The Executive Sales Coach: Keith Rosen’s Sales Blog and Business Blog On Selling, Leadership, Managing Your Team, Business and Life » Executive Coaching

Now, when sharing the notion of full accountability with my clients, I expect some pushback from managers and executives around taking on this position. I hear things like, “C’mon Keith, 100%. Don’t managers get a little bit of a break here? How can we be fully accountable when I’m already stretched thin and still expected to achieve higher sales goals with fewer resources. Doesn’t the salesperson have some role and responsibility in this? After all it’s their career and it’s what they were hired to do. I mean, what if…”

No, I didn’t cut this person off. I actually heard them through completely. That’s why we’re going to list all of the ‘what if’s’ (a.k.a excuses) that I’ve heard managers react with when I challenged them with adopting this principle. Here are all the reasons I’ve heard as to why managers feel they should not be fully responsible for their salespeople.

1. I just got promoted and inherited my sales team. I didn’t hire these people.


2. We don’t do background checks. Sometimes, you just don’t have all the information to make the best hiring decision.


3. Some of these veteran salespeople have been here forever. You can’t change them, they’re too set in their ways.


4. We don’t have time for a sales training and coaching program. We need people producing and out in the field.


5. It was HR’s fault. Our/my sales training is great.


6. That’s normal in my industry. Turnover is just something we just have to deal with. We just accept it as part of our hiring practices.


7. That responsibility was not part of my job description.


8. I don’t have the authority to make hiring and firing decisions.


9. We can’t offer competitive packages like other companies can. It’s straight commission. No salary or benefits. So, as you can imagine, we attract only a certain type of person and not always the high end salesperson. We do our best to play the hand we’re dealt.


10. We don’t have an evaluation process.


11. There’s just this one person who no matter how hard I try I just can’t get along with. They probably shouldn’t be here anyway. They just make my job tougher.


12. Actually, I agree with you, Keith. But here’s the thing. The problem is really this; it’s my boss. He’s the real bottleneck to making any positive changes.


13. The salespeople are really independent contractors. So if they need help, they should get help on their own. Besides, they should be able to manage themselves.


14. They fail, then they really weren’t cut out for this position.


15. We’ve given them training. Two weeks of training which covers all of our product line. Soft skill development? No.


16. Needed help? Then they should have come to us. We would have helped them. That’s their responsibility. How can I read their mind if they’re having a problem.


17. My sales team is awesome. It’s the other divisions we have to interact and work closely with that are bringing our numbers down.


18. I need quick studies. If they don’t pick it up fast, then chances are this position isn’t for them. I don’t have time to baby sit them. That’s our qualification process; the strong survive.


19. I worked with that guy for three weeks of solid, on the job training. And still nothing.


20. You can’t make any headway in this company. They’re opposed to doing that sort of thing.


21. The President and her board already feel that things are going well and this is not a priority. So why change? And if that’s how they feel, what can I do?


22. I told them to call the other salespeople for help.


23. It’s hard to find good sales talent out there now. Our market is super competitive and this is what I have to work with.

Interestingly, in each of these excuses, there is one common denominator that travels down the road called, YOU DRIVE! Here’s what I’ve responded with when hearing these or what the client had to come to terms doing.

“Ultimately, you have a choice, yes?”

What managers lack in accountability is made up for in their excuses or justifications for performance. The secret is, the real power comes in taking full ownership. The alternative is to play the helpless, powerless victim. And this role is filled coming from a place of weakness, devoid of power and from which no new possibilities can ever grow. For you’ve given up your greatest power; the power of choice.

These excuses are a declaration for these managers, as if they are etched in the stone writings of their predecessors that must never be challenged nor questioned. And each one of these justifications has the power of hands on experience and the evidence behind it to support its truth. But, still, where does that leave any of these managers? They’re still dealing with the same problem or stuck with a team of underperformers. At the end of the day, these managers have surrendered. They’ve given up. They’ve lost. The instant you begin to buy into a justification, you’ve started to surrender your personal power.

Then comes the next reaction I hear. “Okay, Keith, so now I’m a believer. Here’s another situation. Lets say we have constructed the most comprehensive recruiting and retention program you’ve ever seen. We have checklists, assessments and personality profiles. We’re doing background checks, speaking with prior employers and even their co-workers.

Once the preliminary work is done, we have each new candidate drive-along with one of our salespeople for one full day so they get to experience the job first hand and in the trenches. Each candidate is interviewed by a minimum of twelve people from their new colleagues to the senior leaders over the course of fifteen separate meetings.

Prior to the official hire, we have them spend three days working in the office, performing their job functions. Then, upon their official hire, we implement at your suggestion, a Thirty Day New Hire Orientation Program which details the daily regimented training and coaching they will be receiving, as well as the measurable results they would be responsible for at the end of the first thirty days on the job. Finally, we team them up with a sales coach to support them on a weekly basis. Now, even with an infallible system like this, in spite of everything, they don’t cut it. Are you telling me it’s still my fault?”

My response to this, “Has this happened yet to you?”

That’s about the time the conversation ends. Because any company that has these safeguards and measurables like these entrenched in their recruiting and retention process has reduced their risk of failure one hundred fold if not more, mathematically speaking. That is, the companies I’ve worked with who have implemented a program like the one I’ve described have seen their numbers shrink from a whopping 78% attrition rate of salespeople within the first year to less than 3%.

If you’re not making a choice to live responsibly, then you’re making a story.

Oh, The Stories Managers Believe Their Salespeople Tell

Salespeople are a creative bunch, especially when it comes to the stories they tell themselves. These also happen to be the same stories that managers find themselves to be the unfortunate recipients of during many meetings, conversations or performance reviews. Unfortunately, rather than removing themselves from the story, managers find they are getting sucked into it, wasting valuable time and resources on a well fabricated issue that has no real resolution.

I refer to these illusions as S.C.A.M.M.’s which is an acronym for Stories, Cons, Assumptions, Meaning and Mindset.

A S.C.A.M.M. is an action, excuse, or belief you hide behind that justifies your circumstance, behavior, and performance, even your position on something, that provides you with an excuse so you do not have to be accountable for your responsibilities, goals, or the situations you put yourself in. The one commonality that each of these five words share is choice. At the very core, your stories, cons, assumptions, imposed meanings, and mindset are ultimately a choice.

Just ask salespeople who have to prospect to build their businesses. They can justify practically any activity that will take them away from prospecting, allowing them to major in the minor activities that act as diversions to doing what’s truly needed.

Once you’re able to uncover a salesperson’s S.C.A.M.M., the tactical coaching strategy would be to coach the person on rewriting their story from a place of challenging them on creating some other truths that may be possible, instead of jumping into and chasing their elusive story down the ever-winding rabbit hole with them. This is a key point not to be brushed by and critical to the impact you can make when coaching your salespeople. In other words, you don’t coach the story or feed into the story. If you do, you are coaching someone around a lie, something that doesn’t even exist. Instead, you coach the person on their relationship with the story they tell you in order to uncover the real truth of what’s going on.

What are some stories you may hear from your salespeople? I’ve listed a few of the more ‘popular’ fables that you can start to recognize the next time you hear a salesperson attempting to enroll you in one.

The Top Ten Lies We Tell Our Boss (And Ourselves) – And Actually Believe Are True

1. Fear of Failure (or Success): “I’m afraid of failure yet I won’t take the steps to ensure my success. Therefore, if I sit back and do nothing, then I can never fail at anything!”

2. Perfectionism/’Either Or’ Thinking: “Either I create the perfect (prospecting, time management, goal setting, management, coaching) system to use or I don’t do it at all. A similar perfectionism type of story is created by the type of salespeople I refer to as knowledge junkies. Their story can sound like this: “I’m still not ready yet. Just a little more training, research and due diligence, then I’ll be ready.”

3. Taking It All On: “I can’t delegate these tasks that other people may be able to do because they will never do it as good as I can.”

4. Been There, Done That: “The last time I attempted to build my business through prospecting it was a waste of time. Therefore, I know that prospecting won’t work for me.” (Did you ever consider that it was more your approach to prospecting that wasn’t effective?)

5. Playing It Safe: “Sure I’ve been prospecting. I mean, I’ve been targeting my current accounts to see if there are any service issues that need to be handled and whether I can get more business from them. After all, you need to take care of your current customers, right?” (Do you want to survive or thrive? Your choice.)

6. The Accountability Trap. “Of course I have a to-do list. I check things off as soon as I can fit them in.” Do you have a deadline associated with each task on your to-do list? A task without a deadline is another S.C.A.M.M. Writing down a long list of tasks or activities that are not scheduled and have no timelines or completion dates associated with them is another way to avoid accountability. Since you are keeping the timeline open ended, you don’t have to be responsible for completing the tasks by any specific date. No schedule, no commitment.

7. Not Having a Schedule. “I’m so busy that I don’t have time to create my routine! “The absence of a routine frees you from being accountable for certain things you’re responsible for or you may not want to do but have to do in order to reach your goals.

8. Everyone Comes Before Me: “I can’t say ‘No’ to my clients. I have to take care of them or they will go elsewhere, right?” Do you have a salesperson who has a hard time saying, “No” to clients and drops everything at their request? One of my clients, Mary, was telling me that she blocked out Mondays and Fridays for marketing, professional development, research and new business development activities. When I asked her if she honored this, she paused for a moment and then replied, “No.” Mary shared with me the fear she experienced about blocking out two full days, even though she knew that in order for her to build her practice this was a priority. So, inevitably, a client would call and ask to see her on a Friday or Monday. Rather than honoring the appointment she made with herself, she would set the appointment with the client. Mary said she had a real hard time saying “No” to her clients. After all, if she said “No” to them, maybe they would go elsewhere, right? Either that, or she felt her clients wouldn’t be able to meet with her at another time. What a S.C.A.M.M. Either you are going to run your life, or other people and circumstances are going to run you. Honor the commitments you make to others as well as the commitments you make to yourself. Besides, you cannot effectively take care and serve others if you do not take care of yourself first.

9. Interrupt-Driven: “I can’t focus on any task for very long because I am constantly being interrupted by people, situations, problems and new tasks I’m suddenly responsible for. It’s hard to get things done.” This easily distracted salesperson probably has a long list of tasks that never get completed. This person may also be an adrenaline junkie who loves the rush of working on overdrive when trying to do it all and juggle many unfinished and ongoing tasks. Do you become easily diverted or distracted by situations, new tasks or people rather than maintain the focus on your goals and initial objective? If so, you probably have a long list of tasks that never gets completed, because you feel that you’re always being pulled in a different direction.

10. Playing The Victim: “I can’t believe I wasn’t able to schedule an appointment with Mr. Prospect today. I feel so dejected and frustrated, too frustrated to do anything else productive today.” Do you allow one bad experience to snowball and affect the rest of your day? Rather than moving on and forging ahead, this allows you to go into a negative tailspin and destroy the chance of doing anything else productive for the remainder of your day.

The next time you encounter someone who is reluctant to take the necessary actions to achieve the results that matter most, there will always be some type of confining belief, story or S.C.A.M.M. at the core that is getting in the way. Think of it as an objection you may hear from a prospect. If you can uncover, address and defuse their story, you free them up to take the action.

The real danger comes when a manager starts believing and feeding into the story. Instead, try this approach the next time. Rather than coach someone on their S.C.A.M.M, have them rewrite and redefine their story in a more empowering way. For example, you can use the following questions to help them reshape their reality and their perception: “I can understand how you can feel that way. However, is there another way to look at this that might serve you better?” “Is this way of thinking helping you or consuming you?” What else might be true?” “How can you change your thinking around this in a way that would move you forward?” “What do you think it’s going to cost you if you continually buy into that line of thinking?”

After all, every S.C.A.M.M.; every story, belief assumption, worry and fear is created using the very same tool we use to define our goals and dreams; our imagination.

You may find that one or two (or more) of these behaviors describe some of your salespeople’s S.C.A.M.M.’s (maybe even some of your own), and this is actually good news! I never said that you would like bringing these truths to the surface. Although it takes a conscious effort to uncover other people’s diversionary tactics, it takes a lot of courage to admit that you use them, too. However, now that you have a greater understanding and awareness, you can do something about them.

When you notice yourself or your salespeople falling into any of these traps, you can choose to either continue engaging in the S.C.A.M.M., or make a better choice that will generate the results you really want.

“What is that guy doing now?” It was just an odd maneuver. Something out of the ordinary from what would have typically been an everyday experience at the drive through of a Burger King. (Hey, my kids love it and no, they don’t eat this ever day; just a treat!) I was on my way back home after spending the day with the family, unaware that within the next several minutes I’d be having a breakthrough which led to the development of many of the concepts and strategies you’re going to read about in my book, Coaching Salespeople into Sales Champions.

I watched the customer in front of me drive from the first to the third window of the drive through which happened to have been closed. “What an odd maneuver,” I thought, as I noticed that the typical handoff through the drive through window was not in play. Instead, the cashier came outside, headset in tact and bags of food in hand, to deliver it directly to the window. The customer, happy to receive his order, drove off.

As I pulled up, I wondered if I too would suffer the same fate as the customer before me. Then it happened. Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed a digital timer mounted above the cashier’s head near the window. At that moment, the manager at the drive in window waved me forward, without my food. “We will bring it out to you. Just pull up, please,” he requested.

The manager sent a young man out to my car and handed me my food. Wanting to understand this odd tactic, I couldn’t let it go. “I’m curious, why did we have to pull up, especially when there was no one behind me?”

“The timer,” he replied. “That’s how the manager is rated in performance. We’re supposed to serve each customer under a certain period of time.”

As a manager, is this truly a feat you’d want to be known for? This manager actually succeeded at beating the clock, yet at a greater expense and one that most managers are blind to. Then, with a puzzled look of disbelief, these managers are mystified when their staff doesn’t meet expectations of performance. This manager unknowingly or worse, consciously did his company, every customer, as well as every person on his team, a major disservice.

Is there really any wonder why there is such a shallow pool of real talent in the workforce? At some level, across every business unit, industry or profession, this is what our managers are teaching the workforce – how to skirt and dodge full accountability! And then they sit and wonder why they can’t attract better people into their organization who are fully accountable for their performance and success. Hmmmmmm.

A client of mine recently emailed me an audio file to listen to. It was another coach sharing their perspective around the Law of Attraction and the role it plays in our lives. After listening to this audio clip, my reaction was, from the five story view, I’d say that I have full mindshare around this concept. After all, I am certainly an advocate of the Principle of Attraction – to a point!

I remember about seven years ago being interviewed for an article in a coach magazine on the power of Attraction. You see, while the power of Attraction can have a profound impact on your life as it relates to how you can manage your mindset to achieve your most precious goals and attract that which matters most to you, there is a loophole. If not managed correctly, the Law of Attraction can quickly evolve into a list of excuses, justifications and reasons for not taking action instead of assuming full accountability for your life and everything in it. In other words, attraction without the action to support what you want to achieve and create most is a diversionary tactic. It gives a person permission not to take action and instead, sit on your couch and eat potato chips, just waiting for the power of your intentions to manifest into what you really want most.

Then, there’s the other Attraction Principle worth challenging. Attraction suggests to, “Continually do what you’re currently doing. Stay detached from the outcome. There’s no need to change things up until the perfect opportunity presents itself. And if you find resistance to any activities in pursuit of your goal, it’s the wrong activity or the wrong goal.”

I fully agree with not having any attachments around the outcome. (As a coach, this is the #1 principle you need to master to become an effective coach.) However, this is dangerous coaching to give to some people – especially those people who are very literal. Moreover, it is this type of thinking that fuels the sense of American entitlement that is destroying the fabric of our society.

After all, the pendulum of extremities swings to both sides. While I agree you certainly don’t want to ‘force’ a goal or an outcome, which could be a sign that it’s the wrong goal or wrong outcome, I also feel that if you truly do believe in something, you need to push through certain things, such as procrastination, so that you can do what you know you need to do in order to achieve your goals, regardless of whether or not you want to do them. I know thousands of salespeople who want to make more money and close more deals. However it doesn’t mean they want to prospect or cold call in order to do so. They may have to engage in the activity of cold calling in order for them to get to where they want to be.

If interpreted incorrectly, the Law of Attraction can be used as a diversion not to do these “Have to’s” or “Need to’s,” and can be the driving force to free you up from any personal accountability.

Here’s another universal law. We attract what we need to learn the most and as such, we resist what we need to learn the most! Therefore, consider that the obstacles and challenges we come face to face with, we actually attracted in our lives. And we attracted them because we need to learn a valuable lesson once we embrace and move through that issue or situation. So, consider that this is the universe’s way of testing us to see how badly we want to achieve our goals!

Lets revisit the a salesperson I mentioned who has a specific income goal and part of their strategy to achieve this goal requires them to cold call. What if you don’t want to engage in this activity? According to the principle of attraction, if there’s resistance, don’t do it. And if you adhere to this, you’ll soon find yourself out of a job or out of money.

Instead, either find an alternative method to attract new prospects, or refine your cold calling approach to fit you and your prospects. The limiting misinterpretation of the Law of Attraction would say, “No, keep doing what you’re doing the way you’re doing it before – no need to change.” This is dangerous, especially if the way you are doing things now isn’t achieving any of the desired results you seek. Something has to give.

On a personal note, if I didn’t adhere to this deeper definition of the power of attraction that encapsulates the critical element of full accountability, I can tell you this; I wouldn’t have become an executive sales coach, written five books, hundreds of articles, dozens of ebooks and have achieved the goals and level of success that I have in my life. Instead I’d be sitting on the couch watching Oprah, eating junk food and waiting for the principle of attraction to show me the way!

Bottom line: Attraction + action + full accountability for everything in your life = extreme success!

What are your thoughts? I’d love to hear from you!

The “I’m Sensing That” Statement

When talking with someone, such as one of your employees (or customers), did you ever get the feeling that they were not being one hundred percent honest and upfront with you? I’m often told that managers really don’t have a foolproof approach to extracting the truth, the real truth out of someone without sounding either confrontational or pushy.

Instead of confronting the person about their innate concern, the manager takes what this person says and tries to do their best to work their solution around it, even though they know that their employee isn’t telling them something.

After all, what could you say to a salesperson who you feel is not being forthright? “I think you’re lying to me or not telling me everything.” This is certainly not an approach I would endorse. Aside from putting the salesperson on the defensive, there’s a good chance that this approach will destroy any chance of getting this person to open up to you any more than they already have.

How can you tell when there’s something else a salesperson may be holding back from you? Here are a several signs.

1. A sudden change in their performance.


2. A sudden change in their activity.


3. A sudden change in their attitude, disposition or work ethic.


4. A sudden change in their behavior around the office, amongst their co-workers or towards you.


5. A reluctance to doing something they’ve typically done before.


6. A failure to honor certain commitments which they historically never had a problem doing.


7. There’s a noticeable misalignment between their intentions and their actions. (For example: You schedule a meeting to provide some additional coaching and training and the salesperson keeps canceling or delaying it due to some other ‘scheduling issues’ or sales related activities.)

Or, maybe you’re in the process of screening a new candidate for the sales position that needs to be filled. It seems the person has a clear interest in the position and you have a keen interest in hiring them but there are some inconsistencies in their resume which makes you question their long term commitment.

If you have ever run into a situation like this, there is a strong chance that there’s something else the person isn’t telling you. Here’s a great way to find out what’s really going on.

Use Your Senses

If a person makes a statement (or fails to confirm or do something for you) that causes your spider senses to tingle, trust and listen to your instincts. Remember, sometimes, just like when you’re selling a prospect, the real objection is two to three questions deep. Here’s an example of how you can use the “I’m sensing that” approach when you feel there’s something else that needs to be brought out to the surface when talking with one of your employees.

You: “Rob, based on our conversation a couple of weeks ago, do you still agree that it would be to your advantage for us to meet one to one so that you can get the personalized training and attention needed to handle some of the challenges you’re running up against?”

Rob the Salesperson: “Yes. I definitely see the benefits.”

You: “Well, we’ve been attempting to get together since then but it seems that something always gets in the way of our meeting. I know you’re working hard to bring in a few more accounts before the quarter is over but I’m sensing there may be something else that’s getting in the way of scheduling this meeting so that we can begin the work we can do together. Is that true (or, Is there any truth to this/how I’m feeling)?”

Salesperson: “Well, actually.”

And now, let the truth be known! Whether he had a bad experience with another manager, is reluctant to admit he is a little intimidated by this process, has a faulty perception of what “coaching” really means (broken wing mentality/something’s wrong with you vs. delivering more value to employees/I want to invest into you because your worth it) fears his job security, is worried what other people may think, doesn’t want to hurt your feelings by saying “No,” or wasn’t motivated by a reason compelling enough that would make this a priority, these are a few of the obstacles that can fly under your radar unless you dig deeper.

Notice the question I ask doesn’t put the person on the defensive simply because I’m not accusing him of doing anything that would make him wrong. I’m not offending him by pointing my finger and playing the blame game. For example: “Every time we plan to meet, you keep rescheduling with me.” “You told me that you were going to call me but you never did.” “You said we would be able to get together for a few minutes.” “I told you I was going to call you on Friday at 9A.M. and when I did you weren’t there.”

Instead, here’s one of the very few times during a coaching relationship that you can actually make it about you; your feelings, that is. Beginning a statement with, “I’m sensing” acknowledges how you are feeling. Then, ask the person for help in determining whether your feeling is, in fact, valid.

This approach gives the other person you’re talking with the space and permission they need to share the real truth, concern, or more of what is going on without feeling pressured. Of course, there are those occasions when the person is actually telling you the truth or simply isn’t interested in speaking with you. That’s why it’s critical to tap into your intuition and trust your instincts to determine how deep you actually want to dig to uncover the truth about what is stalling your ability to create a breakthrough in one of your people.

Are you toxic? Take the toxic leadership assessment here.

Are you leading your team or slowly and unknowingly eroding it from the inside out? Do you still navigate your ship using old school motivational tactics? Do you have your people living in fear? Are complaints rampant, as well as turnover? Are you spending most of your days putting out fires? Are you oblivious to the role you’re playing in any of this?

Do you ever stop to think that some of the challenges you’re faced with now might have something to do with how you might be managing your people and your business? The rules of business have changed overnight and the areas most impacted – sales and leadership.

How good of a leader are you? Maybe it’s time for you to abandon your role as Chief Problem Solver. Here’s your chance to get real about the behaviors and strategies you need to abandon today in order to get yourself out of your own way of producing the results you need. Then, you’ll be able to experience what my clients do: A 30% gain in sales.

In this assessment, you will find a list of 27 toxic management strategies that need to be abandoned. And for those managers, executives and business owners who take this assessment and react with, “Wait, this isn’t me.” I applaud you. Either you’re really that good – or really that blind (clueless and disconnected also come into mind- well, then there are those egomaniacal megalomaniacs, but need I digress). And make sure you take the coaching assessment to ensure you’re most effectively leading and coaching your people.) However, just to make sure you don’t have your blinders on, feel free to share this assessment with your team and have them fill this assessment out this assessment on you, anonymously, of course. Can you handle the truth?

Finally, for those people who are reading this blog and feeling as if they’re being managed by this type of manager, I give you this warning. If you have any desire to share this assessment with your manager or boss, make sure you know how they’ll receive it – as a subtle gesture of good will and compassion or a threat and an insult? If the latter, consider doing it anonymously.

take the toxic leadership assessment here.

Take the Coaching Assessment Here.

The rules of business have changed overnight and the areas most impacted – sales and leadership. How do you lead your team differently today compared to the way you did just six months ago? Have you benchmarked the skills needed to lead your team through tough economic times?

After all, I hear many managers tell me how they’re coaching their people, yet in the same breath, report how they’re still experiencing the same problems they’ve always had, and worse today. Then, how effective can your coaching actually be?

If you’re still experiencing the same problems you did before you started coaching your team, then it’s time to recognize the sign; something’s not right. Is it you, the person you’re coaching or your coaching approach?

So, if you think you’re coaching your people, take this Self Awareness Assessment to gauge your coaching acumen.

How effectively are you coaching your team? Just look at the results. Here’s your chance to get real about the areas you need to firm up and develop in order to get the results my clients experience – a 30% gain in sales. This assessment will help you benchmark the areas you need to develop as well as the strategies you need to implement in order to lead your team during good and bad times and most important, get them to thrive today.

Click on this link to go to the assessment where you will find a list of 27 coaching skills, competencies and strategies that the world’s most successful sales coaches, sales leaders and sales organizations have in common.

Take The Coaching Assessment to measure your true coaching acumen. Click here.

I hope by know, we’re all painfully aware of the costly lesson this economy has taught us. The skills, the thinking and the strategies that got us here today will not take us where we want to be tomorrow. And these uncertain times have highlighted more than ever, how we have collapsed American Entitlement with the American Dream.

The simple truth is, in order to earn more we need to learn more, especially as it relates to selling, retaining your current customers and leveraging new selling opportunities.

Here’s what I’ve observed over the last six months, how the current marketplace has impacted the way we sell and connect with our prospects and clients. Granted, some of these trends have been going on for a while now. However, these last six months have put more and more companies at this crossroad, face to face with this critical decision: adapt, innovate and change or suffer from corporate inefficiency, rigidity and declining profits. Upgrade your sales and leadership strategy to respond to these times. Here’s how.

1. Yesterday, it was more of a transactional sale. You show up and take an order or worse, you wing your presentation.

Today, you need to redefine your selling strategy and become a consultative sales champion in order to survive and thrive.

• If you’ve only gotten into sales over the last few years, you’ve never sold in tough times. More than ever salespeople need the training and coaching to stay on top.
• Benchmark best practices. What are the stages of the sale you need to move your prospect through?
• Leverage technology to manage your pipeline.
• Focus on key targeted accounts through better qualification and discovery process. (More and better questions.) Research each customer and know their business.
• Order takers don’t always have the strongest relationships. More time must be spent fostering stronger relationships with key clients. This doesn’t mean calling to ‘check in’ but have a better set of timely questions that will help you understand how the current economic times have affected the way they do business and make purchasing decisions.
• Become keenly aware of the lifetime value of every customer using better defined metrics.
• Doubling sales productivity isn’t always the answer. Consider by doing so, you’re also cutting the time you have to invest in your key accounts, in half.

2. Yesterday, you can sell features and benefits.

Today, you must reinvent your M.V. P. (Most Valuable Proposition) and develop core compelling reasons which will then move your product or service from a ‘nice to have’ to a ‘need to have.’

• Less discretionary spending and tighter budgets means less allocation of funds for anything other than what is necessary. “Nice to have’s” Are being cut out of budget. You must position your product as a need to have.
• Saying you’re the best isn’t good enough. You do so by being clear with your value proposition and a faster R.O.I.
• You must focus on the cost of not making changes/ the pain of no change/keeping things the same vs. selling the warm and fuzzy benefits.
• Fewer selling opportunities + increased competition = customers demanding more value for less money.

3. Yesterday, managers were able to tolerate more mediocrity amongst their team.

Today, leaders must transform into coaches and be more fully accountable for their team.

• Get Out Of The Fear Based, Survival Driven Mentality and develop a coaching culture.
• Develop a 30 Day Tactical Turnaround Strategy for Underperformers
• Do Not Be Seduced By the potential you see in others.
• Relinquish Your Role as The Chief Problem Solver
• Stop coaching the uncoachable
• Become less tolerant of mediocrity and underperformers
• More diligent hiring and recruiting practices as companies cannot afford the cost of a mis-hire, especially with time of the essence.

4. Yesterday, you could get away with connecting with your key accounts on a less frequent basis.

Today, you must over-respond and over-communicate to the needs of your customers or risk losing them to your competition.

• Many salespeople are hiding under their desk in fear. A perfect opportunity for you to seize more market share.
• Insulate your key accounts/current customers. Less spending = less sales volume = increased competition.
• Become more than a salesperson, become a valuable resource and a trusted advisor.
• This presents a huge opportunity to mine for additional upselling and cross selling opportunities.
• Help them reach their objectives, save money and increase revenue. Their top goals!
• Retention is the new growth strategy? Doubling sales activity? You need a fine balance between being a great hunter as well as a great farmer. More strategic selling.

5. Yesterday, you could be more lax with your daily activity and do enough just to get buy.

Today, you must refine your daily habits and become a master of your day.

• Many entrepreneurs are willing to do the things they want rather than the things they need to do to drive the growth of their business.
• What are the non-negotiable revenue generating activities they need to engage in every day?
• How are they being held accountable for doing so? That’s were a defined daily routine comes into play.

• Time is your most valuable non negotiable commodity. Invest it in the right activities done the right way.
• You can’t hide anymore.

6. Yesterday, companies had a larger budget to invest in marketing to drive more leads and prospects to the sales team.

Today, more and more companies are shifting to cold calling to generate new prospects and new leads. These were also many of the same companies who used to be resistant to this concept! This is another learned skill set and strategy that needs to be developed and embraced by your sales team.

7. Yesterday, salespeople had larger travel and expense accounts to meet with and romance their prospects and clients.

Today, more sales are happening virtually, online and over the phone. This requires learning and adapting to a new way of selling via new communication channels.

When presenting to a client or prospect, regardless of any steps you’ve outlined in your presentation, there’s a big difference between convincing or ‘selling’ someone and enrolling someone, especially when you’re at the point in your discussions where you’ve identified some specific problems within the organization or with them. Now, you may be at the point where you’re going to share the solution and enroll them in the solution and more so, taking action and making a change.

Convincing/Selling: Changing someone’s stand on something through the use of force or argument. This often takes the form of a complaint, or reiteration of the problem. If there are people who in involved in your discussions who may have taken a part in creating the problem in the first place, this can be construed as a “Make wrong” and they may then feel compelled to defend their stance. This creates an adversarial posture between you and the other person. Once this happens, people have tendency to further defend their position, which often results in them shutting down their listening for the remainder of the conversation.

Enrolling: Stating the current situation without making anyone wrong while sharing a new opportunity for greater results or what may be possible. Stating the benefits of what a change may bring. For example, the beginning of an enrollment conversation may begin with, “Imagine if…......What if we can create an organization where…..”

Enrolling can also take on the form of asking questions. Besides, what do people believe more, what you say, or what they say? As such, if they voice the problem or a possible solution, then they would be more willing to act on it. Resistance is lowered, and they feel ownership of the solutions and would be more apt to act on it. Here are some questions to use.

1. If I could have your three biggest problems or headaches disappear, what would they be?


2. How do the challenges you’ve shared with me affect you, especially if you do not hit your goals?


3. What is it going to cost you if you don’t make any changes and continue the way you are now?


4. What solution or greater result would be worth changing for?


5. What would your company or division be like if you no longer had to deal with those issues anymore?

Here are a few questions to use when you’re in a situation where you need to acknowledge and respect the other person’s viewpoint, even though you may not agree. Or, maybe you simply need more clarification about their position on something. Instead of making them wrong or creating any confrontational posture between you, add another truth to the situation. Here’s how.

1. Can you please share with me your thinking on that?


2. May I share my view on that?


3. Is it possible that there may be more/other facts to consider?


4. What else is true about that?


5. Is it possible that there is another approach/solution here?

Uncover the specific benefits they want to realize, as well as the cost of not changing. Now, you can be in a position of enrolling them in the idea of actually taking actions to implement change to achieve these new results, without putting anyone on the defensive.

No one likes to be sold. Everyone wants to be enrolled. BTW, look for my new book, The Art of Enrollment, coming to you in 2009.

This is pretty neat! My book, Coaching Salespeople into Sales Champions is being translated into a Chinese and Czech version! Below are the details.

Global Rights Deal Announcement for Coaching Salespeople into Sales Champions: A Tactical Playbook for Managers and Executives by Keith Rosen

We are pleased to report a Global Rights Department license for the following title:

Author: Keith Rosen
Title: Coaching Salespeople into Sales Champions: A Tactical Playbook for Managers and Executives
ISBN/PL: 0470142510/H

Here are some details of the deal:

Rights Licensed: Translation/Simplified Chinese
Licensee: Enterprise Management Publishing House, CHINA

Rights Licensed: Translation/Czech
Licensee: Computer Press. a.s., CZECH REPUBLIC