Sales Head Office » Sales Management

Sales Head Office // Sales Management

Posted on Apr 19, 2007. Digg It . Del.icio.us It. 3 comments.

Here is a short list of some books I’ve found useful and recommended to my sales teams: From Vendor to Business Resource – Jerry Stapleton,
Raving Fans – Ken Blanchard
Spin Selling – Neil Rackham
Swim with the Sharks without Being Eaten Alive – Harvey McKay
Who Moved My Cheese – Spencer Johnson
Customers For Life – Carl Sewell
Question Based Selling – Thomas Freese
Now Discover Your Strengths – Marcus Buckingham & Donald Clifton
Leverage Your Best, Ditch The Rest – Scott Blanchard
The New Strategic Selling – Heiman & Sanchez
7 Habits of Highly Effective People (its a must) - Steven Covey
Good to Great - Jim Collins
Winning - Jack Welch

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The VITO Letter

Posted on Feb 1, 2007. Digg It . Del.icio.us It. 34 comments.

The idea of the VITO letter comes from a mid-nineties book by Tony Parinello called Selling to VITO. VITO stands for Very Important Top Officer. Basically, the VITO letter is supposed to get you in front of that hard to reach executive. Whether or not you believe in the effectiveness of Parinello’s version of the executive letter, there is no doubt that it makes sense to use a number of different mediums to reach decision makers. One of those is the standard letter. A well crafted message followed by a phone call is always be a good practice. It is a great way to turn what would have been a difficult cold call into an easier, warm(ish) follow up call.

Below is a letter for you to start with. Please note that it is bulky and I would never send it out as is, there is way to much going on. I only include it as a guideline. If you really want to catch VITO’s attention consider adding a bold quote at the top of the letter, something very relevant to their business. Talk their language and do your research before sending. And most of all make sure you follow up with a call or you’re wasting your time!

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{Insert your mailing address}

{Insert your city, state and zip code}

{Insert your telephone number with area code first}

{Insert your e-mail address}

February 1, 2007{Insert recipient’s mailing address}{Insert recipient’s city, state and zip code}

Dear {Insert appropriate title (Mr., Ms., or Dr.) and the recipient’s last name}:I am writing to introduce you to Your Company business management services and the benefits we can deliver to you and your business through Your Companies Network of over 5000 connected locations across the world. We offer a full menu of services that are part of most every company’s daily business needs.

Our Companies network reaches across nine countries with more than 5000 digitally connected locations, offering 24-hour access to leading-edge technology for product 1, product 2, product 3, product 4 and product 5. Our Company network employs over 100,000 associates and 10,000 technicians to ensure that you have the products you need, when you need them, and with the unsurpassed level of quality and service businesses have come to expect from us.

As the world’s leading provider of product 1 and business services, Our Company is able to extend our efficiencies and knowledge into your organization to help your company increase productivity and, subsequently, reduce costs. Your employees will spend less time with product 1 and more time with customers. You will spend less money on product 1 and maintenance contracts.

At Our Company we customize our solutions to fit the specific needs of your business, and we have the flexibility and scalability to act as a supplemental resource or to manage all of your needs as a committed outsourcing partner. We will conduct a free evaluation of your business management needs and develop a solution that is right for you. We will also dedicate an expert Account Manager to your company who will work with you to continually find ways to support your business.

I plan to call you {insert day and date} to discuss scheduling a needs analysis for your business. In the meantime, I have enclosed here a brochure that outlines our services and the benefits of putting Our Companies Network to work for you. If you would like to contact me before this date, please feel free to call me at {insert your telephone number}. Otherwise, I will look forward to speaking with you {insert day or date}.

Sincerely,

Listed in : Sales Management

360 Degree Feedback

Posted on Nov 3, 2006. Digg It . Del.icio.us It. 0 comments.

360 degree feedback survey’s are a great way for managers to solicit feedback from their boss, direct reports and colleagues. The purpose of a 360 degree feedback survey is to help managers learn more about their perceived strengths and weakenesses and ultimately to identify opportunities to be more effective.

For The Business, 360 degree feedback surveys offer a glimpse into the mindset of the field salesforce, and how they percieve their managers overall effectiveness.

More on 360 Degree Feedback:

· Its focus is on professional development.

· Feedback is anonymous, except from boss.

· It measures perceptions, but not necessarily truth.

· It should be comprehensive and specific.

· It gives the manager responsibility for their own development.

When Choosing Respondents:

· Choose people who you believe will provide honest, useful feedback. Choosing your best bud in accounting, because you know he’ll give you great feedback, will not help your development. Choose people that you interact and collaberate with regularily, even if there has been tension between you in the past.

· Choose people that you have worked with for at least three, preferably six months

· Make sure everyone is aware that their feedback will be anonymous and will not be held against them!

· The larger the sample the better; choose a minimum of 6 respondents from your colleagues and all your direct reports should participate

The process typically works as follows:

1) The 360 degree feedback vendor loads the model and participants into the system.

2) An invitation email is sent to participants asking them to use a unique username and password provided to them to log on to the website and complete their respondent list and self evaluation. They will enter the names and email addresses of those they wish to receive feedback from and complete a short self evaluation questionnaire.

3) The 360 degree feedback vendor then sends invitation emails to the respondents asking for their feedback.

4) Reminder emails are sent continuously from the 360 degree feedback vendor until data is collected.

5) The 360 degree feedback vendor closes the event approximately 30 days later.

6) 7 business days from the event closing, the 360 degree feedback vendor will ship the reports to Human Resources

7) Human Resources books time with management to go over the results and build an action plan to address urgent issues

360 degree feedback, presented properly, is a great way to solicit confidential feedback from the field. Great managers will respect the results and work to address open issues.

Listed in : Sales Management

Sales Interview Questions

Posted on Oct 12, 2006. Digg It . Del.icio.us It. 0 comments.

I’m in the process of recruiting for two open territories. Below are a few of the questions that I’ll ask in an interview, in no particular order. The bullets are potential follow up questions.

What does a great day selling look like?

How many face to face calls, telephone calls happen in a great day?

How do you manage your day?

How do you prioritize?
How do you handle distractions?
How do you balance strategic and tactical activities

Tell me about your strengths?

Identify some weaknesses and how you manage them?

Tell me about your greatest sales accomplishment!

What does great teamwork look like?

How do you handle a difficult team member?

What resources and tools do you need to be successful?

What do you need from your manager?

What are the traits of a great sales rep?

Tell me about the last two sales or business books you’ve read? (If they can’t remember or can’t answer this question, don’t consider them for anything other than entry level - the best reps are always improving their craft!)

What is your favourite book on selling?

Tell me about your most difficult sale

How do you handle client stalling
Tell me about a recent sale you lost to a competitor

What would you have done differently?

How do you handle selling to a team of buyers?

and last but not least

Why the hell should I hire you?

Listed in : Sales Management

Sales Recruiters

Posted on Oct 1, 2006. Digg It . Del.icio.us It. 0 comments.

You know what…I’m sick of sales recruiters. I’ve worked with 4-5 different recruiters over the past 3 years and in every case I’ve been promised good candidates fast and recieved below average candiditates sporadically.

Now, I understand the the current job market is incredibly tight and the reality is there are not a lot of great sales recruits available. You have to question anyone that isn’t working and the real sales stars that are employed can commend good dollars. In a market like this i believe you get you your best ROI from finding that young talent and developing them to fit your business. For instance a CSR working for a competitor�that you think would make a good account manager in your business.

So, heres my challenge with recruiters; in my experience they don’t actively recruit. Instead they spend their time on Monster or Workopolis surfing for resumes. Once they�find a job seeker that will come on board they�pitch them�to you shamelessly - every candidate they send your way is “dynamic”.

A recruiter should be calling your competitors and hustling up individuals that could potentially work for your business. They should be hustling up candidates that wouldn’t evenutually find you through the online job boards anyways. They should be looking for people that fit your business rather than throwing candidates at the wall hoping they stick.

Listed in : Sales Management