The Sales Enabler - Jeff Ernst - Sales Enablement Best Practices

VP of Sales fires his top sales rep.The importance of cultural fit.

I'm helping a company hire and ramp up a bunch of new sales reps, and asked the VP of Sales if I could talk to his best rep to gain a better understanding of how he or she works.  He told me that he fired his best rep a few weeks ago.  I was shocked.  "Why the hell d'ya fire your best rep?"

To make a long story short, last year the company launched a couple new products that are now the main focus for the company, and they're quickly retiring their legacy products that are very expensive to service and support.  This rep was really good at selling one of the legacy products, and despite changes to the comp plan and strict orders from management, he just kept selling that old product.

The VP, who has only been with the company since February, is making a major shift in the company's sales culture, going from a bunch of cowboys who could do whatever they want as long as they hit their number, to a team of directed, disciplined reps.  And as good as this rep was at selling the old product, he wasn't a good fit for the new culture.  And there are probably several more reps who won't be able to make the shift.

Needless to say, we need to take this into account in the profile for hiring new salespeople.  When I asked the VP for the key requirements for the new hires, he gave me the traditional baseline requirements...someone who's sold this type of product, for a company like A, B, or C, who's got a track record of exceeding quota.   

So I pushed him on the importance of finding sales candidates who are a strong fit for the sales culture he's trying to create.  But how do you assess cultural fit from a paper resume?  You can't.  So what are we doing?  We're having candidates create short videos of their responses to three key questions, one of which is "What is an ideal sales environment for you to work in, and why?"  It's amazing how quickly this allows you to weed out the people who wouldn't last long in your sales organization, and focus your live interviews on the right candidates.

Marketers: Walk in a salesperson's shoes

A real conversation with a marketing manager at a well-known tech company:

MARKETER: I'm so frustrated with them.  My salespeople don't read my emails and don't even look at the tools I create for them.  How can I get through to them?

JEFF: Give me an example.

MARKETER:  Back in June, I put together a bunch of case studies...the sales reps are always asking for case studies.  So I created them, sent them out, and nobody's using them.  Sometimes I wonder why I waste my time.

JEFF:  How'd you send them out?

MARKETER:  I attached them to an email and sent them to our sales team email alias.

JEFF:  In June?

MARKETER:  Yeah, middle of June.

JEFF:  What were your salespeople concerned about at the time you sent the email?

MARKETER:  I dunno, maybe kids getting out of school?  Summer vacations?

JEFF:  Try again.  Middle of June, what are they stressing about?

MARKETER:  Uhhh.

JEFF:  Have you ever had a quota to hit? 

MARKETER: Uhhhh...No..

JEFF:  Try to imagine what it's like to be a salesperson at the end of a quarter...

I could continue but you get the drift.  Marketers have always been taught to walk in our customer's shoes, understand their pains, speak their language, so our messages will resonate.  But if you want any chance of aligning with sales, you need to walk in a salesperson's shoes, and feel their pains.

Recognizing the "end of quarter crunch" that salespeople go through is just one example of putting yourself in their shoes.  Don't try to send out stuff for them to digest and figure out how to use in the last week or two of a quarter.  Some other points to recognize:

• Salespeople have to manage a portfolio of accounts the way an investor has to manage a portfolio of stocks.  They have to pay attention to existing customer issues, late stage deals, middle stage deals, as well as the leads you think are the hottest thing since sliced bread.  Take that into account when you're negotiating your SLAs for lead follow-up.
• Most salespeople don't have as high a base salary as you do, so keep that in mind when you call them "coin-operated".
• Time is the most valuable resource for a sales rep, and they have to manage their time very carefully, so its not a good use of time to have them chase poorly qualified leads.  They'll get skeptical of a particular batch of leads if the first 1 or 2 are garbage.

Help me out here, what else should marketing people recognize about the life of a salesperson?

5 steps to enable better sales in the next 30 days

Twitter use can increase risk of Carpal Tunnel

Do you like to scan tweets using the regular Twitter interface, search.twitter.com, or a tool like TweetDeck? 

If so, beware of a repetitive motion that can lead to Carpal Tunnel.  As you scroll down columns of tweets, you inevitably are holding down the left mouse button and dragging the scroll bar for long periods of time (that's long in internet attention spans), or spinning the mouse wheel. 

I've started alternating hands and using arrow keys.  Does anyone have any other suggestions for avoiding repetitive motion?