It might sound silly, but it really is true. Do you know how I know this? Because whenever managers tell their salespeople they need an account review to write a sales territory plan of how they're going to hit their quota they all go into scramble mode! I recall the frantic "Scott, you know how to plan... can you please HELP ME!" phone calls I used to receive when I worked in the High Tech industry selling services. Oddly, I'd usually walk out of my own account review meeting beaming, having received kudos for a great plan, along with the words, "now just execute upon that plan and we'll all be even happier next year" (execution of the sales plan is the #2 reason people fail, coincidentally). And, yes, I'd go hit my numbers year after year after year.

"FAIL TO PLAN, PLAN TO FAIL."

My first boss out of college had a great expression: "Fail to Plan, Plan to Fail." He would often put this up on the slide projector at the start of meetings. It stuck. It's true! The guy knew what he was doing - he turned a $300K sales team into a $1MM+ sales team in ONE YEAR. I think if every manager copied his formula for success they'd have more success. His original formula used with that team was a winner. I'm going to put it into a program for sales managers later in 2010, so stay tuned on that one... anyway, my point is that planning is vital to success.

An often quoted statement is about the 3% of a graduating class at Harvard or Yale who wrote down their goals achieved more than the other 97% combined. I don't know if that story is true or not - it has not been substantiated from what I've seen. However, I did see a study from the Dominican University that there is an increase from 4.28 (unwritten goals) to 7.6 (written goals with progress reports to a friend or mentor). So, writing the goal down, including milestones, and reporting back on progress is a great idea if you want to be twice as good as the "typical" salesperson (who I've already explained is too lazy to write down their plan).

So, make a plan. If you're not sure how to write a territory plan, I've written instructions before on the blog and at AspireNow.com I think I posted an article in the past. You can hire someone to write one for you. But I believe there is value in writing your own plan. You may not work the plan (execute) if you don't write it. Take the time. Make the effort. Write a plan you can use to succeed.

If you want help with your plan, I've written a ton of sales plans and had CEO's and Sr. VP's tell me my plans are the best they've ever seen in their life. I've been hired off a sales plan I wrote for two different jobs. My plans are *that* powerful.

What are the keys to a good plan? Well, you must include the following:

1. Non-disclosure agreement & Executive Overview
2. Mission
3. Objectives
4. Understanding of Ideal Client
5. Definition of Product (what are you selling to them and why)
6. Strategy to achieve objectives
7. Territory - definition of borders, vertical, geographical markets
8. Ways you intend to differentiate and add value to prospects in that territory
9. The math of how you will achieve your quota
10. Milestones to hit to make sure you're on plan
11. Statement of known and unknown factors of risk

Only share #10 milestones with a boss if you intend for the boss to start measuring you on those milestones and you intend to hit them. If you're going to fluff your way through success, don't list that. But frankly, if you're going to succeed, you ought to list things you know you can achieve.

Most sales plans don't include #11 - but good business plans do. Why? Because this covers your butt if you MISS your quota, despite doing everything right, due to something weird happening. For example, if you missed a quota when the economy tanked. Some companies will give up on you if they think you aren't working your plan. But if you can demonstrate you are working your plan and can show prospects that indicate success is around the corner, that may buy you time to keep your job and thrive in the future. It's all about achievement of the numbers to most of these bosses, so you must show progress towards those numbers.

And, regarding achieving, it's all about your quota, in the end, for any boss. So, every boss will examine #6 with a fine toothpick and comb if they're worth their salt. Put the numbers they need to see there. But, for your OWN benefit, take THEIR quota numbers and then figure out how to DOUBLE that goal. Because that is the goal you ought to work for - reason being that if you miss YOUR quota you will still hit THEIR quota.

Besides the plan itself, doubling your quota is the #1 key to ensuring you always hit your quota. It proves that success is largely a MENTAL thing - you must condition your mind to BELIEVE YOU CAN. Take their quota, double it, figure out how to accomplish THAT goal, then work towards THOSE numbers. As long as you're adding value, selling the right number of deals to the right prospects, and focused on that higher number, you will pretty much always blow away your goals. There are other reasons salespeople miss quota I identify and discuss in Cold to Gold Mind Spark SessionsTM (my sales workshops). I'm offering these workshops for a limited time prior to selling Cold to Gold online, so don't wait if you're looking to explode your success in 2010 - many of the techniques I'm offering for a limited time and they are not offered anywhere else.

To register a group of 20 or more, send me an email to info@ARRiiVE.com. Otherwise, sign up directly at ColdtoGold.com

Check out additional articles on "Cold Call Tips For Effective Cold Calling"
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Cold to Gold Mind Spark Session

Attention: the next Cold to Gold Mind Spark SessionTM is scheduled for April 6, 2010, at 10:00AM.

Registration for this powerful online workshop will close one hour prior to the start of workshop. Only 25 seats are available for this session, which runs each day from Tuesday through Friday next week, from 10:00 a.m. until 11:00 a.m. So, hurry while you can still get in!

Cold to Gold is a system of selling created by Scott Andrews, CEO of ARRiiVE Business Solutions.

You'll gain access to the mind shift, techniques, and methods that help you get in the door, form better qualified meetings, and highly successful business relationships. These are the techniques used by Scott to land multimillion deals with IBM, EMC2, Data General, and other sales organizations. For example, Scott wrote Jay Leno a letter and Jay returned Scott's call personally. Scott never met Jay prior to sending the letter. You'll learn the techniques Scott uses to get responses like this. Can your business use a lift?

To sign up for this workshop, please visit http://www.coldtogold.com/
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Please note: The disclaimer re: warranty or terms is listed at ColdtoGold.com re: any assumption or statement of earnings you may make from ColdtoGold.
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Is Cold Calling Frustrating You?

If you're trying to grow your sales revenue success, I'm sure you may be frustrated with cold calling. I can understand why. So many people SOUND like a SALESPERSON. It almost makes you want to hang up on them! For instance, from the last five salespeople who called me regarding "Event Hosting" and "Sales Force Automation" software, FOUR of the FIVE sales people started their call with this question:

"How are you today?"

Seriously. They were that bad! How did they know how I would respond? I could have been having a really bad day! Asking "How are you today" makes you sound like a salesman from the first sentence. That's not something you want to do, is it?

Cold calling is not easy - especially if you don't have a system. Fortunately, you don't have to fret any more, as I've created a system to help you remove the fear of cold calling and get in the door, called Cold to Gold Mind Spark SessionsTM.

Introducing:

Cold to Gold Mind Spark Sessions TM

Rapid Learning Workshops SM

I call my workshops "Mind Spark Sessions" because I've created a rapid learning workshop system that is the closest thing to a "Vulcan Mind Meld" - truly exchanging the my ideas from my head to your head - over four different sessions (modules) that offer the highest impact transfer of learning, interactive workshop, testing, and proof of concept available in education. Mind Spark Sessions go beyond a workshop - they impact your results immediately. The last company I taught Cold to Gold information signed the largest deal in their history just three months later. Now, success like that is cause for celebration.

Cold to Gold Mind Spark Sessions go beyond sales skill training and enter the domain beyond persuasion by offering each participant or sales representative information that contains the secrets to sales superstar special powers. Yet, almost anyone can learn these secrets to immediately increase sales:

First, I focus on the mental shift that must occur to help you make a successful call. This is also equally critical in sending a cold email, or in showing up at a prospect's door unannounced. It is even critical to your website design, so, Marketing people ought to listen up (or attend), too. What's cool about this mental shift is you start to have fun selling again, too. Shouldn't sales be more fun?

I first taught this mental shift to Tim G. while at DecisionOne fifteen years ago. Tim later went blew away his quota the first year selling, then continued skyrocketing his stellar success with Compaq and then HP!

Second, I teach something that is practically NEVER taught in sales training courses, yet is the SINGLE MOST POWERFUL KEY TO SUCCESS and creates a FLOOD of PROSPECTS in your sales funnel. This key, alone, will open more doors to you, make your website more powerful, help you create better sales emails, letters, phone scripts, and communicate LIKE A SALES GOD with your prospects.

Every time I've taught this concept to a sales team, that sales team starts increasing their success almost overnight. Now, for the first time ever, I'm teaching it in Cold to Gold Mind Spark Sessions.

Third, I show you personal tactics to not just cold call, but actually GET IN THE DOOR. Learn some of my personal NINJA METHODS I've used to successfully dial into the Senior Executive's office - without them ever giving me their phone number. One of my tactics I teach will reveal the senior executive's phone number over 80% of the time! Do you have that kind of system now? If you're selling in an enterprise environment, especially, you'll gain new abilities that give you the confidence to truly RID the DREADED FEAR of COLD CALLING FOREVER! Well, at the very least, you'll be more confident and a lot less afraid to call ANYONE and know you have a high chance to succeed at building a relationship with that person. You may not win them all, but wouldn't it matter if you could win just a few more? I'm sure you know what it means when you WIN MORE.... you MAKE MORE!

I once wrote a letter to Jay Leno. Yes, the head of NBC's Tonight Show returned my call PERSONALLY. Can you write a letter that does that? You will have the ability to write letters that open doors you would think totally closed to you before learning Cold to Gold. Does it always work? Of course not - nothing does - however, you'd be surprised at HOW MUCH MORE SUCCESS  you'll have in both SALES and MANAGEMENT when you learn Cold to GOLD.

In addition, I not only teach push techniques, such as making a phone call, sending an email, or mailing a letter, but also PULL techniques, which create something I'll call "Cat String Theory" - where the cat is the prospect and the string is your system and the CATNIP is in your hand! The whole point of cat string theory is to turn the table where instead of chasing after prospects, the PROSPECT CHASES YOU! It's powerful, it works, and they LOVE you for it. HOW COOL is THAT?! Your prospect becomes a customer as you deliver a solution not as a salesperson, but as YOU BECOME THEIR TRUSTED ADVISOR, expert, or even CONFIDANTE. If you don't know how to do this, then this module in Cold to Gold alone is worth the price of admission, which, by the way, is only $297 US for a Mind Spark Session (online workshop price, plus ticket fee from EventBrite) as of March, 2010. Move quickly - this won't be offered at this price for long.

Last, we put it all together. Each piece of the puzzle is carefully laid out so you can see how to better plan, strategize, target, and then DESIGN A CAMPAIGN that attracts your IDEAL customer to you and repels the prospects who will waste your time. If you're like me, the last thing you want is a prospect who won't buy wasting your time, right? Well, this CHANGES where ONLY PROSPECTS WHO BUY - or at least a lot higher percentage of them - are the people attracted into your money making machine. I'm a huge fan of qualifying prospects so only the best prospects end up in my pipeline or on my forecast. As a result of utilizing Cold to Gold, your pipeline will grow more reliable and the time wasters go "goodbye". Speaking of wasting time, the worst mistake you can make is to learn about a system that can change your life and..... wait.... and wait... or worse yet, do nothing. You're not that person, though, right? I mean, if someone showed you that you had gold in your very own backyard, and how to mine for it, would you be digging a hole right now or would you simply walk by and leave it there? That's what I thought. Go to Cold to Gold and click "Start Now" to begin - right now.

Cold to Gold sessions are started on Tuesdays, and continue each day of the week through Friday. So, not only are Mind Spark Sessions different - but they are simple and easy - you don't even have to leave the "field" or fly anywhere or sit in boring hotel conference rooms to learn this information. You can learn everything from your home office or even the comfort of your home.

Cold to Gold is the system you've been looking for to help your rocket blast off! I'm teaching Mind Spark Sessions personally, and also including a FREE special bonus "Gold Map" to help map out the whole process and in addition I'll include a FREE special KEYNOTE for the first 10 people who sign up right now!

Sound cool? I think it does. There are very few trainers in the industry focusing on this segment - yet improving PROSPECTING SKILLS is the HIGHEST IMPROVEMENT area to IMPROVE YOUR SALES RESULTS. Not only that, but if you learn this system correctly, not only does your FORECAST SIZE INCREASE, but also your forecast becomes MUCH MORE ACCURATE! Putting aside the numbers that sales management wants to see, moving beyond cold calling to Cold to Gold creates a system that simply PUTS MONEY IN YOUR BANK ACCOUNT. It's almost like receiving a LICENSE TO PRINT MONEY.

Now, we both know that with the FTC laws I cannot technically guarantee that you'll have as much sales success as I've had or even as other people who give me testimonials. In fact, I'd like to think you might sell more than me; however, I can't really say what will happen - your success is up to you and what you're able to do with it. One thing I can guarantee is that you'll love Cold to Gold and find it useful. If you don't love it and find it useful, simple send me an email within 30 days of your final workshop and I'll send the money back (less any expenses). It is that simple - you don't have anything to lose with a guarantee like that! You don't even have to send anything back. Just tell me, and that's that.

It's like going to a restaurant, ordering calamari, then filet mignon, lobster, and asparagus, enjoying a fine bottle of wine, then topping it off with tiramisu and a 20 year old glass of port for dessert, then walking out and paying nothing! I mean, really, it's that crazy - at least, that's what one of my competitors told me!

Can you guess why I'd offer a guarantee for Cold to Gold Mind Spark Sessions like that?

You got it - I believe in my program that much - I KNOW THIS WORKS. I know that you will love it and find it highly useful to your success at overcoming the fear of cold calling, getting in the door with prospects you previously did not even know at all, and building long lasting successful business relationships. You will likely even form more friendships and create some fans along the way! It's that powerful.

Cold to Gold isn't perfect nor is it for everybody. I mean, if you're the person who thinks every system of selling ought to dial the phone for you, write the letter for you, or meet your prospect for you, I'm sorry, but Cold to Gold probably isn't for you. Perhaps you're in the wrong profession! Seriously, you will have your part in this. But if you're the person who hears life changing information and puts it into play, then Cold to Gold will be music to your ears. And, it's only getting better, as each Mind Spark Session turns up new information (disguised as feedback) I use to make the content even BETTER.

Suppose your gut is saying to you "you know, Scott might have something here.... this just might help me"...well...LISTEN TO YOUR GUT! It's been right before. It is right now. Let's stop making the foolish mistakes that other salespeople make. Let's stop sounding like a salesperson. Let's stop blowing cold calls and start blowing away quotas! I can help you do it. We can do it together. I'm a big believer in having fun, learning some things that change people's lives for the better, and doing something that makes sales a heck of a lot more fun for everyone. The world needs more salespeople we can trust. Heck - the world needs PEOPLE we can trust, can I get an amen? Hahaha... seriously, with Cold to Gold, you gain the confidence you need to sell from integrity, honesty, and clearly, in a way that empowers you to be your best self, where clients love you, and you make more money. That's why I wrote this program. I truly want to see you succeed to the best of your capability. I love helping people get there.

For those of you reading this who normally come here for management advise, blogging advice, or team-building, well, you form relationships, don't you? Even if you don't buy, you know that I care about you and your success. Thanks for bearing with me as I share Cold to Gold - it's so exciting to me to release this to you. Without my readers I woudn't have my success. Without you, I'm nothing. So, I must say I am so grateful for you. I am so thrilled that you're in my life.

Well, I better get back to work. Talking about Cold Calling, for me, is fun - because it is no longer frustrating to make cold calls.... why? Because I have a process called Cold to Gold that turns a crappy frustration into a fun, exciting, and dynamic system that creates more relationships, friends, fans, and customers. I look forward to seeing you in the next Mind Spark Session. Let's learn this together. Let's have some fun. Let's rock our business success to a new level. Sign up for your own workshop at http://coldtogold.com/ by clicking START NOW.

To your success!

Scott

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Copyright © 1999-2010 by ARRiiVE Business Solutions. All Rights Reserved. SUBSCRIBE.

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The 100 Most Productive Sales Forces with Greg Alexander on ARRiiVE Radio

Join us for the ARRiiVE: Innovations In Business Radio Show tomorrow on "The 100 Most Productive Sales Forces" with special guest, Greg Alexander of SalesBenchmarkIndex.com.

When: September 24, 2008 at 2:00 PM PST / 5:00 PM EST

Topic: "Learn how your sales force can become world class by using sales benchmarking to drive performance."

How to Participate:

Call (724) 444-7444, enter show 37798 # 1 #

Visit http://www.talkshoe.com/tc/37798

Description:

Learn how the top sales forces in business today use sales benchmarking to maximize their success. In this talk, you'll gain an insight into sales analytics, benchmarking for both hiring and promoting, and other valuable tools to help you build a more productive sales team.

Greg Alexander's Bio:

Greg Alexander serves as CEO of Sales Benchmark Index, a leading strategic advisory firm that helps executives understand how well they are performing relative to a peer group and world class levels. SBI is differentiated through its use of empirical data, a repository of over 11,000 companies, 12 years of history, 19 industries and over 250 sales metrics. Through SBI's benchmarking services a company can deploy comparative data sets to identify improvement opportunities available through leveraging the best practices from world class sales forces. In 2004 Sales and Marketing Management Magazine named Greg Sales manager of the Year. In 2008, Mr. Alexander co-authored two books published by Portfolio -- Making The Number: How to Use Benchmarking to Drive Sales Performance and Topgrading for Sales: World-Class Methods to Interview, Hire, and Coach Top Sales Representatives.

Visit www.SalesBenchmarkIndex.com to download a copy of World Class 100 report to find out the world's top sales forces or call (888) 556-7338 for more information.

Call in - it's simple & easy, fun & educational to join the call and ask your questions!!

Listen in after the show:

C-Level Coaching and Sales Management Services

ARRiiVE Business Solutions offers C-Level and Mid-Level Management Coaching, Consulting, Programs, and Services.

In case you're not up to speed on what we offer for Executive Management Services I'll review our services here for you:

Executive Excellence Coaching

Executive Excellence Coaching is a way to gain ideas and insights in a 2 hour coaching session where Scott Andrews, ARRiiVE's CEO reviews your business situation or current objectives, then provides you with a written report with recommendations to improve your business success. Find the missing piece to your business' success by gaining additional ideas, perspective, and wisdom.

Pricing For Executive Excellence: $1,000 per session, payable via PayPal or by check in advance.

Management Training

If you're seeking a way to implement better teamwork, higher productivity, or create better communication throughout your organization, then ARRiiVE Business Solutions' Management Training for implementation of the Diamond-Circle principles will benefit your team. Our methods typically result in 30% higher productivity. We also offer management training through Adventure or off-site training locations -- a useful method to build your team's trust in each other.

Pricing for Management Training: Our minimum charge for management training is $3,000, but may include additional stipulations, such as a % of increased results, depending upon the situation, location, and/or length of time commitment.

Sales Team Leadership System & Implementation Training

If you lead sales teams, you're likely facing challenges building a team and getting them to blow away their numbers. There are strategies I recommend to help you first build the right team, then coach the people on your team to higher success. Our sales team leader training results in 50% higher success over 90% of the time. The question isn't whether you can afford this training, but rather "can you afford not to implement this training?"

Pricing for Sales Team Leadership System & Implementation Training: We charge $2,000 per manager. This involves a two-day 4 hour per day training session, a workbook detailing how the Sales Diamond Team Building System and Aces Hiring System can be implemented on your team, and then additional coaching to help facilitate your use of these systems.
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Copyright © 1999-2008 by ARRiiVE Business Solutions. All Rights Reserved.