So, you may be thinking, what the heck does this have to do with teamwork.  Well, in my view, EVERYTHING.  When it comes to teamwork, particularly in a sales organization, the tone must be set by the leader.  He or she must be the type who is self confident, and takes great joy and pride in the success of their team’s accomplishments, as well as the contributions and achievements of the individuals in their charge towards the team’s accomplishments.  It is this selflessness from the top that sets the proper tone of teamwork for the organization.

I really believe Jim Collins has it right in his best selling book, Good to Great. A Level 5 leader, with humilty and determination as their centerpiece qualities, has been proven time and again to be the best.  Humility in a leader fosters selflessness among the team.  It also leads to behaviors and attitudes such that all in the organization are people who wouldn’t ask anyone to do what he / she wouldn’t do.  All are willing to roll-up their sleeves and “get dirty” as the situation may require.  A key for the leader is to set that common vision and goals, and be passionate about the reasons to acheive them.  Think of the situation for a moment as if it where a non-profit… how could you get people to come work for you and the common goal, as a team, if they WEREN’T getting paid?

Another important element is selecting the right people for the team!  I certainly realize that in some cases, a sales leader needs to play the hand their dealt, but you also need to know when to make changes to the team, for the betterment of the entire team.  In today’s global business-to-business consultative selling environment, there is no room for selfish players on a team.  Customers often have broad footprints with multi-sites, and complex, multiple buying influences in the buying process.  Cooperation among many members of the the sales organization and team (different functions such as sales, customer service, field applications engineers, etc., as well as various geographic locations) is essential.  Having a team of plaid-jacketed used car salesman, acting with their own best interests (and pockets) in mind with no regard for the others on the team or the organizational objectives cannot be tolerated in my idea of a professional B2B sales organization.  No disrespect to this type of sales person… they have their place, and can be effective in their own right in another type of sales enviroment.  But just recognize the type, and that they rarely can change their stripes.  It is best to just extract them from your group.  You need to surround yourself with the type that…

• is motivated by the sense of acomplishment and self-pride over dollars
• has demonstrate success in a team environment
• has a very low coefficient of friction (means, when you give them some direction and goals, them give them a push, they GO!  They may need some slight steering on occasion, but you don’t need to push them again, or at least not everyday)

Now, all that being said, you still want hard driving, aggressive sales people, and there is nothing wrong with being motivated by money to some extent.  A careful balance is required since it is the nature of top performing salespeople to drive their own results and march to the beat of their own drummer to some extent.  They are competitve to the core, not only with their competition of course, but also with their peers.  How to harness this in a way they is beneficial to the organization without loosing the drive of the individual is the key.  You want to create healthy competition, but not internal cut throat, back-stabbing behavior.  This can be addressed to some extent by how you establish the incentives / recognition / reward for the team members (more on this in a future blog).  There is no simple solution in setting the program up which will magically result in fantastic teamwork.  But the program is just another element to influence behavior toward greater teamwork as you develop the culture.

Teambuilding “activities,” perhaps not suprisingly, are very important to developing teamwork (duh).  But, none of that organized contracted stuff… not for sales people!  Some of the activities and games designed to bring people together that these providers serve-up can be fun and effective to foster better teamwork across departments, functions and levels within a company.  However, for sales people, within the sales organization, my experience has been; when the event(s) are over they rarely lead to sustained new depths of relationships that didn’t previously exist (or not exist).  To me, it is just one of those things that cannot be contrived.  But a sales leader can (and must) attempt to create and foster situations which are NATURAL and enable a variety of team members to socialize on their own and build natural relationships.  Internal business reviews and sales meetings are a typical vehicle for this.  Yes, the meeting itself, and the content is important, but it is my belief that it is what happens around the meetings that is important.  Any team “dinner” should not be the kind where the people are strapped to tables, but rather a free flowing arrangement.  Activities where people can interact are best (write me if you want some specifics I have used).  In the end, I believe you can’t force it, but simply create the environment.  But, the deepth of relationship that results, and teamwork that flows afterwards, is immeasurable.  This may seem “old school” in a way, but in my view, still the best.

I’m sure I could go on, but I’ll wrap it here and leave you with this quote to think about before you go to sleep tonight:

Individual commitment to a group effort – that is what makes a team work, a company work, a society work, a civilization work.
Vince Lombardi

It may be one of those small things that shouldn’t bother me as much as it does, but it drives me CRAZY when one of my sales people refers to the other departments of the company as “they” instead of representing the entire company as “we.”  For example: “I’m sorry the deliveries will be late Mr. Customer, but they are doing their best” as opposed to “WE are doing our best.”  It may be subtle, but to me, it speaks of a lack of ownership by the sales person.  OK, if you are a manufacturer’s rep, maybe I can cut this attitude some slack, but not direct sales!

Welcome to the next installment of my series of blogs on building a successful sales organization, and more specifically, the right sales culture.  This time we’re going to address another of the 6 principles, qualities, expectations, etc. which make a great sales culture: Ownership – your number… your business.

Getting the sales people to feel ownership and take ownership is one of the most vital functions of a sales leader.  To me, it is certainly difficult to execute, partly because, like any cultural change, it does not happen overnight.  However the approach is simplistic in concept… just 3 things to focus on:

1. Goal setting

A good goal setting process can make the difference.  Regarding customer growth and business development strategies, after providing some broad guidelines and themes based on company objectives, I always let the sales person create their own goals.  Of course, they need to be SMART goals (specific, measurable, attainable, realistic and timely) and jointly reviewed and agreed upon, but the root of the goal must come from them.  Be sure the goals, when successfully accomplished, will benefit the overall organization, but also serve a learning and growth function for the employee’s professional development.  There is nothing that will foster a sense of ownership more than being supported in the execution of your own ideas and goals!  And as a manger, it sure helps when you are able to say “hey, I’m just asking you to do what you said you would do!”

Similarly with the “numbers” part of sales goal setting, whether it be annual planning, quarterly/monthly forecasting, or quotas, the initial plan should be put forth by the sales person, then jointly reviewed for it’s rationale.  As the manger, you should challenge their thinking and approach as a matter of process just to be sure each number has been thought through, if for no other reason.  You should balance their sales plan against data points like overall economic growth, the growth rate for that specific industry or market segment, any publicly stated growth rate of the account itself, and your current share of the TAM (total available market).  For example, if your sales person tries to submit a plan for a particular customer showing growth of 25% when the customer’s industry is predicting only 8% growth, the customer themselves are publicly stating 5% growth, and your current market share is already 35%,  is the goal realistic?  The aggressiveness is appreciated but unless their is a huge new program about to kick in or some other extenuating circumstance, the goal is probably not realistic.  On the other hand ( and frankly more likely the case with sales people!) if they submit a plan showing 3% growth for a particular customer when their industry is predicting 10% growth, the company itself is anticipating out-pacing industry growth, and your current market share is single digits, is this plan really challenging growth?  Again, unless there are justifiable extenuating circumstances, this sales person is PLANNING for market share losses!  The point is, you should have a face-to-face fact based dialogue about sales goals and targets, and in the end, agree on the number.  Make sure there is buy-in and they feel it is theirs!

2. Bring solutions, not problems

Any sales manager knows the frustration when a sales person comes storming into your office complaining about barriers preventing him/her from winning the business, or otherwise advancing their customer growth strategy.  I typically listen patiently (ok, sometimes not so patiently), then ask them, “so, what do you want ME to do about it.”  Most of the time, they have no answer for me.  When that’s the case, they get the ol’ “bring me solutions, not problems” line!  Of course, over time, as they come to expect my reaction, these incidences are dramatically reduced.

My approach has always been to encourage the person to state the problem, and then offer the solution  (the approach, strategy, proposal ideas, etc.).  From there, we can discuss and offer improvements if necessary, and so on.  This encourages the best ideas from all, and creates in the sales person that strong sense of ownership 0f their customer and business that we want from them.  Let’s face it, the sales person knows what needs to be done (or had better know), but typically is not encouraged to bring those ideas and solutions forth.  A good manager / leader will help their sales person execute his/her strategy to win the business, and of course credit the sales person for the idea and accomplishment after the win!

3. Be the manager

Yes, be the MANAGER!  Not the top sales person on all accounts.  Your focus is people, not the customer per se.  Your sales people need to be customer focused.  They should not be stewards of “your” customers, nor can you hijack their customers.  They need to know they own the account, and your actions need to support that.

Customer calls for instance… determine the type of call it will be (a coaching call, a joint call, etc), discuss roles prior to the call and stick to them.  But you should be positioning your sales person in front of the customer as the owner of the account.  The person calling the plays.  The customer will know there are decision making limits the sales person has, and that you are the boss, but they need to see that you respect the sales person’s leadership of the account and will be supportive of them.  This does 2 things:

1. Empowers the sales person in front of the customer, so that the customer knows their sales person can influence you and hence the company to help them.
2. Give the sales person a clear public signal that they own the business, not you.

And besides, if you’ve done your job in hiring good people, and you drop your own ego for a minute, you know down deep that the sales person knows the accounts best, and know best how to handle opportunities and situations, not you.  your job is to provide them coaching and counseling, as well as helping them clear the internal barriers which inevitably arise when establishing a strategy and action plan to win business which is truly a win-win.

As I mentioned, fairly simple approaches, but difficult to execute, and to stay consistent over time, particularly when the battle heats up.  But if you establish the above elements in your management process and style, you will gradually effect the culture to one of more ownership from your sales people.

Small and mid-sized B2B technology and/or manufacturing companies located anywhere in the world are starved for strong sales leadership and executive revenue-generating expertise.  They are hungry for people who can lead, create a culture of winning, take ownership, drive results and are also technically savvy.  Barriers exist which prevent companies from acting on a permanent solution to address sales leadership needs:

• Financial constraints
• Uncertainty of future market conditions
• Potential evolution of market / product strategy
• Local market knowledge
• Ability to recruit and confidently select the right person

These issues cause hesitation, uncertainty, and consequently a lack of action.  The result is lost revenues due to a void in the area of leadership in the sales and marketing area, either overall, or in key large potential markets.

South Mountain Solutions is the Answer

South Mountain Solutions offers freelance executive sales leadership also known as an “interim outsourced executive” model for those who may have immediate need to fill a leadership role, financial constraints or may not be ready to make a commitment on a corporate sales leadership position for reasons stated above, or others.

An experienced business executive and leader with vast international experience in the technology and manufacturing sectors, such as Jeff Osmun, Founder and President of South Mountain Solutions can immediately become engaged and support a company, roll up his sleeves and drive an organization forward through tactics such as:

• Market segmentation
• Customer segmentation
• Define value proposition(s) accordingly based on the segmentation
• Corporate sales and marketing organizational and compensation structure
• Go-to-market strategies
• Staffing and/or upgrading of key sales and marketing positions (direct sales, network of manufacturers’ reps, distribution partners)
• Report the commercial feasibility of potential new products, markets, and opportunities
• Seek out and negotiate new alliances & partnerships

We are experts in developing customized management programs for driving maximum sales performance.  Our solutions engage areas such as:

• Quarterly and annual sales plans
• Client communications
• Forecasting and sales modeling
• Market research and establishing framework for competitive business terms
• Establishing, maintaining, and driving the sales funnel of opportunities
• Establishing, managing and implementing key performance indices (KPI’s)
• Taking ownership of the revenue results during the time of the engagement as an extended executive member of the corporate management team!

When the time is right for our client company, we can also assist in the selection of the right person to take on the permanent position and responsibility of sales leadership.

Business Arrangement

Depending on the needs of the client company, our executive freelance arrangement can be either 50% or 100% of the freelance leader’s time.  The freelance leader will NOT take on any more than 2 companies at any given time.  Assuming availability exists, it is recommended that terms be arranged such that 100% of the time is devoted to 1 contracted client at a time.

Contracts are typically define in terms of months and can range from 3 to 24 months.  The monthly rate for freelance leadership fees is discussed at the time of a defined engagement and based on our needs assessment.

Fees are paid to South Mountain Solutions, LLC in USD based on the agreed monthly rate.  Business and travel expenses directly related to conducting business on behalf of the client company are the responsibility of the client company.  Any other benefits, fees, or expenses which are typically paid to direct employees are not the responsibility of the client company.

Maybe your boss will get you some help one of these days… or get in the game themselves!

Among the major organizations in a company (operations, technology / engineering, finance, HR, legal, marketing and sales), doesn’t it always seem that everyone else has an opinion of what sales should be doing, think that sales people have the best jobs in the company, and think they could do it just as well, or better than you?!   It is also largely thankless because no matter how high the revenue result for that month or quarter, it could always be higher (particularly if you work in a public company)!  It’s alot like your golf score in that way: even if you shoot the low score round of your life, you find yourself walking off the course thinking, “jeez if I only would have got out of the bunker in 1 swat on number 12, I would have shot a…”

Anyway, we all have 1 things in common:  we choose to be professional sales people or sales leaders.

However, there is more to B2B consultative sales than what meets the eye of most outside the profession.  I’ll continue to offer my view of the keys to building a successful professional sales organization, elaborating on one of the more subtle, “softer”, and under-appreciated aspects: sales culture.

In my blog introducing my views on sales culture, I listed 6 elements of sales culture:

• Team mindset
• Leadership – add value
• Ownership – your number… your business
• Empowerment / accountability
• Professionalism / discipline
• YOU ARE THE COMPANY

This blog goes further into the issue of “Leadership – add value.” Isn’t there a leader inside each of us in sales?  There had better be or we don’t belong in the profession!  It is the job of the sales management professional to set the example, expectation, and bring that leader out!  What do I mean by leadership in this case, the context of the front line, bag-carrying sales person (that is to say, they are not managing other sales people) in a B2B consultative selling environment?

A front line sales person is exposed to the most important information any company can have, or want… their customers needs and desires.  It is critical for the sales person to not only ask the right questions of the right people at the right time, and in the right manner, to solicit this information (this is yet another area to explore further in subsequent blogs by the way), but then be able to process the information they obtain, add value to it based on their other knowledge, experiences, etc., establish a strategy and recommend the next course of action.  That action plan typically involves other resources from within the company, either from the sales organization, or from other groups in the company, such as executive management, engineering, product management, operations, finance, etc.  The sales person should act as the “quarterback” of the strategy and action plan.  They do not run the ball on every play, but they need to call the play, and make sure all the other players on the field do their assignments.  Often times someone else is carrying the ball when the team scores, but is was the quarterback’s (sales person’s) leadership which made it happen.

One of the most difficult challenges I have had as a leader of sales organizations has been getting the bag-carrying sales person to truly realize that they are in a position of leadership whether they like it or not, and how vital that leadership is to the success of the company.  They are not simply an individual contributor that executes their job and punches out.  They are THE link between the company and the most important constituency of any company, their customers!  Many sales people do not view themselves this way.  They do not realize the leadership position they have by default.  As we all know well, if you do not see yourself as a leader, you certainly will not behave as a leader.  Without this self awareness of their required leadership role, they often act simply as information conduits, just passing info from the company to the market / customers about products / services, etc., and conversely, pass info about what the customer says back to his manager, or others in the company.

Wouldn’t it be great if the sales person digested the info learned at a customer, processed it in the context of the market conditions, competitive situation, and overall growth strategy at that customer and personally offered an engagement strategy and action plan?  Based on this plan he / she created, the wise sales person would lead a meeting of other pertinent people in the company which it the end would result in a very clear roadmap to success, as well as the buy-in of all the team members!

This touches on one of the expectations I always set for my sales people which is to bring me solutions, not problems. The front line sales person often has the answer, and knows what to do, they may not realize it, or haven’t been encouraged to voice it in other organizations or with previous management.  My approach has always been to encourage the person to state the problem, and offer the solution (the approach, strategy, proposal ideas, etc.) then we can review and offer improvements if necessary, and so on.  This encourages the best ideas from all, and creates in the sales person a strong sense of ownership 0f their customer and business (which is another key element of sales culture and a good segue to my next blog!).

The key is for the sale people to realize that, regardless of their title, their pay, or their position in the organizational hierarchy (relative to the CEO / President), they ARE LEADERS.

Among the 4 major pillars of building a sales organization, which I have written about in a previous blog as an introduction to this series (Strategy→Organization→Culture→Process), sales culture is perhaps the most critical to the consistent success of a professional sales organization.  It is also the most overlooked and under-appreciated of the four.

Webster defines culture as “the set of values, conventions, or social practices associated with a particular field, activity, or societal characteristic.”  I don’t know what any of that means, so I’ll tell you what it means to me, in the context of business:

Culture is the resulting environment from a set of principles, qualities, expectations and examples of behavior set by a leader, which effect the attitude and effort of his or her people.

I have always believed in this simple formula when considering the results I am likely to get from employees (or anyone for that matter):

Attitude x Effort x Ability = RESULTS

Ability is God given… out of the person’s control, and certainly out of your control as a manager or leader.  But attitude and effort ARE in the control of the person, and to a large extent, your control as well in the sense that you create an environment which positivity influences these attributes.  That is to say, the CULTURE you create positively effects the attitude and effort of your people, which, by definition, effects the results of your team!

I’ll throw one more quote out here just for fun:

“You don’t have enough talent to win on talent alone”… Herb Brooks.

What is that intangible that brings any team together and makes them successful beyond levels you would expect based on the individuals on paper?  Clearly I believe it is superior effort and a positive mindset.  My contention is that the culture that is set and maintained in a sales organization, starting with the leader, is what makes certain sales organizations successful and others fail, when all else is largely equal.  This aspect of sales management, and the ability of a good sales leader to create a winning sales culture, is often not recognized by people outside of the sales profession and many times not even recognized by supposed sales leaders themselves (those would be the ones who are not successful).

Now, what are those principles, qualities, expectations, etc. which make a great sales culture?  This is where some may differ based on their own leadership traits, priorities, style, etc., as well as the business type or model you are in.  Personally, these are the ones that have always worked for me:

• Team mindset
• Leadership – add value
• Ownership – your number… your business
• Empowerment / Accountability
• Professionalism / Discipline
• YOU ARE THE COMPANY!!

In the coming weeks, in subsequent blogs, I’ll get into more detail on each of these.  They may seem a bit like motherhood and apple pie as they stand now.  However, with more color added in the context of a professional sales organization, you’ll see how each of these is vital to fortifying your people with the right attitude, motivating them for a never, never, never, never give up attitude, and ultimately achieving results which beat your competitors and exceed market expectations!

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Over the coming blogs, I’ll get more in depth on each of these, but most likely, as the mood hits me rather than systematically step-by-step.  For today, I’ll elaborate a bit on each of the pillars so you can get an idea of where my thinking is on these. 

Strategy refers to things like: 

• Market and/or customer segmentation and the value proposition for each of those defined segments.   
• Establishing the selling process for each of those segments based on the segment’s buying process. 
• Analyzing the channel options, direct vs. indirect, use of manufacturer’s reps or distributors, website, internet, social media, and finalizing a go-to-market strategy. 

Organization refers to sales force design issues like: 

• Structure
• Size
• Deployment 

Sales culture refers to soft issues, but perhaps the most vital issues of all, which create the expectations, influence behavior, enable predictable results and ultimately reflect to the outside world what kind of company you are.  Let us not forget that for most business-to-business companies, the perception of your company is almost exclusively determined by the behavior of your sales people, as they are the first, and sometimes only window into your “soul.”

 Lastly, the processes are the sales manual of procedures of course, but most importantly, the metrics!  Setting the proper metrics for your sales organization is the only way to drive continuous improvement, and ever-improving results.  An off-shoot of metrics is the incentive program, since any incentives should be tied to the key metrics of the company, and the subsequent subset in the sales organization.  Also included here is the continuous improvement process of the people through formalized training, performance review, or informal coaching.

 So, stay tuned as we’ll delve into these topics deeper over the coming weeks!