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Article #10

Copyright © 2006 George Ritacco (All Rights Reserved)
 

How to Deliver the Right Message, Every Time
By, George Ritacco 
 

Frustrated CEO's and sales managers express that thought over and over, in one way or another. They're talking about their salespeople, of course. They harbor a feeling that some of their salespeople just aren't doing what they want them to do, communicating the right message and they don't know what to do about it.
 

If that thought occasionally passes through your mind, read on.
 

"What do you want them to do?" I often reply.
 

Boy – talk about opening a “can of worms.”
 

That question is often too vague to hold any meaning in today’s world. Years ago, it may have been good enough to just say “get out there and sell.” But in today’s business world, it’s not enough.
 

The selling environment has changed; your competition has surely changed and has become more ferocious. Now more than ever... businesses survive and crash based on the message that is being communicated to your prospects and clients, how often it’s delivered... if it’s actually, the right message for you... AND, if your message differentiates you in the eyes of your prospects and clients.
 

How you develop your key positioning statement, (defined as “the statement” or message that “positions” you in the eyes of your audience as the obvious choice), how you train your employees on that statement, how you measure their growth and the development of their skill sets and last... how they deliver your message effectively to your audience... are the critical elements to a successful training, marketing and sales plan.
 

Our economy has grown increasingly complex, many markets are maturing, the demands and expectations of your customers are growing, your customers' choices of ways to satisfy their needs are multiplying, and information technology is growing more powerful and user friendly. All that means is that you need to be much more effective in your sales communication and directing your sales force than at any time in the past. Successful sales management in the approaching 21st century world requires a more sophisticated answer from you than just "Get out there and sell!”
 

”Selling MODE” is great, but without gathering the right type of marketing intelligence and information from your prospects... you hamper your success.
 

Here’s an example: Client “A” owns a small pharmaceutical company. Every month they are analyzing data to determine their market share. They also analyze who the high prescribing physicians are for their drug, as well as for the competition.
 

They use that information to make territory and product line forecasts, as well as a basis for developing more sophisticated joint marketing plans with his partner-vendors. I'm sure you'll agree -- that's good information to have. But don't the salespeople do those kinds of things on their own? Do they really need that kind of precise direction from management?
 

Take a little self-test. Consider each of your salespeople, one at a time. Ask yourself, "Is ...(salesperson's name).... systematically collecting that kind of market information on his or her own?"
 

On their own?  No.
 

So, what is the first step in getting your salespeople to start delivering the right message?
 

Ideally, those things proceed directly from your strategic plan. For example, if your strategic plan says that you want to penetrate a new market segment, then you should expect your salespeople to make X calls per month on that segment, or create X new customers within that segment, or do X amount of sales with that segment, or achieve X amount of gross profit with that segment.
 

The first step is to develop your strategic plan, and then to create expectations for your sales force that directly support that strategic plan.  This will make them more effective and save them a heck of a lot of time.
 

If you don’t have a strategic plan, it’s time to start developing one. Here’s a shortcut... Begin by creating precise expectations for your sales force. Develop a list of the three to ten most important things (goals) you want them to do (communicating your specific message should be #1).
 

Bringing in a certain amount of sales or gross profits should be one of them, but only one of them.
 

Next, make sure that your list of expectations is easily, accurately and fairly measurable. I believe in the acronym SMAART. Your goals and objectives should be:
 

1.      S – Specific. “Improving service” is not specific. How, exactly, will you improve it?

2.      M – Measurable. Will you be able to effectively tell how well you are meeting your goals?

3.      A – Aggressive. Many people don’t set stretch goals. Identify what you think you can do comfortably, then move the bar a little higher. Ask yourself, What is possible if we get cranking?

4.      A – Accountable. Who’s in charge? Who is responsible for making it all come together?

5.      R – Realistic. Nothing kills enthusiasm faster than impossible goals.

6.      T – Time-Specific. Goals need to be achieved by a certain date or within a certain period.
 

Look at your goals with creativity. Financial objectives are SMAART, and they’re easy to identify. But non-financial objectives, such as increasing your customer attitudes towards you and your company, and lowering employee turnover are also SMAART. They’re specific, measurable, aggressive, accountable, realistic and potentially time-specific.

If you're highly automated and use effective sales force, training and goal measuring software, it'll be a snap. If you're not effectively automated, it'll be much more difficult.
 

For example, one of my clients wanted his sales force to call on new prospects. His business was growing, and his salespeople were happy. But he was sure that there was additional market share to be had in accounts that were not being cultivated. He wasn't automated, and didn't believe his veteran sales force would accurately and thoroughly complete weekly call reports. In addition, he didn’t have an accurate way to measure what “message” the sales force was communicating day to day, week to week.
 

His sales cycle was long, and he didn't want to wait until he saw actual sales numbers. Those sales could occur 6 to 12 months after the first sales call. He determined to measure his sales forces' activity, (calling on new prospects) not the results (sales to new prospects).
 

We struggled with a way to easily, fairly and accurately measure the activity of calling on new prospects. And then it hit us. Bingo! Suppose they allowed technology to help them deliver the RIGHT MESSAGE as well as, help them in tracking “new quotes” and opportunities... automatically and in real-time.
 

We could not only measure the number of sales calls made to prospects but we could now measure the number of quotes made to them as well. The system would be easy, accurate, and fair. We could also measure... with real-time tools – “key message” delivery. What we wanted the salespeople to communicate... those “key messages” were added to the system and viewed by the salesperson each time they made a call. By clicking a box for the actual message that was delivered, we were able to track which message was actually the most effective.
 

Having decided that, it was an easy step to give each salesperson a quarterly expectation for the number of "quotes made to new prospects." Our strategic initiative, "Gain market share," turned into a measurable expectation for each salesperson, "Generate X quotes per month to prospects not on the database."
 

In the past, another client of ours “process” of monitoring on-the-job performance and keeping proper employee evaluation records was a laborious one. What our client "used to do" was forward a Word document (essentially a checklist) to all of their managers across the country for monthly progress reports on their employees. The managers would in turn fill out the form and email it back to the administrator.
 

When all of the record forms were received, the administrator would compile the information and submit it all to Human Resources, so that they could decide who gets promoted and who gets a salary increase. This process was not only time-consuming, but reports couldn't be optimized in real-time (they had to wait once a month to collect all of the documents from the field). In addition to lost productivity, that current system allowed for people to basically "slack off".
 

When the online performance management tool was rolled out to their organization, productivity increased immediately. What they got was...

·       a central repository for over 300 individual performance appraisals which could be easily searched upon by management and HR.

·       an easy to use, online "update" form where managers could check off items that were completed and add their comments as to how the employee performed vs the goals that were set.

·       a place where managers could go, whenever they wanted... essentially the forms were online, 24x7 and could be accessed and updated at any time, from anywhere with a computer.

·       instant, real-time feedback - which allowed for actionable information to be at their fingertips, when they needed it most.

·       HR could now benchmark who the "star performers" were, who were on the training and development "fast track" for promotion, in real-time. No longer did they have to wait for monthly updates.
 

Their ROI was significant - but witnessed mostly through the time that they saved and their newly-found ability to make quicker decisions.
 

Let’s Quickly Review: There are three critical things that we are measuring here: the number of potential opportunities in the pipeline, the message that is delivered, as well as, the effectiveness of our objective “measuring” and tying that back on an individual employee/salesperson basis.
 

Utilizing the right type of technology can effectively let you deliver your message, measure and train your employees and track your “new quotes”, opportunities or “key positioning” statements, all through one system. The right system would allow you to benchmark and evaluate the effectiveness of your training program, measure it against the actual objectives and goals achieved, while simultaneously delivering the right message to each prospect and client that you touch, every time.
 

Here’s your action plan...... in a nutshell.
 

1. Come up with your “positioning statements” – what makes you different? Why should your prospect consider you as the obvious choice over your competition? What elements position you and your company as the experts in your marketplace? These key positioning statements need to be recorded and measured for their individual effectiveness. If you have a way to automate the tracking of these key messages... you’re ahead of the game.
 

2. Create individual scorecards, by role or position. The scorecards need to contain the criteria and objectives that are important to the success of your campaign. A SMAART goal could be – “deliver 15 new ‘quotes’ in the first quarter”. Another goal could be – “back-sell” or “cross-sell” 1 present client / per month.. into some of your other products and solutions. List these “goals” down the card, include a sign off date, a “rating” – 1-5, and a comments section to document results and feedback.
 

3. Based on the results of #2, develop training courses and presentations that can be scheduled and delivered automatically to those individuals based on the evaluations derived from your scorecards.
 

What you end up with is a new type of marketing/sales force that is delivering your key message based on their own individual objectives. But most importantly, you now have a “real” method to track the effectiveness of your marketing, as well as the ability to tie-back your individual training directly to performance objectives.
 

Most business owners think they can just deliver product knowledge, send their salespeople on the road and everything just takes care of itself. Wrong, Wrong, Wrong.
 

Most games are not won with HOME RUNS. Most games are won by doing all the right things, hitting, fielding and delivering good, sound “pitching” that positions you as the expert and obvious choice for your customers. When you do that and do it right – you sales and marketing programs transform overnight.
 

And, by using the right technology to manage everything – you maximize your resources, your productivity and your overall effectiveness and can reach the heights that you’ve only dreamt about.
 

Stay Frosty,
 

George

About the Author:

George Ritacco is the Director of Client Services for Global Vision Technologies, Inc (GVT)., http://www.globalvisiontech.com a premiere software developer specializing in powerful, easy-to-use Internet systems for online training and development, sales and marketing intelligence, pharmaceutical sales ops, case management, and court reimbursement. GVT’s primary goal is to provide our customers with tools for improving productivity, profitability, employee morale and turnover.

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