Building a World Class Sales Organization
July 13, 2023Workshop Schedule
Newport Beach, CA 2 Day Management and Sales Summit
What’s a Salesperson Worth?
We think this is a terrific question that every company should not only ask but actually calculate. One of the more frequent “needs/wants” of Sales managers is a solid sales professional for their team. One of the keys to finding top performers is to always be recruiting. Another is to enlist others help-in fact, to pay them for helping you! Take a look.
As many of you know, I’ve owned several mortgage companies over the years. Let’s say a solid salesperson in that business brings in 10 loans a month and on each loan the Company makes $1500, making it $15,000 per month or $180,000 for the year in profit/value. Now, let’s say we retain this salesperson for a conservative 2 years, that would make it $360,000 of total contribution. Given such, if your company were to consider offering a “Finders Fee Program” for employees to help find such a performer, how much would you be willing to pay? Would $5,000 be reasonable? How about $10,000? Do you think we could get all of our staff excited to bring us some candidates of worth?
Let’s take it a step further. Suppose we agree on $5,000. Now, how about paying it on a “pay for performance” basis? For example, here we could state we would pay $1,000 on the 10th loan closed, another $1,000 on the 20th loan, and the final $3,000 on the 30th loan funded. This way, we are paying for something we know is of value, and we are paying the reward out of the cash flow generated from the new business!
Run the numbers for your company and give serious consideration to implementing a “Finders Fee Program”.
We wish you good hunting!
We continue with a series of articles from our strategic alliance partner, CEO Joe Miller of Blue Chip Solutions, a firm specializing in finding and landing top sales professionals. This month he shares his thoughts on ” The Dog”.
WHO ARE YOU LOOKING FOR?
The Dog
I purchased my first puppy nearly six years ago for $500. Because I never owned a puppy before, I was operating blind. I figured, “I know what I’m looking for and I can figure out whether or not it’s going to be a great dog.” I looked at each puppy carefully. I checked their breeding information, their past health issues, I called the breeder’s references to guarantee they were as good as they said, I played with the puppy twice, I brought my family in to see the puppy and everything looked great.
Everyone was so happy when the puppy got home, but as the puppy grew into a dog, some strange things happened. The puppy became a dog, and the dog now had bad habits, didn’t listen, never fetched anymore and was eating me out of house and home. Finally, I had to give the dog to a shelter. It was not just emotionally heartbreaking but it was financially damaging as well.
Take out “puppy” and “dog” and replace it with “new hire” and “salesperson.” Get it? There can be no good without evil. There can be no right without wrong. There can be no great salespeople without bad salespeople. There are two kinds of “bad” salespeople: a Dog and a Dog with fleas. Bad and worse. Let’s make sure we all understand what a Dog looks like so we don’t get trapped.
T here are certain quick ways to spot a Dog. Dogs like to lie down in the sunshine and be lazy. They spend too much time in the office, doing paperwork or other non-paying activities. A Dog will avoid prospecting at all costs and will resist providing reports that show how much new business they have been developing. Look at the forecast. A true Dog will have deals that linger on the forecast forever. The ultimate test for spotting a Dog is to look at the results. A Dog will bring in low sales numbers, have fewer meetings, be overtly vague about activities and will howl and complain about everything they can complain about.
A Dog is easy to spot after you have had them in your organization for three months. You may have young Dogs on your team and you may have old Dogs on your team, but they all look alike because they are the same breed. The only way to handle a Dog is to give it back to the Animal Shelter.
Announcing the First Annual
Jack Daly Sales Management and Sales Summit
Come to Newport Beach, California, February 2-3, 2006, at the Balboa Bay Club for a jam-packed workshop program and national idea exchange. Listening to our customers, we have heard loud and clear the cry for an open-seat workshop on Sales Management. We decided to take it a step further, in beautiful Newport Beach , and combine a day of rigorous learning in the Sales Management arena,followed by a day intently focused on Sales. Add to the mix networking dinners, wine tasting, guest subject matter experts and golf on Saturday and you get a high-value few days of working on the business so that working in the business results in greater productivity and bottom-line results. Visit www.jackdaly.net for additional details, or call Jennifer at 888-298-6868. See you there!
Click Above For More Information
NEW 2006 WORKSHOP SCHEDULE
Touch System Success Story
For years now I have taught the value of a “Touch System” in gaining appointments,
winning new accounts and going deeper into existing accounts. A “touch” is any way in which the salesperson reaches out and lets their database know“they are out there”. Touches can be personal visits, phone calls, emails, voice mails, snail mails, or faxes, to cite a few examples. Keyto the touches is they not be all about your company, products and services. It’s been said that it takes nine touches before the prospect even recognizes you exist. No wonder cold calling is self-defeating!
Well, here comes another great success story re a touch Campaign. Congrats to New York based MAXONS RESTORATIONS. Howard White, EVP, shared with us the following: We used a remote control car campaign as our door opener. The touches were timed over a 2 week period and strictly followed. This totally worked. We sent 20 cars without the remote to prospects that wouldnormally not return calls. They were all high level targets. 16 out of 20 became appointments, and one customer alone signed on for a $20,000 job on the spot. The whole campaign cost about $1,200!!
Prospective Client Touch Process – Up to 2 Weeks
Step Timing Touch Message
So, there you have it. CONGRATS to those on the MAXONS RESTORATIONS team on your success and for taking action. As well, thanks for sharing, and Howard says if anyone would like to hear more, just give him a call at 212-447-6767.Great job guys.
USE A RETREAT TO UNLOCK THE POWER OF YOUR TEAM
We continue to search out resources to help our clients grow their business, both at the top line and the bottom line. Along those lines, let me introduce you to Mark Lefko. Mark is the founder and CEO of theLefko Group, a corporate retreat and facilitation company. There’re a lot of facilitation companies out there. What differentiates Mark is “he’s been there, done that”. He spent 7 years as a CPA with Arthur Andersen, 4 years as a CFO of a $6 billion mortgage company, 9 years as an investment banker, and 2 years as a Chairman at TEC.
If you are considering or planning on taking your leadership team away to re-look your business, andwant to take the results to a new level, we highly endorse Mark as your facilitator. His testimonials are impeccable, his process is professional, and most importantly his results are record setting. For more information regarding Mark and the Lefko Group, just give us a call at 888-298-6868 and we will be glad to guide you to a super successful retreat.
OLDIESbutGOODIES
For the past 6 years we have historically produced a newletter from Professional Sales Coach, Inc. With this Daly News newsletter as replacement, we wanted to remind our readers of a feature each month pulled from the archives which continues to be content rich. Professionalism requires life long learning.
Increasing Sales – Through Coaching!
“Teams” win championships – not coaches or star players. What are you doing to build each individual into a stronger performer, and a more valuable contributor to the sales team?Our goal here is to enhance your effectiveness as a builder of strong sales people. You can coach them to success!
“Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent.” – Calvin Coolidge
Our job as sales leaders is not to grow sales – our job is to grow salespeople. And then it’s their job to grow sales.
While it is true that our success is ultimately measured on sales levels, we personally aren’t going to make that happen. Our job, then, is to help salespeople be better at what they do. We need to coach them.
By “Coaching” we are talking about field coaching – hands-on and in competitive situations. Think about the impact a basketball coach has during the game, compared to after the contest.
While the “after the game” sales meeting is important, it’s working in the field with salespeople that holds forth our greatest opportunity. We see a sales leader working with salespeople on three types of calls:
After demonstrating “how-to”, the sales leader debriefs after each call. “What went right” and “What went wrong” are thoroughly discussed, so that the salesman can see the dynamics involved.
2) Joint call – A sales manager and salesman both participate in these calls. Each person contributes appropriately; and often these calls are used in re-establishing a relationship or introducing the sales leader to customers.
Joint calls also are effective for gathering information about market activity, the competition, and individual customer wants and needs. How well your company is meeting those needs can be ascertained on a joint call.
3) Coaching call – In these instances the sales leader plays the role of an observer, and the salesman conducts the call. The introduction of the manager usually should be done in a low-key manner. If he or she is unknown to the prospect, simply introduce the manager as an associate of the salesman.
On coaching calls the sales manager learns the most about how a sales person performs on his or her day-to-day calls. As a result, it is where the sales leader can offer the most.
But that is true only if the coaching call is conducted properly – and often that is tough for the sales leader to do. Even if the sales person is “blowing it”, it is critical that the call be conducted solely by the sales person.
After the first coaching call, the salesperson will usually want to know how he or she did. But sales managers must resist doing a debriefing at this time. Instead, suggest that 5 or 6 more calls be made. Once they are all completed, the sales leader should sit with the salesperson and debrief. Identify those things that went well, and share them with the salesperson. Also identify what could be done better.
Rather than weighing down the sales person with too many suggestions, pick one or two that hold the greatest opportunity to increase his or her success. Discuss these two items thoroughly, suggesting specific actions for improvement.
Maintain your notes in the salesperson’s file. These will be helpful on subsequent calls, in order to spot trends. Here are a few more points about sales calls:
But we are trying to observe how they generally work, rather than attempting to make changes. That aspect comes later.
You can’t be helpful if you don’t know what’s going on in the field. It’s not a control issue – it’s an information issue. Get in the practice of taking notes on each account executive you work with. We suggest purchasing a notebook to be maintained by you for each salesperson.
Start accumulating information about the account executive and his or her customers and prospects. Let each salesperson know your purpose – to help them grow professionally, and to grow their production.
You might encounter some resistance – until salespeople see their personal volume going up. Here are some questions to pose to your sales staff, to help you uncover both their strengths and those areas which need shoring up:
Who do you think will be your next client? Which client has the highest potential for leaving you? Why? What are you (we) doing to salvage that relationship?
Additionally, here are some questions to ask yourself when observing salespeople on sales calls:
Before You Start
Two basic points are important to make before going on sales calls with salespeople:
Fundamental One-
Give plenty of advance notice. Surprise visits to the field are not appreciated by your sales team, as that implies a lack of trust. Set up your schedule at least a week in advance.
Fundamental Two-
Go with a plan. Don’t say to the salesperson, “Well, what should we work on this time out?” Instead, review your prior notes, current production, and call report- and then state where you think it best to focus. Always solicit feedback and agreement from the salesperson. Remember that if you demonstrate that you are doing your homework; salespeople will be more prone to do theirs.
Let’s build on those fundamentals by establishing some guidelines to help keep your calls focused:
Make quick bullet notes in the car between calls. Focus on the primary changes to be suggested. The list could include:
Remember your purpose, and never take over a call. If you do that, your relationship with the salesperson is on the way to destruction. Your primary reason for being there is training; not seeing how much can be sold.
Focus on one or two specific items
When giving feedback to the salesperson, ask yourself: What do I want to communicate? Where do I want to focus suggested changes? How can I communicate this information so that the salesperson will be receptive to it? What specific solution or goal may I offer, and how may I assist the recipient to achieve his or her goal?
Goal Power
We need to demonstrate that improved performance comes not only from having better skills and work habits, but that specific goals must be set – along with a timetable for making them happen.
The power of personal goals is so strong that everything else pales by comparison. A study of Yale University graduates in 1953 found that only 3% of them had written goals in life.
A follow-up study 20 years later revealed that the 3% who had written down their goals had a financial net worth superior to the combined net worth of the remaining 97% of their class!
In order for you to reach your goals as a Sales Leader, you must give your salespeople the coaching they need. Remember, “If it’s meant to be, it’s up to me.” Here is a three part exercise to asses “How am I doing?” –
Have you attended one of Jack Daly’s sales workshops or seen one of Jack’s keynotes? We’d love to hear from you! Let us know!
Your time with our team has them really fired up (Jack’d up) and it is a really exciting thing to see. In my wrap up on Friday following your presentation, I asked everyone to identify a minimum of 3 things that they will be doing differently based upon your time with us, things that they will be using to grow exponentially this year, and that can be discussed openly on coaching calls that I have with them. I set a timeline of today to have them over to me, yet almost the entire team had them to me Saturday and Sunday. I even had one of our newest reps work backwards to his goal- he defined his success, and charted backwards to the present- and he did this while flying on his flight home early Saturday morning! I am really excited Jack.
Your time with us was all that we could hope for and more, which is the understatement of the year.
Our conversion rate went through the roof after seeing you. We went from around $900 million funds under management at the time to $3.2 billion today and that occurred in the aftermath of the great financial crisis when many of our competitors were struggling. I feel a sincere thank you is in order for all that you have done to help us
Before we began working with you we lacked a coherent sales and marketing system to capture leads and convert them to clients. Since that time we have implemented a new CRM system, completely overhauled our website, identified our core prospects, and successfully increased our sales by over 50%. Since we began working with you we have far surpassed the original goals that we set from day one as a direct result of the collaboration between your team and ours. You have helped us focus on the most important aspects of our business which has allowed us to thrive during a period of turmoil for many of our peers. Thank you again for the superior communication, service, and coaching that has moved Fabian Wealth Strategies to the next level.
Thank you Jack and thank you for a great job! Since 1998 we have run 27 conferences of this type. Ours is a tough crowd so your evaluation score is all that much more meaningful-a 4.96 out of 5! In fact only Jim Collins has scored over a 4.95 at one of our gigs.
Jack spoke at the Belfast Open Day yesterday to a capacity audience of 200. His passion, enthusiasm, relevant experiences and stories lit up the room and everyone went away feeling they had achieved excellent value and plenty of very valuable take away action points. Overall ratings by the members were 99% for value and presentation.
Jack has trained thousands of our nation’s heroes, military recruiters from all branches including the Canadian Armed Forces on multiple occasions. Jack always knocks it out of the park and leaves my clients begging for more. Jack is a win-win for my clients, as they gain so much insight on how to become a better recruiter and they also get to apply Jacks tips and techniques in their personal life.
We at Oakworth Capital have implement Jack’s techniques and methods over the course of our relationship with him, and it has made us a higher performing financial institution. Our annual client retention rate is 99.5%. Earnings increased over 32% last year. The average annual shareholder return for the past six years is 16.7%. Oakworth Capital Bank is performing at a higher level thanks to Jack Daly.
I had the opportunity to see Jack in action during his visit to an event put on by EO Calgary in January 2014. He is easily the best speaker that I’ve seen to date and he packs a ton of energy to the stage! We left the event feeling not only rejuvenated about connecting with our prospects, customers and clients but also full of new exciting ideas that I can’t wait to implement right away.
Jack greatly helped our organization gain clarity around our strategic vision and direction. His background from being an entrepreneur to running large organizations provides him with a unique perspective as CEO of Professional Sales Coach. Whether it is tackling the toughest sales problems or the toughest triathlon you can count on “IronMan” Jack to take you across the finish line.
Thanks again for the outstanding workshop. Of the many I’ve attended over 30 plus years, I walked away from yours with the most concrete ideas and value for money – by far. Please note that your workbook will not sit on our shelves. I don’t think you had even left when the room when our team had pulled together to go through it. We start implementing Monday morning.
Your session today was incredibly insightful and your fundamentals are great reminders to focus on what matters to build trust with clients and prospects. As a business owner, there were plenty of moments in which I took a hard look at how our companies operate, and I recognized the need for some real change. This evening, I have generated three goals for each of our companies, and I intend to personally track each one with metrics and honest feedback within our team.
When I first heard Jack Daly speak at the national conference earlier this year, I just knew we had to bring him to Milwaukee. He takes powerful material, adds his personal street smarts and actual experience, and delivers a wallop of words that every CEO needs to hear once in a while. And I want my top sales person to hear the same message with me.
On behalf of Inc. Magazine, I would like to thank you for your participation in our annual Growing the Company Conference. Your session was evaluated by attendees based on a scale of 4 (excellent) to 1 (poor). Your average score was 3.96…the highest scoring session!.
What rave reviews you received for your presentation at the RPMA conference. The comments I got were that everyone wanted more. This is the 12th year for the conference, and I think yours was the best review I’ve received in all 12 years.
I didn’t need to tell you what it takes to hold the attention of an “All-CEO” group such as mine, because you did it. All too often, speakers come from theory without practice. Your background indicated “you’ve been there” and your presentation showed it. The most frequent comment heard was the amount of immediately implementable action ideas delivered.
The “Best in his industry” Guaranteed.
I have had the pleasure of having Jack address groups of CEO’s and he always gets rave reviews for his delivery, content, and applicability of the information he dispenses.
I have known and worked with Jack in a variety of situations including as a speaker and a consultant. Jack’s openness, passion, energy, skills and expertise in unmatched. I consider Jack one of my “gurus” in life and in business.
Jack is an incredible and dynamic speaker on sales and corporate culture. His process is actionable and his energy is unparalleled. I’m pleased to know Jack and am comfortable recommending him to anyone.
Outstanding Sales Coach and Key Note Speaker!! Jack has been the most talked about speaker at our industry annual conference (NACCB) for the last few years. Very high energy and packs a ton of great ideas into his presentations regarding increasing sales, increasing organizational efficiencies, and improving company culture! I highly recommend Jack!!
If you think Jack Daly is just another motivational speaker… then You Don’t Know Jack!