HAPPY NEW YEAR!
The team here at Professional Sales Coach wishes everyone the best year ever in their personal and business lives. It’s been a real privilege to have worked these past years with so many of your and we are looking forward to seeing many of your in some way, someplace, in 2013. The year is already shaping up to be one of our busiest ever, and we are are grateful for your support for our services. It’s all about “Making a Difference”! !
Cheers,
Jack, Jennifer & Adam
BRING ON 2013!– Here’s a look at my 2012, in case you missed it on my Facebook posting.
- 182,000 miles flown on 140 flights.
- Visits to Australia (twice), New Zealand, Hawaii (2 islands), Paris, Normandy, French river cruise, Spain, UK, Northern Ireland, Moscow Russia and too many to mention stops thruout North America.
- 498 hours of exercise on 240 days of exercise. 3992 miles on bike, 785 miles running, 125,000 yards swim, 66 hours weights, balanced by 173 days of wine drinking!
- 109 nights in hotels for biz, 179 nights at home and 81 nights in resorts for fun.
- Now have 57 Marathons completed covering 30 states, 7 raced in 2012. Since 2007 have raced 12 full Ironmans, 4 in 2012 and 42 triathlons since 2004. 12th Ironman recorded a new PR at 13:06.
- 3 surgeries in Dec (both feet and a shoulder, all good now).
- 92 movies, 25 books read, and 112 home cooked meals.
- Best of all, 43 year wedding anniversary and now 2 Grandsons
Quite the busy year! If you were to visit our website at www.jackdaly.net, you can see the detailed summary report I give to my Board of Directors of my life, who hold me accountable to my goals throughout the year. In fact, while at the website, check out what I have planned for 2013; heck, maybe you might want to join me with something-several folks already have-and we are having a blast!
LIFE BY DESIGN
We’ve launched a new program this year in response to so many people inquiring “How do you get so much done in a year?” We have our first public workshop offering February 21 in Chicago.
All too often, entrepreneurs and business owners invest and prioritize their time and energy to building a successful business at the expense of a successful personal life. It need not be that way. In fact, many of the habits, strategies and tactics employed with the running of our businesses can be successfully applied to our personal lives. In this highly introspective workshop, we will dig deep to discover the things we value most from life, and how to best achieve and accomplish them. Destiny is not a matter of chance; it is a matter of choice!
Last August 2012 I conducted this session in Ireland and here’s what the Chairman of the group had to say:
Jack has just delivered an excellent and very powerful session on “Life By Design” at my CE58 group retreat with one of the highest sets of ratings ever recorded by this group. He uses all his experiences as a former Vistage member and successful CEO of many different businesses in a way in which members really sit up and take notice. Very detailed workbook with lots of real life experiences and a range of exercises to provoke, stimulate and encourage major life changes. In parts of the session he is the usual “Jack in the Box” full of passion, drive and enthusiasm and at other points while he recalls some important early experiences in his own life there is a real openness and deep personal sharing. Jack has always been an excellent speaker on Sales and Culture but this really builds on those business aspects and hugely impacts on personal lives.
Adam would be happy to answer questions about the February 21 workshop at [email protected] or 855-733-7378. If the workshop doesn’t fit into your schedule, the program is ideal for half day or full day type group retreats so if you have an interest in adding Life By Design to your retreat agenda, contact Jen at [email protected] or 888-298-6868 and she can fill in more details.
THE ROAD TO MORE ACCURATE FORECAST:5 TIPS
The history of sales forecasts being highly inaccurate, whether in small or large companies, is well documented. For the smaller companies, this poor forecasting can be “life-threatening” in terms of cash flows and profitability. Here are suggestions on how to “do it better”, gleaned from my personal experience as an entrepreneur who took my six start-up businesses on to national levels.
1. TIE COMPENSATION TO PERFORMANCE. This tip does not just relate to better forecasting but to overall sales person performance. We should be seeking “alignment” in compensation, whereby the interests of the sales person are similar to the owner. Ideally, having sales compensation be 100% commission only certainly helps insure both the work ethic and serious of forecasting are commensurate with that of the ownership. The farther we move away from this, the more difficult I find getting to sleep at night.
2. GET THE NUMBERS FROM THE SALES PEOPLE. Too many companies are developing their business plans and forecasts in more of a “top down” fashion, eventually rolling the numbers “down” to the individual sales person. This is a fail because it misses the most important criteria in forecasting and that is their “buy-in”. If the sales person doesn’t buy-in to the number, the balance of the year and discussions centers about discussing variances and ultimately finger-pointing, since the numbers weren’t “theirs”. Get the numbers flowing up from the people “in the street”, then underscore the importance of these forecasts.
3. STRESS TEST THE NUMBERS. When you get the numbers as in (2) above, this stress testing becomes critical. Not enough time is spent here. This is where we bounce a variety of “what-ifs” off the sales person: what if overall economy is off by 20%? What if you lose a key account? Etc. The more we stress test the numbers, the higher reliability and the more buy-in by the sales person.
4. PUBLISH FOR ALL TO SEE. Regularly post the actual results to the forecasts for all to see. When we know that our forecasts are going “public”, it’s amazing how much more serious we take the process of producing the forecasts. Additionally, when we see where some are better than others at this process, there is a learning opportunity for all to get better at this forecasting process.
5. MEET MONTHLY. The sales team should meet monthly with the Sales Manager, as well as each sales person should meet monthly in a one-on-one session with the Sales Manager. The team sessions are designed to discuss the results and forecast, share what’s working and not working, and identify new actions to be taken to “get better”. As well, this forum provides an opportunity for recognition of those that are doing it well. The one-on-one sessions go deeper with the sales person, helping them with the things they need to do better in both forecasting and in producing actual results.
6. BONUS-LINK INCENTIVES/CONTESTS TO PERFORMANCE VS. FORECASTS. This doesn’t need to be a significant amount but rather designed more for recognition, competitiveness and fun. Creating the right contest/incentives brings the forecasting process into more visibility and importance, and gets people regularly talking about it. Once that is accomplished, the results should improve.
The nature of this topic of forecasting sales results begs the question to be asked and answered: Why do small and medium size companies struggle to “break out” and go bigger? Having worked with such companies for the past two decades, the fundamental problem resides in what I call the three sins of Sales Management. They are: 1) The owner/President is also the Sales Manager; 2) We promote the best sales person to be Sales Manager; 3) We promote the best sales person AND ask them to continue selling. In each of the above situations, we have decided to grow our businesses “part-time”. The key to growing your sales is growing your sales force in quantity and quality. This is the role of Sales Management, and it should not be “part-time.”click here
CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENT
“To Sell is Human” by Dan Pink. Okay, so I’m only 30% through the book and I’ve already recommended it to several folks, so here goes. When I read Dan’s book called “Drive”, the word I used was provocative, and I would say it applies here again. He certainly moves my needle on the dial of his subject matter. Here are a few takeaways, but I encourage you to read the book! Honesty, fairness and transparency are often the only viable paths to sales success. The new ABC’s of selling (from the old “Always Be Closing”) are now Attunement, Buoyancy and Clarity. The Chapter on Attunement alone gives enough takeaways to enhance your selling success to more than pay for your time and cost of the book! I particularly loved the sweet spot of most successful personalities in sales being midpoint between introverts and extraverts! Dan Pink provides evidence-based methods for getting your sales messages across, and better enabling you to help your customers with their needs, opportunities and problems. By the time you have read this newsletter, I am sure I will have even more “Pink take-aways”!
Educational Opportunities
Don’t wait to register for one of my Sales & Sales Management Summit as I only have 3 per year. Orange County, CA is just around the corner and seats are limited.
Also notice that we have two Smart Selling Workshops in the UK during the month of May. Be one of the first to register!
Click here to see the full 2013 Schedule… Register Today!
The price you pay for any of the 3 Sins is significantly stunted sales growth.
Do you have a sales force delivering sales results that are flat or less than needed? We help you fix that. We help you get sales right.
- The Right People, the Right Systems, and the Right Leadership to grow results by Jack Daly design
Leverage Sales Management Coaching will deliver a customized coaching action plan focused on achieving your new sales leadership growth goals:
- Assessment & Strategy
- Skill Development
- Action Game Plan
- Accountability to Action
Contact me today to get some free tools to help you get started, or align yourself with one of our coaching professionals.
- 10 Questions to EVALUATE Your Sales Plan – Sales performance, mgmt effectiveness, right people, and competition
- Sales Competitive Review tool – Allows you analyze your competitiveness in the marketplace
- Complimentary 45-minute Strategic Planning Call with your leadership team. It will help you nail down your sales gaps and Jack’s proven action strategies to improve your sales results.
Contact Dan Larson at [email protected], call (916) 972-1292 or visit http://LeverageSalesMgmt.com/
WHERE IN THE WORLD IS JACK?
Here’s the schedule of cities I will be conducting programs in over the next few months (some for clients, others are open seat workshops.) I may have flexibility in my scheduling for lunch, dinner or more should someone have an interest. If you see I’m headed to your part of the world, feel free to email [email protected]
- February-London, Raleigh, Madison, Charleston, Chicago, Indianapolis, Boston, Las Vegas, Orlando and Los Angeles.
- March- Edmonton, Indianapolis, Los Angeles and Cabo San Lucas.
- April- Minneapolis, Long Island, Indianapolis, Charlotte, Chicago and Boston.
Avoid Prospect Paralysis!
The big problem with email is it gives you “Prospect Paralysis.”
Do you wonder what happens after you hit “send”… if a potential customer received and loved your proposal? Or if they threw it in the trash?
So how can your email help you discover the best prospects?
The answer is ContactMonkey, a smart email tracking service for Outlook and Gmail that tells you if, when, how many times and where an email is opened.
ContactMonkey gives salespeople real-time insight on prospects’ actions with your emails so they can make more informed selling decisions. They can focus on the best leads and close more deals.
Here’s where you can sign up for a free 14-day trial – http://goo.gl/Wqph6
TAKING ACTION –A look at what others are DOING! The frustrating part of what I do as a speaker/teacher is relying on others to “take action”. Frustrating especially when you hear about the challenges of a tightened economy, and yet too many folks not taking the actions needed to WIN. Check these examples of others, and then ask yourself why you aren’t “making things happen”..
Jack: I had to tell you about this. I changed my voice mail message Tuesday at the first break during your presentation to the Grote people. The reaction from customers has been nothing short of amazing. But at the beginning of the Awards Dinner Thursday (1/10) I checked my phone and had missed calls and voice mails from 3 of my 4 daughters. I immediately thought disaster or they needed big money. They were all calling to hear my message! How cool is that! I am working on Pg 4 and might make you a member of my board of directors; emeritus of course, that way you don’t have to do anything. Thanks a bunch, you made a difference. KEEP BEING AWESOME!
Bill Kotun
Accelerated Sales & Marketing, LLC
“Loving the New Year! 3 contracts in last week, another 3 signed ones yesterday and now two NEW ones requested today and it’s not even 11 a.m. Looks like that awesome Jack Daly sales seminar has more than paid for itself ten-fold in a little more than one month. Thanks, Jack and Adam!
Ileana Landon
If any article in this newsletter would be of interest to your co-workers, customers or clients we would appreciate having you forward it along.
